Zoologist's Primer: Birds

From the majestic, soul-rescuing albatross to the tiny, cunning wren, Zoologist’s Primer: Birds brings to you a hundred most fascinating avians of folklore and science!
Who didn't ever dream of befriending a crow in their game?

The Zoologist Primer: Birds is a book for animal-lovers who want to bring birds into their stories in a way that's both informative and promotes the preservation of threatened species into their TTRPGs. 

It may also help you (possibly) roleplaying adopting wild birds as pets in your games... Because your party's ranger wants a pet falcon. Everybody wants a pet falcon.

As have the previous books in the Natural Library Collection, Zoologist’s Primer also acts as a fantasy foraging guide: we talk about ethical feather collecting, bottling bird songs, recognizing eggs, uses for abandoned nests, and more. 

Brought to you by the creators of Herbalist’s Primer, Geologist’s Primer, and Mycologist’s Primer!

What is the Zoologist Primer?

Zoologist’s Primer is NOT a combat guide for players to hunting, trapping, skinning, or cooking animals. It does not serve as a monster manual to provide stats and tips on how to best kill an eagle. 

The ones that watch us, follow us, learn from us… The ones we might befriend. This book exists for players who want more than combat in their worlds.

Instead, it's a players reference guide to common and historical interactions with over 100 different birds to use your TTRPGs. This bird-centered volume covers matters of aviculture, diets and behaviors, conservation, and in some cases: creating a friendly relationship with individual birds.

Sample Pages

Either way this book is not a Monster Manual

From the magical angle, which is a staple of the series, we talk about bird omens, divination from flight paths and other behavior, avian archetypes in meditation, spirit work, and dreams, common superstitions, legends about avian humanoids and myths about giant eagles. 

On a historical angle you'll also find information on historical practices, such as culinary use, pigeon racing, or teaching songs to captive birds. We obviously don't encourage anything that causes harm or distress to animals; that being said, it would be dishonest to pretend that customs like cockfighting did/do not exist.

• 100 illustrated entries about birds, detailing their appearance, habitat, behavior, interactions with humans, significance in folklore and occult, and conservation status.
• A handy introduction to ornithology, complete with anatomical drawings, useful descriptors, and easy to understand elements of avian biology.
• Birdwatching 101: how to get started, where to go, and what to bring with you for your birdwatching trips.
• A quick primer to avian magic, covering divination from the flight of birds, magical uses of eggs, feathers, and bird songs, plus tips on choosing a bird familiar.
• A Practical Zoologist chapter, bringing into focus many ways humans and birds have been interacting and co-existing for millennia: aviculture, animal husbandry, avian veterinary, falconry, pigeon racing, as well as methods of communication and befriending local crows.
• A whole lot of appendices: magical and astrological correspondences for spells and rituals, an exploration of birds as an art topic, legendary birds and avian humanoids, quest ideas, location tables, random bird generator, and—as you can expect from a librarian—a bibliography, and index, and 40 pages of references, so you can place the folklore and magic within historical and geographical contexts!

Bird Entries

Over 100 Birds

Each of the 100 bird entries contains:

• The common and scientific (Latin) name of the species / group of species.
• Most notable species or subtypes, all listed in the index.
• A short description of the bird providing key information for quick browsing and identification cues.
• A detailed digital watercolor-and-ink illustration drawn by Anna, based on 19th-century field guides and public domain photographs; we tried to represent the diversity of the bird group, full-body views from various angles, useful side-to-side comparisons, eggs, and other features useful in identification.
• A size comparison, relative to an average-sized human witch (180 cm tall, hat included)
• A convenient info table with basic zoological data: taxonomical order, habitat, size, lifespan, diet, flight capability, and most common plumage colors.
• Handy color-coded tabs for easy reference, covering diets, domestication status, friendship potential, and conservation status.
• Notes on the morphology, identification features, songs, plumage, and if applicable - other birds easy to misidentify.
• Description of habitats and behavior: favored terrains and climates, migration pattern, intelligence, diet, and interactions with other animals.
• Details of breeding and aviculture: courtship behaviors, mating seasons, nest, eggs, brood parasitism, and parental customs. Where applicable, we also cover domestication or keeping birds as pets.
• Where applicable, culinary properties: while all birds are technically made of meat, some of them are historically, culturally, or commercially important.
• Notes on common interactions with humans: companionship, conflicts, and other matters relating to sharing the same planet.
• An investigation of magical properties based on folklore, beliefs, and occult writings: omens, familiars, a symbol, an archetype, or a spiritual guide.
• Brief notes on the conservation status, listing threats and conservation initiatives where applicable.
   
• PLUS: In the Appendices, each entry has an accompanying Reference which explores the origin of most notable beliefs, quotes sources, and discusses important “real-world” matters omitted from the main entry to upkeep the fantastical theme of the book.

Natural World Library Digital Tool

During our Mycologist's Primer campaign, we were able to put together a web app that allowed us to make available the entire Natural World Library available from your computer/phone!

We’ll be updating the natural library with the Zoologist's Primer: Birds in this campaign, both as an add-on and to be included in the DELUXE PLEDGE and above!

We've unlocked ALL FIVE of the items included in the Premium-All in pledge - pick it for the best deal!

Pick your Tier!

Zoologist's Primer is intended as a four-volume set of animal-centered books:

• Birds, 
• Mammals, 
• Cold-blooded vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, fishes), 
• and Invertebrates. 

Our team at Double Proficiency has decided to split the animal kingdom this way based partly on the widely accepted biological taxonomy and partly on our quantitative estimates of recorded folklore and magical writing about each of the categories. 

Ask anyone to list a couple of animals and chances are, they will name mostly mammals and birds. These classifications each can fill multiple books—in fact, they have: there is an abundance of bird and mammal related folklore and occult writings. Limiting them to just a hundred entries each is a much harder task than finding enough to write about. 

However, this is where the cornucopia runs out. Folklore and occult-wise, amphibians and reptiles have been treated with much less in-depth investigation. Snakes are frequently discussed, but only generally, not as individual species. If the magical formula calls for a newt, is another type of salamander okay? What’s the astrological correspondence of a common toad and does it differ from a harlequin toad...? You see the problem.

That’s why we have decided to put all amphibians, lizards, and fishes into one volume. Together they can fill a volume confidently and with respect to their respective fields of studies. We're facing the same situation with invertebrates. Sure, there's plenty of folklore about bees, dragonflies, spiders as taxonomically vague groups. A full book of 100 species of mollusks, each with solid folklore sources? As much as we'd love to, the material just isn't out there.

We understand that this solution may seem uneven or even unfair to some. We have to acknowledge that folklore and magical practice has been focusing on some parts of the animal kingdom more than on others. However, we're comforted in the fact that this is a real problem in biology field even now: ask any zoologist about species over- and underrepresented in modern research. They'll talk your ear off, bless them. Personally, we believe there is an acute lack of dinosaur folklore in the world. 

Conservation Efforts

We are huge advocates of making a real impact on the world around us. As a result, Hunters Entertainment will be donating funds to key charities that YOU will help us decide at key milestones in the campaign.

We’re also excited to be offering a Bird Benefactor pledge which will give backers the chance to get a hand-signed certificate from Anna on the behalf of their champion. In addition Hunters Entertainment will also donate $250 to one of our 6 charities based on the champion of your choice!

Learn more about our Champions and their respective charities below:

Chicken - Champion of Compassion: Farm Sanctuary. Health and ethical rights for sustainable farming around feed animals.

Owl - Champion of Wisdom: The Owls Trust. UK-based rescue sanctuaries for Owls.

Corvid - Champion of Cunning: American Bird Conservatory. Helping to alleviate habitat loss from all over North and South America. 

Heron - Champion of Nobility: Audubon Society. Taking care of North American Birds, safeguarding habitats and doing policy advocation for birds.

Kakapo - Champion of Charm: Birdlife International.Global Network of 13,000+ birds, helping volunteers collect information around critical endangered birds.

Falcon - Champion of Power: The Peregrine Fund. Intensive raptor breeding + release program. They are responsible for bringing the peregrine falcon back from near extinction.

Stretch Goals

[UNLOCKED] As much as we trust Anna and Jakub to do their research (they’ve been doing this for years by now), it’s always good to have an expert aboard. And if the expert has first-hand experience in taking care of non-domesticated animals, that’s even better!

[UNLOCKED] Sometimes you want to cover your walls in bird art—and with this add-on, you can! Zoologist’s Primer: Birds already has a visual guide to 100 birds featured, but now you can have this pretty reference in an 11" by 17" (A3-ish) size! On one side, 100 colorful, beautiful birds; on the other, a handy dice-drop random table to generate your own magical birds for games and general-use fun times. A digital version of the poster will be available to all backers at all tiers!

[UNLOCKED] It’s time to doodle! Whether you’re at a gaming table with your friends or out in the wild observing birds in real life, it’s always good to have a notebook with you! This one will have 80 spiral-bound pages for sketching, making field notes, and keeping track of your favorite birds. A digital version of the notebook will be available to all backers at all tiers!

[UNLOCKED] Birds are having a hard time these days, and we’d love to help them. Once we hit this goal, Hunters Entertainment will donate $1000 to a bird conservation charity of your choice. See campaign updates for the voting polls and help us help the birds!

[UNLOCKED] Let’s make the printed books better! Once we unlock this goal, we’ll add a ribbon to the standard edition of the book. Do we all need it? No. Is it pretty? Like a peacock’s tail. Color of the ribbon to be determined!

[UNLOCKED] Following the great tradition of turning one’s life into an adventure and whimsifying everything around us, this stretch goal will make your real-world trips more fun! Jakub Wisz from Double Proficiency will write a system-neutral ornithology-based adventure, incorporating elements from the book. With this zine, you’ll be able to perform augury (bird divination) while on a walk or even just by looking through a window. We’re planning ca. 40 pages, available as a printed add-on and a digital version!

[UNLOCKED] Our team (well, mostly Jakub) will create 50 unique, illustrated cards with adventure eggs: quest ideas and writing prompts inspired by birds. This digital deck will make it even easier to implement the material from the book in your game, cutting down on preparation time and letting you focus on what's most important—having fun with the other players.

[UNLOCKED] We will upgrade the digital Adventure Eggs deck to include all 100 birds from the book! That's 100 adventure hooks inspired by ornithology, folklore, and the occult, ready and waiting to be used as you see fit!

[UNLOCKED] That’s right, the cards are back! The deck is both a digital and a physical add-on covering all 100 birds in the book. Expect, as always, high quality cardboard, pretty tuck box, and handy references for games, walks in nature, and even card reading!

[UNLOCKED] Always be doodling! We will create a coloring book containing line art of all 100 bird illustrations—that’s over 100 pages for you to color. A digital version of the notebook will be available to all backers at all tiers, and a physical version as a physical add-on!

[UNLOCKED] Back by popular demand! When we unlock this stretch goal, you’ll be able to grab the entire bundle of physical add-ons at a better, lower price (unlocked through the power of printing at a larger scale!) 

The bundle will be available to add to any order containing physical books, either standard or deluxe edition! You will also be able to get additional copies of the unlocked physical stretch goals!

[LOCKED] Do you know about our Alchemist’s Toolkit? This system-neutral alchemy ruleset already allows you to make magical preparations with plants, minerals, and fungi. With this stretch goal, we’ll expand it to cover birds as well! Expect tons of ideas on how to incorporate feathers, eggs, birdsongs, and abstract essences into fantastical potions, poultices, and powders!

The Team