Author Darryl McGrath discusses "Flight Paths" - Tue. 5/3

University Club hosts Reception, Presentation and Book Signing 

Author and journalist Darryl McGrath will discuss and sign her book, Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York’s Bird People (SUNY Press, February 2016) on Tuesday, May 3 at the National Register-listed University Club of Albany at 141 Washington Avenue.

Many people know there’s a nesting box for Peregrine Falcons on the Dunn Memorial Bridge, but few know of the great, historic rescue effort that kept this bird from disappearing from our skies.

A meet the author reception will begin at 6:00 with the presentation commencing at 7:00. A book signing will follow the program, and books will be available for $20, which includes tax. The program is free but reservations are required and may be made by calling the Club at 518-414-3555; by sending an email to ellen@universityclubalbany.com; or on the Club’s website at www.universityclubalbany.com. Co-sponsored by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission and the Audubon Society of the Capital Region, the event is sponsored by the University Club Foundation and one need not be a member of the University Club to attend.

In the late 1970s, the peregrine falcon was heading toward extinction, a victim of the pesticide DDT. Flight Paths tells the story of how a small group of New York biologists raced against nature’s clock to bring these beloved birds back from the brink in record-setting numbers.

In a narrative that reads like a suspense tale, Darryl McGrath documents the rescue project in never-before-published detail. At Cornell University, a team of scientists worked to crack the problem of how to breed peregrine falcons in captivity and then restore them to the wild.

McGrath interweaves this dramatic retelling with contemporary accounts of other at-risk species. She worked alongside biologists as they studied these elusive subjects in the Northeast’s most remote regions, and the result is a story that combines vivid narrative with accessible science and is as much a tribute to these experts as it is a call to action for threatened birds.

Darryl McGrath worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 20 years, and has written for the Times Union, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. She taught journalism and narrative writing at the University at Albany for 10 years. She is a lifelong bird enthusiast who saw some very remote parts of New York state while reporting her first book, Flight Paths. She lives in downtown Albany, where she sees peregrine falcons from her back windows, but she has a special love for some out-of-the-way canoeing spots in Rensselaer County. She is at work on her second book, which will be a compilation of the writing of her late husband, Times Union editorial writer Jim McGrath.

The University Club of Albany Foundation is a 501c3 corporation formed in 2009 to recognize and maintain the unique historic and architectural significance of the National Register-listed University Club building, its historic neighborhood and the city of Albany, where it has been located since its inception in 1901. Support for educational programming at the University Club is provided by AT&T.
For more information about the University Club, visit www.universityclubalbany.com.