Birdology: Adventures with Hip Hop Parrots, Cantankerous Cassowaries, Crabby Crows, Peripatetic Pigeons, Hens, Hawks, and Hummingbirds by Sy Montgomery
Free Press, 2010
When we begin to comprehend who birds are, we deepen our capacity to approach, understand, and love these otherworldly creatures. And this, ultimately, is the priceless lesson of Birdology—it communicates a heartfelt fascination and awe for birds and restores our connection to these complex, mysterious fellow creatures.
The first hint of spring weather always sends me to my bird books. I enjoyed Birdology years ago and recently re-read it on a warmer-than-it-has-been afternoon. Every time I read Birdology, I’m always certain that each chapter is my favorite—until I read the next one.
Montgomery writes of feeding orphaned baby hummingbirds every twenty minutes with the help of tweezers and magnifying glass. She travels to the Wet Tropics of Queensland for a glimpse at the solitary, reclusive cassowary. She joins a research team studying social behavior and facial recognition in crows. She shares comical stories of her personality-rich backyard chickens. Her tribute to birds is entertaining, probing, and accepting.
Consider these remarkable thoughts from the chapter on falconry:
“The bird sits on its perch immobile, its head covered with a leather hood … a hooded bird doesn’t thrash or struggle; it won’t bite you or grab you in its talons. Instinctively, the bird knows better. It stays so calm that you might not even know that a hooded bird is alive. And in a sense, it is not. Putting a hood on a bird is like extinguishing a candle.”
Are birds really otherworldly? This book shows us that in many ways, they are. What do you love about our fascinating feathered friends?
(Interested in other books by Sy Montgomery? Read my review of The Soul of an Octopus here.)
