'Birding to Change the World' memoir uses birds as guides for social activism and joy

Trish O’Kane sometimes calls herself an accidental ornithologist. As a journalist focused on human rights, she once considered birding frivolous. And then, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, on a too-quiet morning, she heard a cardinal’s song. The sound changed her life.

In her new book “Birding to Change the World,” O’Kane describes not only her new understanding and passion for birds — how they migrate, their territorial defense strategies, and their parenting — but also how birding influenced her own activism, and how it can impact others.

Host Robin Young talks to O’Kane about the new memoir and how she’s applied what she’s learned.

By Trish O'Kane