Look what flew off the shelves

Picture book of County birds completely sells out

When Yvonne Buys received 1,000 copies of her self-published book, Look What Flew Through the County, in March of this year, she optimistically hoped it would take about a year to sell all the books. She was warned that it could take 18 months or more, but she never dreamed that all the copies would be sold in a shade less than six months. “It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “When I started this adventure, you go through these conflicting emotions of euphoria that it will exceed your expectations, then despair because you think you’ll never sell a single copy. But the whole process has been wonderful. People were so generous in donating their pictures, the sales have been fun, and I’ve been giving talks all over about the book and meeting so many people.” Dr. Buys, a retired ophthalmologist, decided to donate all the proceeds from the sale of her book to the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory (PEPtBO). Last Friday at Books & Company in Picton, she presented a cheque for $12,137.47 to Risa Zaleski, chair of the PEPtBO board.

Ms. Zaleski and the other board members were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the donation. “Our jaw was just on the floor,” she said. “It’s going to make such a difference to our ability to continue to promote bird conservation and habitat conservation through our work in research and advocacy.” She said the book was unique in that it’s a representative picture of the birds that are seen in the County. “It shows 360 of the 380 or so birds that are available to see here. It helps to showcase what an amazing birding area this is.”

Dr. Buys has already been asked if there will be another printing. She is taking a break to regroup and then consider whether to go to a second printing, perhaps with some revisions. In the meantime she will continue to learn all about the birds that call this place home, or who pass through on their spring and fall migration. She was very pleased to have the cheque presentation take place at Books & Company, saying things had come full circle. It was in March of 2024 that she met naturalist Terry Sprague at Lily’s to pitch her idea for the book and ask him to be a co-author. After some thought, he came on board, and invited retired naturalist David Bree to join the team. The official book launch took place at Books & Company in April, and the last copy was sold on September 15.

The fall bird banding program is underway at PEPtBO, as is the nighttime saw-whet owl banding program. For more information, please visit peptbo.ca