The Snoring Bird

From Bernd Heinrich, bestselling author of Winter World, comes the remarkable story of his father Gerd, his family history, and the many forces that have shaped his own life. Gerd Heinrich was a devoted naturalist who specialized in wasps, but also fought in both World Wars. In 1945 the family escaped from the Red Army, making their home in rural Maine. Heinrich shared his father’s enthusiasms and as an adult became an experimental biologist with a naturalist’s sensibilities.


Writing in his trademark accessible style, Heinrich shares the ways in which his unconventional childhood and relationship with his father made him into the person he is today. The Snoring Bird combines history, family and nature into a unique and unforgettable true tale.

Bernd Heinrich is the author of many award-winning books, including the bestselling Winter World, Mind of the Raven, The Geese of Beaver Bog, and Why We Run. He also writes for Scientific American, Outside, American Scientist, and Audubon, as well as book reviews and op-eds for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He studied at the University of Maine and UCLA, and is professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont. Heinrich divides his time between Vermont and the forests of western Maine.

“… always, always, there is in Heinrich’s every page, wonderment.” — San Francisco Chronicle