The subtitle is Three Acres, Twelve Months, and Thousands of Birds, which is the one sentence summary of just what goes on within, but doesn't quite prepare you for the quiet beauty and attention to detail that you are going to find within the pages.
I am a brand new birder. I have been to one festival, with four guided walks, and three lectures, and really that was all that it took. I wanted to know more, to be aware of what is and was around me, and most of all, have a hobby that I could do well into retirement that got me outdoors. Birding is perfect--unlike hiking, the pace is slow, and if anything, there is more attention to what is going on around you.
This book revels in that. The author is a life long birder in Connecticut who raises awareness of bird habits and eccentricities in a dramatic storyline that marches through the months of the year sequentially. He also places backyard bird performances against the backdrop of steadily encroaching development, conveying how various birds have been compelled to change their habits. Light pollution necessitated some behavioral shifts from daytime to nocturnal birdsong. City noise caused other birds to increase their pitch when they couldn’t hear their own songs. Birds have become, in a sense, refugees on long treks, leaving behind their known world and trying to adapt in the new. The subtext is all about what he does to help buffer against this on his personal three acres, which is a nice example of doing what you can with what you can control. This is a lovely book to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment