{"id":6102,"date":"2026-03-12T23:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/?p=6102"},"modified":"2026-03-12T23:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:01:51","slug":"the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/","title":{"rendered":"<B>The Feather Detective<\/B> by Chris Sweeney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"float: left; padding-right: 20px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/220160384-the-feather-detective\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\" alt=\"The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/220160384-the-feather-detective\">The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/5278517.Chris_Sweeney\">Chris Sweeney<\/a><br \/>\nMy rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/8432308787\">4 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Roxie Laybourne was a diminutive woman, but a firebrand who made a lasting impression at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and many airlines. She was an expert at identifying birds using forensic methods she invented herself in days before DNA sequencing was possible. As a young woman she was called on to identify some bird remains during a deadly airline crash caused by that bird and that catapulted her into a career in bird identification. The book is basically a biography, not a criminal whodunnit. Roxie did testify in some criminal cases and even some civil trials, although her testimony may not have been crucial, but her main focus over the years was aviation safety. Bird strikes do bring down planes and kill people. Her work identifying bird species led to establishing standards for strength of windshields and engines, but also helped airports, air bases and airlines with knowing migration patterns at specific times so that they can mitigate the risks. She no doubt saved many lives during her career and mentored many others. Much of the book deals with the struggles of a woman without a PhD fighting her way up the ladder in a world of men with doctorates. I can&#8217;t say the book was riveting, but I found Roxie to be an interesting character and there was enough detective work and bird facts to pass muster. I&#8217;ll stretch a 3.5 to a 4 for this rating.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/list\/12975428-russell-atkinson\">View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris Sweeney My rating: 4 of 5 stars Roxie Laybourne was a diminutive woman, but a firebrand who made a lasting impression at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris Sweeney My rating: 4 of 5 stars Roxie Laybourne was a diminutive woman, but a firebrand who made a lasting impression at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OnWords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Russ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Russ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Russ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"headline\":\"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1746178312l\\\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1746178312l\\\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1746178312l\\\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.gr-assets.com\\\/images\\\/S\\\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\\\/books\\\/1746178312l\\\/220160384._SX98_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/\",\"name\":\"OnWords\",\"description\":\"Reflections of a writer on language and life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.ackgame.com\\\/onwords\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1\",\"name\":\"Russ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Russ\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/russ.atkinson1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/studio.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCAtS1H93Hh-6ptZ-6WzKpMw\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords","og_description":"The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris Sweeney My rating: 4 of 5 stars Roxie Laybourne was a diminutive woman, but a firebrand who made a lasting impression at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/","og_site_name":"OnWords","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","article_published_time":"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Russ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Russ","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/"},"author":{"name":"Russ","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"headline":"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney","datePublished":"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/"},"wordCount":281,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/","name":"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney - OnWords","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-12T23:01:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1746178312l\/220160384._SX98_.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/the-feather-detective-by-chris-sweeney\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/","name":"OnWords","description":"Reflections of a writer on language and life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/#\/schema\/person\/654f3245633e56a118601748ce7c22e1","name":"Russ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Russ"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6d5f88feffeb51157b4512719048eefe58839a006ff50cd01d8ca0c316d7d99?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/russ.atkinson1","https:\/\/studio.youtube.com\/channel\/UCAtS1H93Hh-6ptZ-6WzKpMw"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p51pCz-1Aq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6103,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ackgame.com\/onwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}