Zickefoose - Saving Jemima: life and love with a hard-luck jay

Copyright 2019 by Julie Zickefoose

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Julie Zickefoose and were taken in 2017

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-328-51895-8

Excerpt on from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 1999, and used with permission.

Cover illustrations by Julie Zickefoose

Cover design by Martha Kennedy

Author photograph Bill Thompson III

Print design by Martha Kennedy

Ebook design by Melissa deJesus

eISBN 978-1-328-51896-5
v1.0819

For Bill, who gave me everything.

And for Phoebe and Liam, my two most successful releases.

Saving Jemima is different from anything Ive produced before. My previous books have been compendiums of stories of the many birds and animals in my world. To follow the arc of one unique bird has been a big new adventure. My archetype in the effort was Joy Adamsons Born Free, a book I read and reread as a child, whose driving philosophy is returning a creature to the wild, whatever it takes.

To live inside this story and produce an illustrated document of Jemimas life, all within a year of when it happened, has been a sustained push like Ive never before made. At times its felt Sisyphean, but the fierce urgency was of my own making. As spring, summer, and autumn have rolled around, I wanted to paint Jemima in the seasonal settings that reflect exactly whats going on outside. The whole thrust in the writing, which I did as events unfolded, and the painting, which came later, has been to capture the spirit and immediacy of something fleeting, something that couldnt stay, any more than spring, summer, or autumn can stay. My aim was to give the reader a sense of what its like to have ones life taken over by a bird, and then by the desire to see that bird again, and then by the need to figure out what just happened to me. I hope I conveyed why Jemima mattered so very much. She was far more than a blue jay to me. She was a beacon, guiding me into a place most people dont get to go: inside the mind of a wild bird. And becoming absorbed in her story got me out of my own head and doing my real work again, and for that Ill be forever grateful. So the first thank-you is to Jemima herself, for lighting my creative fuse, blasting me out of a trench, and opening the rollicking, ever-shifting, and mysterious world of blue jays to me.

Shawna and Sophia Linscott brought Jemima to me, likely never guessing all that would follow from that appeal for help. I thank them for caring for every living thing. Ornithologist Bob Mulvihill helped me understand what was going on with Jemimas molt cycle. I deeply appreciate his standing by with answers when I need them most. David Schroder offered his extensive files on blue jay migration and shared insights on blue jay vocalizations.

Lesley the Bird Nerd is anything but; shes a field researcher of the first order, doing groundbreaking observational work, which she gives away for the joy of sharing. The Theissen familys joy in maintaining a relationship with free-flying Gracie is infectious and also generously shared. Carrie Barron gave me a peek into the jay mind with the amazing Conrad, as did Pamela and Natalie Sezov and their beloved Tweeters. And Harvey Webster of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History gave me a hands-on experience with imprinting in blue jays that I could never have grasped in theory. We all have been touched, lifted, and lit up by these higher beings in our lives.

My dear friend Robert F. Giddings, DVM, is my first resort in bird medicine. Erica Miller, DVM, and Sallie Welte, VMD, have been generous with their time and advice, and certainly saved Jemimas life. Jessica Kidd, DVM, swooped in to help me on the home front. Fellow wildlife rehabilitator Melanie Furr has been a constant presence of empathy and hope. And the Ohio Wildlife Center, particularly Kristi Krumlauf and Stormy Gibson, have my enduring gratitude for always doing their best by wildlife and people too. OWC gives Ohioans a place to turn when we cant walk by a suffering creature, and that is a service beyond valuing. I thank them for entrusting me with Josie, Caledonia, and Lou in the summer of 2018. Their bratty jay spirit infused my paintings and healed something that had been left open in me.

I thank Mark Carroll and Ann Prum of Coneflower Studios for filming Jemima into posterity for PBS Nature. The experience taught me that the more you want a blue jay to do something, the less likely it is to do it.

On the writing front, many people helped me get it all down. Invaluable guidance on the direction of the manuscript (and life in general) came from Caroline Quine. My Charlotte, Kristin Macomber helped pull me out of a large tangle of science and words, reminding the Science Chimp that more detail is not always better. Love and support from Anne Babcock, Kyle and Geoff Heeter, Mimi Hart, Tim Ryan, Donna Quinn, Ann Hoffert, Cindy House, Jayne Trapnell, Tanya Wilder, David Fleming, Mary Jane Helgren, and James Adams lights my life. Stalwart daily wisdom and healing love from Shila Wilson keeps me right side up in choppy water.

I thank my agent, Russell Galen, for instantly grasping what was special about Jemimas story, and my editor, Lisa White, for her patient support, ever-ready presence, and warm enthusiasm for this project. She kicked the door back open, let me add Chapter 20 after deadline, and let me rewrite the Epilogue three times. Ill always be grateful. Martha Kennedy, who designed the book, is a joy to work with. The honor of having HMHs Adult Trade Art Director put a blue jay book together is not lost on me. Copy editor Ana Deboo caught errors and repetitions like an all-star shortstop. There is nothing quite like turning ones work over to a publisher like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, knowing it will be handled with exacting care. I thank Gary Sinclair for speaking my color language, and bending over backward to please a fussy artist with the scans he executed.

My Zickefoose siblings, Barbara, Bob, Nancy, and Micky, give me stability and support: a family foundation thats strong, solid, and loving. Bill Thompson III stepped in to feed Jemima, take some crucial photos, and comfort me when things got hairy. It was he, after all, who brought me to this beautiful place, worked to build it up from nothing, and gave me the two best kids anyone could ask for. Bill, I will always be grateful for the chance to make a homestead and bring up children with you in Appalachian Ohio. Liam and Phoebe had the patience and presence to be Jemimas flock while she needed one. They kept me here in the world of humans when my woodland friends were trying to spirit me away. And its they who led me to the hole in the garden wall, and pulled me through.