Join McNally Jackson, along with actress Lili Taylor and Tod Winston of the NYC Bird Alliance, for an awe walk in Prospect Park. Lili will talk you through how she uses birds and nature as a way to find peace and calm, even in the middle of a big city like New York.

Taylor's book Turning to Birds will be available for preorder, to be picked up before the event. More on Turning to Birds below:

Eye-opening essays about searching for peace in the cacophony of birds and discovering a world of meaning in small moments—from award-winning actor Lili Taylor.

Most people don’t really know birds—or rather, they aren’t aware of them. Lili Taylor used to be one of those people. She knew birds existed. She thought about them, maybe even more than the average person. But she didn’t know them. And then something happened. 

During a much-needed break from her work as an actor, Lili sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her. Since then, she has kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if only one pays attention. 

Through a series of beautifully crafted essays, Taylor shares her intimate encounters with the birds that have captured her heart and imagination—from tracking flitting woodpeckers through oak trees to spotting majestic blue jays perched on a Manhattan fire escape; from the exhilaration of witnessing a migratory flock  from the top of the Empire State Building to the quiet joy of observing a nest of hatchlings in her own backyard. Through simply paying attention to birds, Lili has been shown a parallel world that is wider and deeper, one of constant change and movement, full of life and the will to survive.

Throughout Turning to Birds, Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting readers to be present and fully engaged with the world around them. Taylor's lyrical prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting readers to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places.

Lili Taylor has starred in such films as Ship of Fools, Ransom, Girls Town, I Shot Andy Warhol, Short Cuts, Dogfight, Say Anything, Public Enemies, and The Conjuring. She appeared on television in HBO’s Subway Stories and on stage in Three Sisters and Avenue Boys. She is an award-winning movie, television, and theater actor. In the birding world, Lili is a board member of the National Audubon Society, the American Birding Association, and the New York City Bird Alliance. Lili nests in Brooklyn and upstate New York with her husband, the memoirist and poet Nick Flynn, and their daughter.

Tod Winston wears several NYC Bird Alliance hats. In his role as Urban Biodiversity Specialist, Tod conducts bird surveys at several high-profile green spaces across the city including Madison Square Park and the Javits Center green roof. As one of NYC Bird Alliance's birding guides, he teaches Beginning Birding course and leads walks and trips around the city including the popular spring Birding by Ear series. Tod began working with NYC Bird Alliance in 2007 as a volunteer writer for The Urban Audubon member newsletter and surveyor for the Harbor Herons Nesting Survey. Since then he has served in many roles including Associate Director of Content, Program Manager, Communications Manager, and Conservation Research Associate, where he led NYC Bird Alliance's Harbor Herons Nesting Survey and helped with wading bird and cormorant bird-banding. Tod also worked for several years at National Audubon Society, as Program Manager for the organization's Plants for Birds project. A lifelong birder who got to know the wonders of the natural world in the company of his nature-loving father, Tod is grateful to spend his time bringing new people to the joy of birds and aiding in their conservation. Tod holds a BA in psychology from Oberlin College and a certificate in postbaccalaureate basic sciences from Columbia University.