Your Zoologist's Primer: Birds Book Questions: Answered!
- Double Proficiency
- Nov 17, 2025
- 7 min read
Hi, we're making a bird book!
So, what's next?
Back in 2020, when we started working on our first book, Herbalist's Primer, we never expected this project to become this successful and to expand so much. In fact, we did very little planning: I just had an idea burning out a hole in my brain, I put together a sample spread from a magical/RPG plant guide, and shared it on Twitter.
The outpouring of interest and support was overwhelming—and I still cannot express how much it meant to me at that time. The 'plan' for that book and its crowdfunding was created post-factum; I had to scramble to come up with a way to satisfy the loudly expressed demand. That's why our Patreon was created, for example!
Then, as soon as that project was funded, I started receiving questions: what's next?
So, we released Geologist's Primer. And then, Mycologist's Primer became a thing.
And again and again, people kept asking: what's next?
So now, five years into this spur-of-the-moment project, we have a plan.
You see, I love this unique intersection of folklore, magic, natural sciences, and gaming. This is where I feel at home. I live for fun facts, did-you-knows, and today-I-learneds. Curiosity and mid-depth research are my default state.
And it's my absolute pleasure to tell you about the plan we have for the future.
Welcome to the Bird Book
Zoologist's Primer is intended as a four-volume set of animal-centered books: birds, mammals, cold-blooded vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, fishes), and invertebrates. We have decided to split the animal kingdom this way based partially on the widely accepted biological taxonomy and partially on our quantitative estimates of recorded folklore and magical writing about each of the categories.
Take birds, for example: there is a long, long recorded history of magical and folklore use of our feathered friends: multiple divination methods, medicinal uses of feathers or innards, a whole branch of egg-based magic, fables, superstitions, and alchemical recipes. Putting together a list of 100 bird species with oodles and oodles of lore is an easy task; it's harder to cut it down to a hundred, if we're honest.
On the other hand, amphibians. We have frogs, toads (technically, they're frogs; there is actually no taxonomical nor evolutionary difference between frogs and toads, it's just a cosmetic and informal distinction. Kind of like between doves and pigeons), salamanders, newts (salamanders, really), axolotls (again, a salamander), caecilians... What else is there...? As far as folklore or magical writings go, there is very little distinction between species of newts, for example, and while we can extrapolate "new" magical abilities from biological ones, it wouldn't really be an accurate representation of the real-world folklore and magical practice.
Hence, we decided to put amphibians together with reptiles and fishes; looked at as a group, they can confidently fill a proper book without us having to misrepresent their frequency in sources we're using.
We're facing the same situation with invertebrates. Sure, there's plenty folklore about bees, dragonflies, spiders—as groups. Could we make a full book on 100 species of mollusks, each with solid folklore sources? No.
However, this grouping demands accepting a set naming convention for all four books. I'd be the first to sign up to write the Ornithologist's Primer. We can make a Mammologist's Primer, why not. But our cold-blooded vertebrate book would have to have both Herpetologist and Ichthyologist in it, and the invertebrate book is completely doomed: Entomologist, Arachnologist, Carcinologist, Myriapodologist, Malacologist... Believe me, I'd make a book each if I could; but nobody would read it and I'd have to make up 75% of the contents.
We have to acknowledge that folklore and magical practice has been focusing on some parts of the animal kingdom more than on others. This is actually also a real problem in biology even now: ask any zoologist about species over- and underrepresented in modern research. They'll talk your ear off, bless them.
With all of that in mind, we decided to keep it simple: Zoologist's Primer: birds, mammals, cold-blooded vertebrates, invertebrates.
Let's talk about contents of Zoologist's Primer!
Our previous three volumes were designed as fantasy field guides, to aid in identification and foraging/collecting (in fictional settings!). With animals, we want to take a similar but not identical approach. You see: we love animals. I personally don't want any to get hurt; I haven't really even eaten meat since I was about five years old. I find the matter of hunting for sport or "ingredients" problematic. And so, Zoologist's Primer will not be a guide to hunting, trapping, skinning, or cooking. It's also not a monster manual and will not provide tips on how to best kill a tiger.
Instead, it's a guide to coexistence which takes into account common and historical interactions between species. For example, the bird book covers matters of aviculture, diets and behaviors, conservation, and in some cases: creating a friendly relationship with individual birds (who didn't ever dream of befriending a crow?). It's a book for animal-lovers who want to create a safe world for threatened species and (possibly) adopt wild birds as pets in their TTRPGs. Don't tell me your party ranger doesn't want a pet falcon. Everybody wants a pet falcon.
The foraging part is also there: we talk about ethical feather collecting, bottling bird songs, recognizing eggs, magical uses for abandoned nests, and more. From the magical angle, 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 giant eagles, etc. We're also not ignoring reality: in the book, you'll also find information on modern and historical practices, such as culinary use, pigeon racing, or teaching songs to captive birds. We obviously don't encourage anything that causes harm to animals; that being said, it would be dishonest to pretend that customs like cockfighting do not exist. It would be like pretending that climate change isn't real.
Your Questions, Answered
On Kickstarter, we received some comments and questions about the new book that we'd love to address in more detail.
Elizabeth
As a falconer, this is really exciting! I hope to see some falcon representation, especially if there's a Merlin!
Well, there will certainly be falcons! They're a fascinating group from the folklore view (ask any Polish or Ukrainian person about a song Hej Sokoły). We're planning to write about falconry separately as well!
Wasprine
I hope some dinosaurs will make it in the bird book (...).
Sorry but no. The trouble with dinosaurs is that we learned about them way, way late! Not much folklore about what was discovered only in the 19th century. That being said, paleontology is one of Jakub's absolute favorite things, so we might do something with it later down the line—maybe as a project less focused on folklore and more on worldbuilding / TTRPG applications.
If you want to delve into connections between dinosaur fossils and mythology, there is always The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times by Adrienne Mayor. This book aims to connect, for example, the legend of a griffin with Protoceratops, and while it's regarded as "controversial" by paleontologists, it is nevertheless a fun and fast read that might inspire some fictional worlds.
Breezy Day Stewart
Will cryptozoology be included?
Kinda. We definitely will cover mythological birds and bird-like creatures, but not as separate entries in the main part of the book. But: we're just looking for an excuse to do a cryptozoology book, so keep the demand coming!
Alex
Do you have a timeline in mind?
Each of this books takes about a year and a half to write. With some time to make Kickstarter stretch goals and—uh—rest, that's about two years per project. Sometimes it's faster, sometime it's slower. I happen to have a bunch of chronic and/or autoimmune conditions, so my productivity varies greatly day to day. We've been working on the bird book for a while, though, and I'm hoping we can run another campaign next year (subject to publishing schedules).
Silver Griffon
Crows (plus how to tell them apart from ravens please)
If it looks like a bird, it's a crow. If it looks like a beak with a bird tacked on, it's a raven. (I love my corvids.)
Griffons, tressym & phoenixes.
Griffons and phoenixes are mythological creatures, so we'll certainly find some space for them in the appendices. Tressym are a D&D creation (like a beholder, therefore copyrighted if not trademarked) and have nothing to do with real-world animals, natural history, or folklore, so they're unlikely to be featured.
Lydia Jorgenson
If you do the dodo, please do the real dodo
We will do the dodo! (do-do-do!) But fret not, we're always striving to use the modern research and up-to-date information.
Matt Blakeley
You should have a volume 5 of Really Icky Stuff, like slime molds.
Hey, slime molds are cool! And they were already included in Mycologist's Primer.
Troy
(...) a compendium resource for homebrew fantasy crafting.
That is exactly what we want to keep making! I am an avid crafter, and nothing brings me as much joy as coming up with "preparations" for fantasy use. Most of my characters are alchemists or enchanters. Magical crafting is the main inspiration for this entire series, and I'll never not write about it.
I would implore you not to number these volumes. There may be some entries that people are not interested in (...). It would be a bummer to have a row of books lined up on the shelf that are "volumes 1, 3, and 4" respectively.
Fair point. The numbering was mostly there to set the order of release but is indeed unnecessary after the books are published. You can consider it scrapped. And your other questions are covered in detail above!
Other, not bird-related questions:
Matthew Brown
Is there a plan to crowdfund the Aphelion RPG. It sounds very cool
Yeah! The plan is there, but the game is still in development. You can follow the project by signing up for our newsletter!
Felicyia Dawson
kinda surprised there isn't a tree one.
Joe Ruether
Agree with this, especially with things like the wood that wands are made with.
Oh my, yes! I'd love to make a tree book. There is so much fascinating lore about trees, timber, woodworking, carpentry, wand-making, and similar topics! We covered some trees in Herbalist's Primer, but I agree that there is still plenty to talk about. However, we really cannot work on more than one book at a time, and there's already a fair number of books about the magic of trees and even wand-making on the market.