Undaunted by health issues, Joan Easton Lentz writes another book
“Getting out in nature lets me see it all, makes me feel very small and very wonderful in comparison,” said Joan Easton Lentz, author of “Birding Against All Odds.”
Well known for her expertise as a birdwatcher, Joan Easton Lentz revealed another talent with the release of her latest book, “Birding Against All Odds” (Mission Creek Studios, $14.95) last October.
She is clairvoyant.
“Can Birds Weather the Storm?” is the title of the first chapter.
Little did she realize that several months later, a series of deluges that show no signs of stopping would begin.
“I wish I’d waited a month, and I’d have completely different weather to describe. Has the whole game plan changed now? Who knows?” Ms. Lentz told the News-Press.
“Indeed, nobody knows if this was just a fluke year or a real change in our winter weather. Whichever it is, the birds will be adapting to it, going north if it’s warm and dry and staying south if it’s hot and sunny. I’m sure the ornithologists in our region of the West are holding their breath. I can’t wait to find out what the latest ideas are!”
Although the paperback book is only 104 pages long, it is packed with information including “Pandemic Birding, Santa Barbara and Beyond,” “Birding Then and Now,” “The COVID Journals,” “ Birding Cuyama” and “New Ideas About Spring Migration.”
It differs from “Story of a Santa Barbara Birder,” the memoir she wrote in 2020 in which she describes her life with birds, growing up in Santa Barbara and learning how to cope with the sudden diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease.
“I wrote this book because I wanted my audience and others to know what it is like living with a life-threatening disease day-to-day,” said Ms. Lentz.
“I have written five books that are all pretty varied in content. However, the most recent book works well as an end piece to the book before it — ‘Story of a Santa Barbara Birder.’ ‘Birding Against All Odds’ explains how I got suddenly so sick and yet have been able to pick up my life and go on.
“The biggest challenge is always to make it sound easy, whatever it is, and to try to make the reader understand how getting out birding and watching nature can be such a cure,” said the author of “A Naturalist’s Guide to the Santa Barbara Region,” “Introduction to Birds of the Southern California Coast,” “Great Birding Trips of the West” and “Birdwatching: A Guide for Beginners.”
“This was one of the most challenging books I’ve ever written, probably because it was so personal. People have to know about sickness and dying, and too often they hide away from it,” said Ms. Lentz.
Considering her health issues, she admitted that “it was difficult to give a fair description of a wonderful life with bird outings — both past and present — and yet to make the audience know there are tremendous amounts of energy and courage that go into each day.
“Medical procedures, pills, side-effects — all are part of what I have to deal with. However, I do it because life can be incredibly good on those certain days — a friend comes over for lunch on the deck, I go birding and see a gorgeous bird that I never expected to find, etc.
“Getting out in nature lets me see it all, makes me feel very small and very wonderful in comparison.”
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
FYI
“Birding Against All Odds” by Joan Easton Lentz is available at Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza; Tecolote Bookshop, 1470 East Valley Road in Montecito and amazon.com. For more information, visit joaneastonlentz.com.
