This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds by Astred Hicks, with Holly Parsons
Guest author post by author-illustrator and freelance book designer extraordinaire Astred Hicks about her new book This Bird for ‘Joy in Books’ at Paperbark Words
Astred Hicks & This Bird
Underneath its jacket, This Bird is a love letter to my family and the pleasure of noticing things.
A bird nerd is born
The idea for This Bird emerged in lockdown, but the seeds of the book had been planted and fed for years before, thanks to my mum and (then) young child.
From an early age, my kiddo needed to know about everything, especially the natural world. His love for learning and engaging with the world led him to become a junior member of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, a weekly visitor to Taronga Zoo and a nonfiction book devourer. On his days with my mum, an ex-entomologist and regular bird twitcher, they would go to Sydney Park and bird watch. I found myself tagging along more often as my noticing of these lively creatures shifted from a fleeting glance to curious attention and appreciation.
Bird watching, or really bird noticing, deeply connected with me. It tapped into my ‘creative noticing,’ a key part of my artistic practice. As an illustrator, book designer, and author, I need to recharge creatively. When my metaphorical cup is empty, I lack the energy, ideas, or spark for new work. Walking in my local bush park in urban Sydney to find birds became a way to fill my cup. Creatively noticing their beauty, personalities, and intricate lives made me stop and observe the world around me. And slowly, but surely, I became a deeply passionate bird nerd.
Noticing and a spark
Noticing the world around you and realising that life isn’t just about your own perspective, but also includes the charming little worlds around us, can be such a lovely experience. Sometimes, we get wrapped up in our busy thoughts, but taking a moment to watch and enjoy the playful dance of a fancy blue fairy wren can help us feel more connected.
And that’s what happened during lockdown. Like many families, we valued our time outside as if every breath was precious. Bird watching became a family activity that reconnected us to each other (and my parents in their separate household) and with the world. And while I felt relief when the lockdown ended, I also felt sad that other families started drifting back to their daily routines, away from shared outdoor moments, adventures, and their growing love of nature. So I decided to write a book that would help nurture what was started.
The journey begins
I approached CSIRO Publishing with my pitch because I love how their children’s list is exploding with beauty and ideas, I had a good relationship with the team after illustrating books like Swifty: the super-fast parrot, and because I knew I wasn’t an expert in birds, just a bird nerd eager to scribble drawings and chat about them. They invited Dr Holly Parsons as an ornithological consultant to guide the science of urban birds. It was a match made in heaven, as Holly brought her knowledge and radiant personality to the project. Countless Zoom meetings turned into giggles and bird chats. We created a ‘Thunder Dome’ spreadsheet where birds competed for book inclusion (only 26 could make it), and every stage of the manuscript and illustration was carefully reviewed and adjusted with her expertise.
Why urban birds
After years of chatting with anyone who would listen about birds, I discovered that many families were unaware of the variety of birds waiting for them outdoors. Beyond your neighbourhood Magpie family and those cheeky Rainbow lorikeets that top the BirdLife Australian Bird Count in sighting numbers each year, there are flocks of birds living in the cities alongside us. Some of my favourites are the Tawny frogmouth, which is neither an owl nor a stick; the Yellow-tailed black-cockatoo, whose mournful cries stir a deep feeling of awe; the Spotted pardalote, which loves hanging out at the very tops of trees when it isn’t digging holes in the ground. There is so much to uncover, and I wanted this book to kindle discovery and adventure.
The technical, nerdy aspect
I have been designing books for most of Australia’s publishers—and many international ones—for what feels like ages. My love for books comes from two very different parts of my brain: a wildly creative side that gets distracted by life’s beauty, and a nerdy, hyper-focused side that finds deep meaning in order and information exchange. I love learning how a reader approaches the text, then guiding them by my ghostly-design hand, leading them through each page as they explore the illustrations and absorb the words. I cherish the process of creating worlds on the page that attract and engage readers.
It’s from this background that I approached developing This Bird. The spark from which all words and illustrations emerged was a deep love of non-fiction children’s books and the experience of reading them with my young child. The endless options for reading: cover-to-cover, one page at bedtime, a quick read for reference. I wanted a wide range of readers to pick up this book and find something in it.
I chose the anaphora refrain of ‘This bird is a …’ both to give younger readers a familiar hook they can revisit on each page and to introduce a specific attribute that makes this bird so special and interesting to notice.
A paragraph in narrative nonfiction style introduces the bird and the aforementioned special feature, which then leads to conversational ‘how to identify’ and ‘where to find it’ paragraphs. This deliberate structure allowed me to gently introduce the reader to the idea of the bird, rather than diving into the species’ categorisation, which could have made it feel stuffy and old.
Another way I nerd out as a designer is by using infographics. They are incredibly useful; being able to condense large amounts of information into simple visual representations is a powerful tool. I utilised them in the preliminary pages that outline general bird information like habitats, food categories, bird parts, and importantly, relative scale – did you know how big a powerful owl truly was? Then, on each spread, as reference icons (bird descriptions and where to look for them). The habitat icons at the top left corner of each spread provide a quick reference for both study and potential birdwatching outings.
This book took years to create and draws from many areas of my life. It’s deeply personal and joyful, and I find it difficult to explain what it’s about, often downplaying it by saying, ‘It’s a book about birds.’ More than that, it celebrates sharing creative noticing to inspire and engage others. It’s a map of the journey I took with my family to bring birdy happiness into our lives. It’s a carefully structured book, built on the framework of my design experience. It’s a tribute to Holly’s joy and knowledge and CSIRO’s passion for supporting kids and families to grow.
And it’s a book about birds.
Interview at Magpies magazine
An extended interview with Astred about her body of work will appear in the September 2025 issue of Magpies.
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