Delivered: My New, Expanded “Birds of Magnolia Cemetery” Book!

When UPS left this box at my door on Sept. 12 it felt like a late birthday gift or early Christmas present! 

Whoop! My books are here! 

I worked with My Book Printer of Madison Heights, Michigan on my latest publishing project. 

In 2023 My Book Printer featured my "Birds of Magnolia Cemetery" book. Click here to read the interview. 

Magnolia Cemetery is a beautiful Victorian rural cemetery on the outskirts of Charleston that opened in 1850.

In 2014 I published a book that showcases the fine monuments and landscape of this final resting place of so many prominent Charlestonians and regular folks too. 

That book is titled "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of Mystery, History and Artistry."

And in 2022 I wrote "Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston." 

Back to the birds...For a while, I had been thinking of doing an update to my first book, 2011’s “The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston’s Secret Bird Sanctuary.” 

So beginning in May of this year the work began. I started laying out the pages in Adobe InDesign. This is the software I’ve used for writing and designing each of my books since the first one that I wrote in PowerPoint (a really long PowerPoint). In 2011 a local printer transformed the manuscript into a format so it could be printed and bound. 

I wanted my first book to also be set up in InDesign. And I also wanted, using Adobe Photoshop, to try to make the photographs sharper. So that’s what I did this summer, working on it, page by page, for three or more hours on most weekdays and between trips to Boston and our big Colorado-New Mexico trip in June. 

Before too long in the reformatting process, I decided this project would be a second edition “Birds of Magnolia Cemetery” book. 

I decided to keep the same image on the cover since it has so much meaning to me. Why? Buy the book and find out! 

Note the “Second Edition” on the thick branch below the Wood Stork. Under my name I mention two other cemetery books I have written. 

Successful Saturday Signing! And a Lifer Bird Too!

My Saturday, Dec. 15 book signing went really well! Thanks to those who came out and bought my Birds of Magnolia Cemetery book.  It's always nice to meet fellow bird and nature lovers!  Thanks also to the cemetery's super superintendent Beverly Donald for making this event possible!  

My next signing is this Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the College of Charleston. I'll have a table on Cougar Mall in front of the Robert Scott Small building from noon- 2. Call or text me at 843.224.3112 if you need help with directions.

You know I never go to Magnolia Cemetery without my camera. And I'm sure glad I did as I scored some nice photos of a Merlin (which I originally thought was a Hawk). Merlins are members of the Falcon family. 

 

Through my lens and binoculars it was hard to tell what the Merlin had caught and was eating. It wasn't until I got home and viewed the shots on my television and computer that I determined it was a bird. The Audubon Field Guide online confirms that Merlins feed mostly on small birds captured in high-speed mid-air pursuit. That is what Falcons are known for.

OK last carnage shot, not trying to gross out people!

 

I am updating this post in July 2024. I came across these photos and this old post while this summer updating my "Birds of Magnolia Cemetery" book. Pretty cool to discover a "lifer" bird 12 years after the fact!