Jennifer Ackerman, "What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds"

Join the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on June 6th for a special keynote event featuring Jennifer Ackerman. This keynote is a part of the larger "Making Nature: The Labor of Natural History," conference hosted by the the American Philosophical Society and The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. *Note that registration for the keynote is separate from registration for Day 1 (June 6th) of the conference.

What an Owl Knows: The new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds (Penguin Books) explores what we’ve learned in the past decade or two about owls , those enigmatic, fascinating, and elusive birds.  It looks at how owls communicate— in much more complicated ways than we ever imagined, how they court, mate, raise their young, whether they act from instinct alone or from intelligence and learning, how they relate to one another—and to us. And it explores the people obsessed with these magnificent birds, from biologists and conservationists who have devoted their lives to owls, to citizen scientists like Steve Hiro, a retired heart surgeon who is now one of the foremost experts on the breeding biology of Northern Pygmy Owls and Marjon Savelsberg, a Dutch musician, classically trained, who has focused her skilled ear on the world of owl vocalizations. And also people who work one-on-one with owls to heal them if they’re injured or train them to be animal ambassadors. The book is about what we’ve learned about some of the deepest mysteries of owl biology and behavior, their individuality, personality, emotions, and intelligence.

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for almost three decades. Her work aims to explain and interpret science for a lay audience and to explore the riddles of the natural world, blending scientific knowledge with strong storytelling. She has won numerous awards and fellowships, including a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a Silver Medal Award for Nature Writing from the International Regional Magazine Association, and fellowships at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College (now the Radcliffe Institute), Brown College at the University of Virginia, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. 

Her most recent book, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds, explores recent findings on the biology, behavior, and conservation of owls. Her previous book, The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think, was a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Her New York Times bestselling book, The Genius of Birds, has been translated into twenty-five languages and was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2016 by The Wall Street Journal, a Best Science Book by NPR’s Science Friday, and a Nature Book of the Year by The Sunday Times.