[Unedited] Drew Lanham with Krista Tippett

Published: Jan. 28, 2021, 7 p.m.

The ornithologist Drew Lanham is lyrical in the languages of science, humans, and birds. He’s a professor of wildlife ecology, a self-described “hunter-conservationist,” and author of the celebrated book The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. His way of seeing and hearing and noticing the present and the history that birds traverse - through our backyards and beyond - is a revelatory way to be present to the world and to life in our time.

J. Drew Lanham is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Master Teacher, and Certified Wildlife Biologist at Clemson University. He’s the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature and a forthcoming collection of poetry and meditations, Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts.

This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Drew Lanham — ’I Worship Every Bird that I See’." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.