Become a birder

Local author Derek Lovitch, who also owns Freeport Wild Bird Supply, will be at the Freeport Community Library on July 23 at 7 p.m. to share highlights from his new book, “How to be a Better Birder.”

Lovitch has worked on avian research and education projects throughout the United States, has written numerous articles for birding publications, and was a columnist for Birding magazine.

“How to be a Better Birder” is an illustrated handbook providing all the essential tools you need to become a better birder. Lovitch offers a more effective way to go about identification–he calls it the “whole bird and more” approach that will enable birders to identify more birds, more quickly, more of the time.

He will demonstrate how to use geography and an understanding of habitats, ecology and even the weather to enrich the birding experience and help find something out of the ordinary. The book is an ideal resource for intermediate and advanced birders.

Author signing

On July 26 at 1 p.m., the Freeport Community Library will be hosting journalist Eric Laursen, author of “The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security since Reagan.”

Laursen will be at the library to discuss and sign his new book on the decades-long attempt to dismantle or diminish Social Security.

Laursen is an independent financial and political journalist, activist and commentator. A native of San Francisco and graduate of Columbia University in New York, he began his journalistic career as a reporter for Wall Street Letter, a weekly newsletter for the financial services industry. He later worked for a succession of publications: as a staff writer for Corporate Finance Magazine; editor of Asset International, a weekly newsletter for international investment firms; and as co-founder and managing editor of Plan Sponsor, a monthly magazine for North American pension executives. It was there he became interested in the debate over Social Security.