Born Again Bird Watcher

Back in 2007 my family and I had the good fortune to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria during its exhibition of artifacts from the Titanic. The exhibit was, without fear of hyperbole, extraordinary. Through the masterful curatorial skills with which the exhibition was planned, designed, and presented, the entire historic portrait of the Titanic, including the events of the voyage, sinking, and aftermath, was brought into clear focus for myself, my wife, and our then seven-year-old daughter. Although each of us had not only considerably different levels of interest in the subject, not to mention widely differing amounts of previous knowledge about it, we all came away from it with a better understanding of what had occurred, why, and its historical importance. Due to its multi-layered and highly effective style of presentation, memories of this marvelous exhibition were brought quickly to mind during my recent reading of John van Wyhe’s The Darwin Experience: The Story of the Man and His Theory of Evolution.
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Bird watching is one of those pastimes that can be learnt in five minutes but takes a lifetime to master (if even then). While it essentially requires only one book to practice – a field guide to the birds of the area in which one intends to watch birds – seemingly countless volumes have been written to help those seeking to improve and refine their skills. The sheer number of these books alone is sufficient to either bewilder or bankrupt the aspiring bird watcher; however not all provide any significantly different or more effective advice than many of the others. Fortunately, a recently published title, Laura Erickson’s The Bird Watching Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Birds in Your Backyard and Beyond, provides a wealth of information that is both valuable and effectively presented so as to yield the reader great opportunity to apply it and reap the benefits of increased understanding, proficiency, and enjoyment of their hobby.
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Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss, an award-winning collection of essays both personal and bryological, is this week’s featured book on The Well-read Naturalist.

My review of Timothy Egan’s latest book, The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, is now available at The Well-read Naturalist.

My review of Pete Dunne’s most recent book, Prairie Spring, is now published at The Well-read Naturalist.

There are three great loves in my life: my family, books, and natural history. Of these, two – books and natural history – make superb topics for innumerable essays that may interest a broad section of the reading public (while I could also write unendingly on the subject of my family, decorum and a reasonable sense of privacy prevents me from doing so to any length more than the occasional anecdote or reference). To natural history, particularly the watching and study of birdlife, I have devoted a substantial amount of time over the past few years. However as regular readers will know, I have a much broader interest in the natural world than birds alone; an interest the breadth of which demonstrates itself in the wide variety of subjects to which I devote untold hours spent reading. Thus it occurred to me: why not establish a site entirely devoted to the news and reviewing of natural history books? Giving myself no answer to the contrary, I have done precisely that in the creation of The Well-read Naturalist. (more…)

Of all the different styles of modern photography, the one that seems to elicit the most reticence from both amateurs and professionals alike is that of macro photography. This is indeed quite unfortunate, for it is through the practice of macro photography that so much of the ordinarily unseen details in our world become discoverable. Add to this the increasingly common availability to the average amateur photographer of at least “close-up” if not actually true macro photographic capability in even the most affordable of digital cameras and there is no reason whatsoever that everyone, particularly naturalists, possessing a recent model digital camera, a healthy sense of curiosity, and a copy of Alan L. Detrick’s Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers should not feel themselves entirely capable of exploring the minute yet endlessly fascinating corners of the natural world. (more…)

It was my great pleasure recently to review Prairie Spring, the latest published book of one of America’s great public naturalists, Pete Dunne, for one of America’s great bird watching periodicals,  Bird Watcher’s Digest. (more…)

Two of the possible definitions for the word “pathological” offered by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary are “altered or caused by a disease” and “being such to a degree that is extreme, excessive, or markedly abnormal.” While allowing for vast differences in the perspectives of those contemplating it, and certainly not to levy any moral judgment upon it, it is difficult not to conclude that Phoebe Snetsinger’s dedication to birding was indeed pathological. However once this definition is applied, the deeper and more difficult questions emerge. Was the disease cancer, depression, or the misogyny of mid-twentieth century America? Where is the line rightly drawn between hobby and obsession? In Life List, Olivia Gentile doesn’t necessarily answer these questions; however she does elicit them in the mind of the reader, and in the process adding a level of humanity to the story of Phoebe’s (it seems too formal to refer to her as Mrs. Snetsinger) life that makes it relevant and interesting to readers both within and without the birding community. (more…)