I was stuck in the airport, once again waiting on a connecting flight (this happens to me all the time during my spring travels for eating disorders awareness week) when I happened to wander past a bookshop and spy the title “Birdology”.
Of course I went right in.
Little did I know that the author, Sy Montgomery, is one of the country’s leading naturalists who has written scripts for many of my favorite nature programs and is the author of “The Good, Good Pig”, a New York Times best selling book.
Never having been much for watching movie credits and not having any particular interest in hogs, I might never have known this, were it not for Sy’s and my shared love of all things avian.
“Birdology” chronicles Sy’s personal experiences with diverse bird species, from the chickens she shares her backyard with (she calls them “the ladies”) to baby hummingbirds, predatory raptors, and the infamous Cassowary, a bird so powerful and with such ancient lineage that it suddenly became awfully hard for me to believe I wasn’t right in this post.
While there are a few of what I commonly call the “I had a bird once….” stories (you know, the sad ones you know you will have nightmares about later) scattered throughout certain chapters in “Birdology”, and I did my best to skip over those whenever I could see them coming, overall, reading “Birdology” deepened my understanding of both my favorite topic and my favorite bird.
To learn more: http://symontgomery.com/
I’m loving your posts:) just wondered if you’ve read a book called Corvus by Esther Woolfson or The secret lives of garden birds by Dominic Couzens. Both are brilliant books. I’ve become fascinated with all things Bird to try and stop my ocd thoughts and the more I find out, the more amazing they become:) If you like seagulls, then you’ll love a video on youtube about a seagull who steals doritos from a shop in Aberdeen in Scotland lol xx
Hi Mandy – I haven’t read either book – they are now on my list. 🙂 LOVE the seagull video…..thanks for sharing – and reading! 🙂