A new kind of birding book! "The Birding Life—A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield"

I was very excited when Carly from Clarkson Potter Publishers asked me if I'd like to review "The Birding Life—A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield," by Laurence Sheehan. The book sounded unique. It was about birding, but focused on birds as artistic muses and home decor inspiration! Could a description be any better? I couldn't wait for the book to arrive...

The cover alone is mesmerizing. I love vintage bird art...

When I cracked the spine, I knew I was sold. The first page I opened to was "Birds by Design: The Genius of Charley Harper," and a beautiful photo of his flying Northern Cardinal was staring back at me. Charley Harper is known worldwide, but he produced his art in Cincinnati, and to birders and nature lovers here he's something of a folk hero. He was involved in the local nature scene and helped support the Hamilton County parks, the Oxbow, the Cincinnati Zoo, and the Cincinnati Nature Center with his art. So, if Charley was in the book, it had to be good...

We grew up with Charley Harper's art. I was happy to see a chapter devoted to his unique vision.

...if that wasn't enough, I did a quick page flip and landed on "Field Trip, Magee Marsh, Ohio—Warbler Capital of the World." I've been to Magee Marsh and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) and love it there, so I was happy to see a story about Kenn and Kim Kaufman who tirelessly work to bring the phenomenon of spring migration along Lake Erie to the world. Kenn is the author of "Kingbird Highway," one of my favorite birding books, and myriad well-known field guides (I think I have them all), and Kim is the executive director of BSBO. This book just kept getting better and better...

Spring migration at Magee Marsh and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory

...but don't worry. The entire book is not about Ohio birders and their art, although you do get a glimpse of Julie Zickafoose's art studio and Bill Thompson's library—it's about bird lovers all over the United States and how birds enhance their lives and inspire their art and home decor. You'll find a bit of history too, with entries on Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, and Roger Tory Peterson.

...however, it's not all good. I might have been better off NOT knowing what James Prosek's studio looks like, because now I'm green with envy...

With over 200 photographs and interesting text, "The Birding Life, A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield," by Laurence Sheehan, is sure to be a favorite of birders and avian art lovers...

I just finished reading "The Big Year..."

...for the fourth time! Can you tell I like this book? I remember the first time I saw it. I was in Barnes & Noble, and it was sitting on a table in the entryway. Its cover jacket art was gorgeous--a tern sitting on a pair of binoculars! "Whoa...what is this?" went through my mind. The title was "The Big Year: a tale of man, nature and fowl obsession," and it was by Mark Obmascik. I bought it on the spot, brought it home, and couldn't put it down. I loved it! What birder wouldn't? The book is about three passionate birders who take a year of their lives to scramble all over North America looking for birds--all of them--the 675 or so "regular" species that live in North America plus all the "rarities" or accidentals and vagrants that wander in too. It's an intense competition of will and stamina fueled by sacrifice, obsession, and money.

Over the years I bought several copies of the book to give as gifts to friends, and I loaned my book out several times too, including just recently, so when Kristin from Free Press contacted me to review the movie tie-in edition of the book I was happy. I wanted to read the book one more time before I saw the movie, so the timing was perfect. The fourth time around I loved the book just as much as the first three. Maybe more...

The new book cover for the tie-in edition to The Big Year movie!

(Click here for the official movie trailer.)

I had to laugh at myself when I looked at the new cover, and I wondered how many other birders did the same thing I did...check out the binoculars to see what the stars were toting. (If you're curious, it looks like Owen Wilson, who plays Sandy Komito, is carrying Zeiss...Steve Martin, who plays Al Levantin, is holding Swarovski...and Jack Black, who plays OHIO birder, Greg Miller, prefers Kowa.) And I hate to admit it, but I also gave the American Robin hanging off Steve Martin's bins the once over (did you?). He's a bit too small, but I know in the movie the birds are going to be spot on because Greg Miller was a bird adviser for the film and worked very hard to keep the birding real. How do I know? I actually got to meet Greg Miller at the Midwest Birding Festival a few weeks ago. He gave a presentation on his birding adventures during his Big Year and also talked about his experiences with the film. Better than that, though, I stayed in the same hotel as Greg and spent part of the first evening talking with him! Wow! Greg is incredibly nice and kind, and I really enjoyed meeting him...

Greg Miller and I in the lobby of Hotel Lakeside at the Midwest Birding Symposium.

(Click here for Greg Miller's birding blog.)

...before you see the movie--or after, make sure you read the book! The movie is based on the book, but it's a little different. I've heard the names have been changed and from what I've seen in the previews, so have a few of the adventures.

I love robin's egg blue...

...especially when it's on a robin's egg!

...yesterday morning as I walked past the dwarf Weeping Cherry that borders the front walk and drive, an American Robin flew out of the tree. "Wouldn't it be cool if a nest were in there..." went through my mind, so I leaned in for a peak, and wow...robin's egg blue is what I found!

...just the day before I had received in the mail, "Avian Architecture," by Peter Goodfellow--an exciting book about birds and how they build their nests. I had been reading it at breakfast and had bird nests on the brain, so I was doubly excited to find the nest!

You can see that Mrs. Robin (who does all the nest building) is not tidy in her work, but...

...she builds a nest to last with heavy mud to reinforce the walls, which form a safe cup to hold the eggs and nestlings.

...sweet Robin's egg blue.

...our dwarf Weeping Cherry tree. Mama built the nest at the top of the most heavily leafed area. Needless to say, we're not using the front door now! Hope the nest is successful.

When I finish reading "Avian Architecture," I'll write about it. From the little I've seen, it's awesome! I know I'm going to love the book (it has wonderful artwork in it too...).

A Cormorant taking off from the water...doing the Cormorant Hop!

...back to the Captiva Island, Florida posts!
Birding Sanibel Island and the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge
Cormorants are always fun to watch. I like to follow them when they are diving for fish, but watching their take-offs is sometimes even more entertaining. They don't pitter-pat, pitter-pat, pitter pat across the water in a running motion before eventually hauling their stout and dripping wet bodies out of the water and into the air--they hop, hop, HOP!

A Double-crested Cormorant swims the waters of the Ding Darling NWR.

His sparkling turquoise-colored eyes and orangish face mask command attention...

...hmmmm...that water looks like it's starting to boil. Something must be going on with those feet!

SPLASH! Cormorants use both feet at the same time to push off the water when they are taking off, basically hopping their way in huge leaps across the water. If you follow the splashes you can see this fellow's progress...a big splash, then undisturbed water, then another big splash, etc. (One of my favorite bird reference books is the National Geographic Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America by Mel Baughman. I like this book because is discusses bird behavior and general information instead of bird ID. You can read more about the cormorant's take-off method in this book.)

...the hops are getting further apart...and you can see his two feet working together!

...do we have lift off?

...no, but almost...one more really big hop should do it...

...see you later C-bird!

...these photos were taken on March 22, 2011 at the Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island, Florida. It was so beautiful...warm, sunny, and blue!

“The Great Penguin Rescue” Giveaway

The Great Penguin Rescue: 40,000 Penguins, a Devastating Oil Spill, and the Inspiring Story of the World's Largest Animal Rescue

by Dyan deNapoli

Free Press

320 pages

I just finished reading “The Great Penguin Rescue” by Dyan deNapoli, and thanks to Free Press, I have three copies to give away! Yeah!! For the next seven days, anyone who leaves a comment on my blog will automatically be entered in the giveaway. The more comments you leave…the more chances you have to win. At the end of seven days, I will print out all the comments for the week and put them in a bowl…and draw three out. If you’re not into commenting, send me an email. I will put all email entries in the bowl as well.

About the book (psstt…you’ll love it!)
"The Great Penguin Rescue" is an account of the world’s largest (and most successful) animal rescue ever. It takes place in South Africa after a tanker named the Treasure went down, spilling 1,300 tons of oil into the ocean and contaminating the habitat of nearly 40,000 African penguins (which is 41% of the world’s population of African penguins). Forty-one percent!!! Almost half the world’s population of this incredible bird was at risk and likely to die if a rescue wasn’t made…and quick. DeNapoli’s book chronicles the entire rescue operation giving a first-hand view of what happened. The book is a fast read because it’s hard to put down—you want to keep reading to learn every detail of the rescue. I was amazed at the effort involved in running a rescue operation…and of the sacrifices the volunteers made for the penguins. In a matter of days, people from all over the world massed to save these birds, most of whom were lay volunteers who needed to be trained. In addition to the comprehensive recounting of what it takes to put together and run a rescue effort, deNapoli weaves in inspiring stories of penguins she has worked with through the years, passing on a deeper (and more intimate) understanding of the species and probably a greater appreciation of them as well. At the end of three months when the massive rescue operation finally came to a close, 95% of all the penguins rescued were saved thanks to the work of over 12,500 people. 20,000 penguins had been rescued, washed, force-fed and finally rehabilitated, while another 20,000 had been captured and moved to a safer location. In all, 40,000 penguins, or almost half the world’s population, had been saved…

I took a lot of notes while I read this book, looking for perfect excerpts to help impart the meaning of the book, but I ended up with 7 pages of “meaningful” quotes. Basically, everything was meaningful! I settled with these four:

It was winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and the darkness of the South African morning surrounded us as we made our way to the rescue center. Our group was quiet during the twenty-five minute ride, each person lost in their own thoughts about the task we were about to face. Although collectively we had more than one hundred years of experience working with the penguins, none of us had dealt with a situation of this magnitude. The truth was that no one ever had. In the history of organized wildlife rescue, there had never been this many penguins—or any other kind of animal—oiled and recovered alive at once before. In fact, this penguin rescue would soon prove to be twice as large as any that had been attempted in the past. And it would double again in size before it was over (deNapoli 7).

On the day that Salt River opened, the Red Cross was there to take care of the people working the rescue effort. Their station was set up just inside the main entrance, on the right-hand side. This was where snacks and drinks were distributed to the volunteers, and where their injuries were treated. When they first arrived, Red Cross staff and volunteers probably had no idea they would spend the next few months of their lives stitching up deep wounds from vicious penguin bites, bandaging fingers shredded from force-feeding the birds, and giving tetanus shots to scores of injured volunteers. The more severe wounds ranged from fingers that had been slashed by razor-sharp beaks while feeding penguins to facial injuries inflicted by frightened birds. Most of these cuts and gashes could be treated simply by disinfecting and bandaging them; still, I imagine these Red Cross workers were quite surprised by the amount of suture material they went through during the course of the Treasure rescue. Penguins may look cute and cuddly but they are actually quite ornery, and most people are unaware of how powerfully they can bite. Their beaks can split human flesh like a steak knife slicing through butter. And because of their fierce jaw strength, these lacerations can be quite severe and surprisingly painful (deNapoli 96).

South Africa’s only penguins had long been struggling to survive and now they were in serious trouble; this oil spill could very well be the event that doomed them to an early extinction. Our goal in coming to Cape Town was to try to save these seabirds, not only as individual animals but as a species (deNapoli 117).

The average number of penguins being washed each day at that point was 550; but on this evening, the penguin washers pushed themselves harder so they could get through the remaining oiled birds. They were so close to completing their long task that they didn’t want to stop, not when the end was so tantalizingly near. That Saturday, they washed 693 penguins. It was the second largest number of birds to be washed in a single day during the Treasure rescue effort. Incredibly, it had taken just twenty-nine days to clean all the oiled penguins at Salt River (deNapoli 220).

Dyan deNapoli was formerly a Senior Penguin Aquarist at Boston’s New England Aquarium. She has spent the last fifteen years working with penguins and teaching more than 250,000 people about them. You can learn more about deNapoli by going to her website (www.thepenguinlady.com) or reading her blog, “The Penguin Lady.” The author is donating a portion of her proceeds from this book to penguin rescue, research, and conservation organizations, as well as to the Gulf oil spill relief efforts.

A fun new bird book!

I just finished reading “Flyaway,” by Suzie Gilbert, and I loved it! “Flyaway” is a book about birds, a bird rehabber, and the adventures she and her family go through as she builds Flyaway, Inc., a non-profit bird rehabilitation organization.

Suzie steps us through the evolution of a dream, sharing stories of the love, work, doubt, fears, and sacrifice that go into caring for wild creatures. Her stories are fun and quickly pull the reader in. I can only imagine what those early days were like in her house as she cared for the birds in her bathroom, kitchen…bedroom…get the picture? At one point, while housing an injured Great Blue Heron in her bathroom, her husband remarks “Have you noticed,” he whispered, “that it smells like Sea World in here?” Comic relief comes in quick quips like that, as well as hysterically funny situations, but unfortunately, not all of the stories have a happy ending because not all the birds can be saved—and parting with those who have recovered isn’t easy either. Be prepared to grab a tissue when George (a crow you will fall in love with) says goodbye to Suzie and flies away into the wild.

Years and years ago, while I was still in college, I worked as an Animal Health Technician in a veterinary office, so I immediately identified with lots of Suzie’s stories. I’ve restrained injured ducks and geese, taken radiographs of broken bones, and debrided necrotic tissue and days-old lacerations crawling maggots, but I was always on the other side of the table. I wasn’t the one going home with an injured bird to feed and watch over 24 hours a day. Suzie shows us what it’s like to totally give oneself over to the care of birds no one else will care for. In this passage, Suzie quickly paints a picture of what it’s like when you become an orphaned baby songbird's mama:

“Tiny, delicate, and insatiably hungry, baby songbirds are food-processing machines. When they’re hatchlings (just born) and young nestlings (older but still unfeathered), they need to be fed every fifteen to twenty minutes from sunup to sundown. Then they knock off for the night, giving whatever exhausted creature is caring for them—be it avian or human—a little time to collapse before work resumes at daybreak.

When the babies’ pinfeathers start coming in the feedings can be moved up to every half hour, then the time between feedings can be slowly increased in increments of five minutes. When they’re around around 2 ½ weeks old, their feathers have opened and they’re out of the nest and perching, and you’re practically on vacation—feeding them only once an hour.”

We all have a role to play in the quest to save the planet and its wildlife. Susie has found her place. By rehabbing one bird at a time, she is working to preserve and protect wildlife. I like Suzie's belief in the individual, and her conviction that every bird has value:

“If we’re talking about the greatest return for one’s effort, then never mind the baby birds – why rehab wildlife at all?
Exactly, critics say; rehabbers are nothing but a bunch of bunny-huggers wasting their time. Populations are what count, not individuals. It’s not worth the effort.
First, when any potential critic looks down on me from his lofty position and deigns to grade my effort, I tend to ignore (or mock) him out of principle. But this is an argument easily won. Although wildlife rehabilitation begins with the individual, there is a ripple effect that extends far beyond the single animal. If critics of wildlife rehabilitation are looking for numbers, they will find them not in the release rates of a single rehabilitator but in the numbers of people who have been reached and educated because of her (or him)."

...and there's more! You know how I love bird art... The book is illustrated with beautiful drawings by Laura Westlake. I love her soft style. She really captures personalities in each of her illustrations.

If you'd like to learn more about Suzie Gilbert and Flyaway, Inc., click here for Suzie's Website. You can buy the book on the Website or purchase it on Amazon. You can also make a donation to help support Flyaway, Inc. on the Website.

I learned about Flyaway through TLC Book Tours. There is always something good to read posted there!

Sandwich Terns and what John James Audubon thought about them...

Birding Longboat Key, Florida

...continued from Thursday's post on the sweet little Sanderlings.

These three Sandwich Terns with their mustard-tipped bills quickly became favorites of mine during our stay in Florida. Because they were never far apart from each other and huddled together like they were old friends, I started thinking of them as The Three Tenors, and I would not have been surprised if they had broken out in song.

The early morning sunlight was still soft across the beach, but it was growing higher in the sky by the minute.

...face into the wind like a good little Sandwich Tern!

...even though the mustard-tipped bill has nothing to do with their name, it really does fit perfectly with Sandwich Tern!

Wanting to learn a little bit more about these cute little terns, I did a bit of googling, and came across an entry written by none other than John James Audubon himself! I had stumbled across the 1840 "First Octavo Edition" of John James Audubon's seven-volume set of "Birds of America," which is online and available to all on Audubon's site. Here is the intro to Audubon's entry on Sandwich Terns:

"On the 26th of May, 1832, while sailing along the Florida Keys in Mr. THRUSTON's barge, accompanied by his worthy pilot and my assistant, I observed a large flock of Terns, which, from their size and other circumstances, I would have pronounced to be Marsh Terns, had not the difference in their manner of flight convinced me that they were of a species hitherto unknown to me. The pleasure which one feels on such an occasion cannot easily be described, and all that it is necessary for me to say on the subject at present is, that I begged to be rowed to them as quickly as possible. A nod and a wink from the pilot satisfied me that no time should be lost, and in a few minutes all the guns on board were in requisition. The birds fell around us; but as those that had not been injured remained hovering over their dead and dying companions, we continued to shoot until we procured a very considerable number. On examining the first individual picked up from the water, I perceived from the yellow point of its bill that it was different from any that I had previously seen, and accordingly shouted "A prize! a prize! a new bird to the American Fauna!" And so it was, good reader, for no person before had found the Sandwich Tern on any part of our coast. A large basket was filled with them, and we pursued our course."

What a difference 178 years makes! To read the rest of this chapter, click here. To access the book's online table of contents, click here.

...related to this subject, I just finished reading a book called "No Woman Tenderfoot; Florence Merriam Bailey, Pioneer Naturalist," by Harriet Kofalk. Florence Merriam Bailey was a proponent of studying live birds in their natural environment instead of studying birds that had been shot. She also organized the Smith College Audubon Society and led students to boycott the manufacturing of feathered hats, the millinery style that was killing more than five million birds a year. Through her writing and flyers, she helped turn the tide and no doubt saved many of our beautiful herons and egrets from extinction. It's an interesting book written in 1989. (My cousin, Mary Ann, found this book in a used book store and sent it to me. Thanks, Mary Ann!)

...taken later in the day on a different beach and in much brighter sunlight.

I love that face, and who can resist their mustard-tipped bills?

A good book for the cold winter nights ahead…

I just finished reading “A Year on the Wing, Four Seasons in a Life with Birds,” by Tim Dee, and I really enjoyed it. Much of the book takes place in England, which is what first appealed to me. Since starting my blog last January and making friends with many of the British bird bloggers, I’ve learned so much about the European birds. This book helped me reinforce that knowledge. Written in a beautiful, poetic style, you will want to linger over the pages—not speed through them. “A Year on the Wing” is a perfect book to get you through the gray days of January. Travel along with the author as he follows the birds through the year with a special concentration on migration. One of my favorite paragraphs in the book illustrates how devoted the author is to the birds and how sensitive he is to their lives, in particular, to their seasonal journeys:

"What must it be like to be so sensitive to the magnetism of the earth that you are able to taste the iron in the air; to be drawn up into that air as if evaporated; to feel the inching creep of longer nights pushing you away from what you know toward what you don’t? What must it be like to hatch from an egg and look up from a nest and know the stars already? As if your paper-thin skull were a planetarium, along with the smooth curve of your late abandoned eggshell and the cup or your nest, too, as if the skies and the stars had pressed their map into everything there is of you."

"A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady"

One of my favorite nature books is A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden. Written in 1906, it is a hand-written record of her daily walks and observations of the countryside around the small village of Olton in Warwickshire, England. Edith Holden is a talented artist and fills the pages of her book with beautiful watercolor illustrations of the wildlife and scenery found along the way. Rendered with a naturalist’s eye for detail, her paintings are soft, colorful and engaging. Her love and deep understanding of nature is apparent in every painting. She also scatters her favorite poems in with the illustrations and includes historical information and even folk mottoes.

Here is her entry for today’s date, February 9, 1906:

Snow-storm in the night, this morning we looked out on a white landscape, this is the first deep snow we have had this winter. I swept a space free on the lawn and strewed it with bread and rice. Crowds of birds came. I counted eight Tits at one time on the cocoa-nut and the tripod of sticks supporting it. There were some terrible battles among the Tits this morning. One tiny Blue-cap took possession of the cocoa-nut sitting down in the middle of it and bidding defiance to all the others. It was very funny to see him squatting in the shell, sparring and hissing at a Great Tit who came at him with open wings and beak. There was a partial eclipse of the moon visible this morning at 5:57 a.m. At 8 oclock in the evening there was a beautiful rainbow-coloured halo round the moon, unusually bright and distinct.

Edith Holden’s little coconut bird feeder on page 176 in her book.

One of these days, I’m going to make one for my yard.

I wonder if they dipped into their winter food stores this week…

There are several types of birds who stash food in the autumn, preparing for the harsh winter ahead. These birds have larger spatial memories than non-caching birds, which help them keep track of the position of objects in space. In our area, food-caching birds are White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice and chickadees.

In autumn nuthatches harvest and store hundreds of 

seeds throughout their territory using each hiding place 

only once. They hide seeds behind bark, in cracks and 

crevices of tree trunks, or in knotholes. Sometimes, they 

even cover the seeds with moss or lichens.

By spreading their food around, a behavior that’s called 

scatter-hoarding, food-caching birds help guarantee 

their survival by making it less likely their entire 

food stash will be raided by other birds. 

Blue Jays harvest several thousand acorns each fall 

and bury them in the ground. Any acorns the Blue Jays 

don’t eat sprout into saplings, so squirrels aren’t 

the only ones important to seed dispersal.

To read more about seed-caching birds, get Secret Lives of Common Birds, Enjoying Bird Behavior Through the Seasons, by Marie Read. This book has a lot of interesting bird behavior tid-bits and very beautiful photos.