Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher by Marina Richie has received the 2024 Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. 

Created in 1926, the John Burroughs Medal is awarded annually to the year’s most distinguished book of nature writing. This is the third Burroughs Medal win for an Oregon State University Press title which OSU Press director Tom Booth says is unprecedented for a university press. Past Burroughs medalists include Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Roger Tory Peterson, Barry Lopez, and Robin Wall Kimmerer (Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, OSU Press, 2003).

“Richie’s writing is fluid, her curiosity infectious, and her pursuit of the kingfishers admirable,” said one of the Burrough Medal jurors. “Many people delight in seeing and hearing kingfishers, and now, with this title, they can enjoy these charismatic birds on a deeper level than ever before.”

Halcyon Journey combines science, field observation, and storytelling to uncover the secret lives of belted kingfishers. Nesting kingfishers that Richie watched for seven years along Rattlesnake Creek in Missoula, Montana, set her on a journey to better understand the elusive bird.

“When I wrote Halcyon Journey, my hope was to shine a light on this jay-sized bird of the hover and headfirst dive,” said Richie, who lives in Bend, Oregon. “To receive the Burroughs Medal is the greatest of honors. I’d love to tell every kingfisher—you won.” 

Generous support from the John & Shirley Byrne OSU Library Support Endowment Fund helps make the publication of notable OSU Press books about the natural world possible. To learn more contact director, Tom Booth, at thomas.booth@oregonstate.edu

Posted - June 06, 2024