Melissa Hafting’s Dare to Bird: Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds is a perfect combination of beauty and content. But I don’t know whether to put it on my coffee table or on my shelf of reference books. The introduction provides a good summary of Hafting’s background and how her passion for birds, young people, and conservation is so much a part of her life.

“I know how important it is to not sit by and idle our time away,” says Hafting. It’s a statement that refers to both her parents (both in their lives and in their passing) and birds while speaking to the importance of taking necessary action to protect species.

Hafting’s stunning photos have magnificent detail, and photo captions outline behavioral characteristics of species that transport the reader to different destinations within the U.S. and Canada. These photos could be used as an identification guide due to their quality, which shows Hafting’s incredible talent for capturing birds in their raw movement and glory as she outlines how this movement ignited her love of birds so many years ago. I often got so caught up and spent so much time in the book’s imagery that I had to return to the previous paragraph to recall the storyline. One could solely read the photo captions and gain a story within the story.

However, when you focus on the stories and autobiography of Hafting, you get a look into her life and a good understanding of it. While reading, I thought a few times, “This book is actually kind of sad.” That reaction may seem out of place for a “bird book,” but Dare to Bird is so much more than just great bird photography. The recounting of grief and reconciliation involving the deaths of both of Hafting’s parents takes the reader to a place of recovery—which can also be a place of forced coping if you want to survive. Hafting perfectly captures the body’s calming, almost necessary response to nature after significant loss or hardship, and these are moments of great feeling. “When you are birding, the birds don’t care if you cry. They don’t judge you at all.” That sentence alone gets at the the reason I got into birdwatching. Nature held me close when no one else could relate.

Each chapter of the book is a treasure trove of new information, making it an excellent resource for beginners to learn about birds and the world of birding. A recurring theme in the book is the conservation work of each chapter's highlighted species. A chapter on “The Healing Power of Bird Song” focuses on grassland birds such as meadowlarks, sparrows, and grouse—and their rapid decline due to habitat loss and their need for perches to create their auditory experiences. The book also delves into the many connections that birders build around birds, not just with the birds themselves: the relationships built with family as you share your passions with them, the relationships among government entities for conservation efforts, and the connections with all ages of new birders as we open our eyes to the world's beauty through birdwatching.

The book also includes an interesting and perhaps unexpected chapter about birding with dogs, expressing the importance of the experience for many birders, especially minority birders. At first, I was unsure of the necessity of this chapter, but upon reading it, I agree that it is a part of the experience for a lot of birders with dogs and other pets. I also have a dog, and I am very conscious of when I bird alone. I agree with Hafting that some justifiably negative emotions can surround pets and birds, but all of them are due to irresponsible owners. The birding community needs to express their individualized experiences and concerns with things that affect the community as a whole.

The stories in Dare to Bird are not just about birds but about life itself. They are relatable to anyone who has lived a full life intertwined with their love of birds and nature. Hafting has successfully documented the thrill, comfort, consolation, and enthusiasm that someone feels as they experience the ups and downs of life and are brought back to their happy place through birding. This book is a testament to the healing power of nature and the joy of birdwatching.