Q&A with Thor Hanson

 

Photo by Kathleen Ballard

 

Thor Hanson is the author of the new book Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door. His other books include the new children's picture book Star and the Maestro. A conservation biologist, he lives in Washington state.

 

Q: You usually write about far-flung locations—why did you decide to look at what’s close to home in your new book?

 

A: It started on the doorstep of our house. I work out of an office in our backyard. I was working, and I heard a bird hitting the window. I dashed out to try to save it, but it had perished. It was a hermit thrush, a bird I didn’t realize was in the backyard. I was faced with the question, what is living in my yard? I’d done research all over the world, but didn’t know what was here.

 

Q: What were some of the other surprises you discovered?

 

A: It was a journey retraining how I looked at the yard. Things that are familiar, we tend to gloss over. I tried crawling on my hands and knees, and you see incredible things you’d missed. Then a big surprise was the biodiversity on our doorstep. Even for a biologist, there were surprises and unknowns close to home.

 

Q: What do you see as the impact of climate change on our backyards?

 

A: Backyard settings are one of the best places to observe climate change. You can see it happen—what species are there, and what they’re doing. We’re seeing spring come earlier and earlier as the planet warms.

 

Another thing that’s important is those observations in your yard are no longer isolated—you can participate in citizen science programs. You can look at when a lilac bush blooms and track its advances. Your bird list can go to eBird, or you can participate in iNaturalist.

 

Q: For someone new to the topic, what would you suggest?

 

A: I do hope people who are reading the book put the book down and go outside and see what’s out there. I think people will be surprised, whether it’s a backyard or between the apartment building and the subway stop.

 

Number two, taking the next step—what can I do to help biodiversity? That’s another takeaway.

 

The third takeaway is we are not only helping nature but helping ourselves. Daily interaction with nature is good for our health. Even looking out the window has health benefits.

 

There’s a hospital study on recovery times—some windows face a grove of trees and some face a brick wall. Looking at the data, the people recovering in a room with a view of trees got out faster, needed fewer painkillers, called the nurses’ station less often.

 

Q: So let’s talk about your new children’s book, Star and the Maestro—how did you find out about Mozart and his starling?

 

A: It’s a true story about Mozart and his starling. I found out about it when I received a book by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Mozart’s Starling. She raised a starling and compared it to Mozart’s experience. I wrote an enthusiastic blurb. She had no plans to do a kids’ book, and at the time my son was young and we did a lot of rhyming stories. I set it to rhyme.

 

Q: What do you think Matt Schu’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: He did a great job of bringing the story to life. It’s one of the most exciting things!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The Escape Artist, for kids, about an octopus who escapes from an aquarium.

 

And an adult book about mimicry—how species mimic to gain an advantage in nature.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb