author
Norma Stillwell
A naturalist and bird-song recordist, she wrote with the curiosity of a field guide and the warmth of a travel companion. Her work brings readers close to American birds and the landscapes they inhabit.
1 Audiobook
Key and Guide to Native Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Dallas County
by Norma Stillwell
About the author
Norma J. Stillwell was an American naturalist and author whose writing grew out of hands-on field work. She is known for Bird Songs (published by Doubleday in 1964), a book about the adventure and technique of recording the songs of American birds.
Earlier, she prepared Key and Guide to Native Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Dallas County, a practical 1939 guide designed to help beginners get acquainted with local plant life in North Texas. That mix of careful observation and plainspoken usefulness seems to run through her work.
Archival records at Cornell show that she and Jerry E. Stillwell also built a substantial body of ornithological material, including letters, field notes, journals, and work connected with bird-call recordings and the albums Bird Songs of Dooryard, Field, and Forest. Reliable biographical details about her life are limited online, but the surviving record makes clear that she was a serious observer of nature with a gift for sharing what she learned.