Learning the birds :

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Title :

Learning the birds : a midlife adventure / Susan Fox Rogers.

Title:

Learning the birds :

Author:

Rogers, Susan Fox

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

306 pages ; 24 cm

ISBN:

9781501762246

Production / Publication Information:

Ithaca [New York] : Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2022.

Contents:

I wish I knew -- Snow Bunting -- Learning the birds -- Bicky -- Methinks -- Florence -- Twitching -- Christmas bird count -- Don't move -- No other Everglades -- Little brother Henslow -- The other Leopold -- Good bird -- Guided -- Chiuit -- A perfect fall day -- Surviving the winter -- #1 birder -- Rusty Blackbird -- Dawn chorus -- Little blue -- So much to learn.

Summary:

"A midlife birding memoir that travels from New York State to Alaska as the author ventures out in pursuit of birds. History and natural history combine as the author comes to know the birds"--

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Language:

English

Genre:

Subject Term:

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	598.07 ROG	31330009147467	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	598.07 ROGERS	32133002616044	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"The thrill of quiet adventure. The constant hope of discovery. The reminder that the world is filled with wonder. When I bird, life is bigger, more vibrant." That is why Susan Fox Rogers is a birder. Learning the Birds is the story of how encounters with birds recharged her adventurous spirit.

When the birds first called, Rogers was in a slack season of her life. The woods and rivers that enthralled her younger self had lost some of their luster. It was the song of a thrush that reawakened Rogers, sparking a long-held desire to know the birds that accompanied her as she rock climbed and paddled, to know the world around her with greater depth. Energized by her curiosity, she followed the birds as they drew her deeper into her authentic self, and ultimately into love.

In Learning the Birds , we join Rogers as she becomes a birder and joins the community of passionate and quirky bird people. We meet her birding companions close to home in New York State's Hudson Valley as well as in the desert of Arizona and awash in the midnight sunlight of Alaska. Along on the journey are birders and estimable ornithologists of past generations--people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Florence Merriam Bailey--whose writings inspire Rogers's adventures and discoveries. A ready, knowledgeable, and humble friend and explorer, Rogers is eager to share what she sees and learns.

Learning the Birds will remind you of our passionate need for wonder and our connection to the wild creatures with whom we share the land.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

"When I bird, life is bigger, more vibrant," asserts Rogers (My Reach), an editor and teacher at Bard College, in these quietly arresting essays. Her story begins in 2009 when, at age 49, a "hollow and holy" birdcall "converted" her "to the tribe of binocular-toting people in hats and practical pants." From here, she recounts the next three years she spent birding, transporting readers with lush prose from her home in New York to Florida, Alaska, and a snowy Paris. In "Don't Move," she admires the "red underpants" of a great spotted woodpecker in the Bois de Vincennes, while "Good Bird" captures her joy at hearing the "cascading song" of a ruby-crowned kinglet in the Arizona desert. Meanwhile, a search for flamingos in the Everglades prompts her to consider how the proliferation of plume hunters diminished Florida's once thriving "perfect cloud of birds." Deepening these sparkling meditations on life, nature, and "the spirit of exploration" are Rogers's musings on the writings of naturalists John Burroughs, Roger Tory Peterson, and pioneering ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey, whose "life flowed with birds and with an intimacy with the natural world." With its whimsy and discerning intellect, this radiates beauty. (Apr.)

Library Journal Review

This book is an exploration of midlife told through the author's introduction to birding. Bard College writer in residence Rogers (My Reach) skillfully brings listeners along on her birding explorations., from the Catskills to Arizona and Alaska. As her relationship with a birding mentor grows, so does her understanding of the birding world and the related seminal figures and events around birding. She introduces Frank M. Chapman, originator of the "Christmas Bird Count," who transformed the grisly practice of killing as many birds as possible on Christmas Day to counting as many; and Nathan Leopold, of "Leopold and Loeb" infamy, who was also an accomplished birder and expert on the Kirtland's Warbler. Rosemary Benson narrates with a soothing and lyrical voice, evoking the quiet and calm of the natural world where the birds and birders converge. VERDICT This book is a delight, melding birding lore and the perils of transitioning to midlife. Recommended for medium and large public libraries or others where nature books are popular.--Gretchen Pruett