Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience

Mynott, a birder and former chief of Cambridge Univ. Press, is fascinated by birds and by the human response to them: why do we expend so much effort to observe, catalog, describe, listen to and study birds? Citing a broad range of sources (Romantic poets, Japanese haiku masters, the Song of Solomon, Monty Python, Thoreau), Mynott ponders our perceptions of worth, our emotional responses to landscapes, and the process of vision itself. Most people respond only unconsciously to birds-a flash of color, a burst of melody, wheeling flight-and Mynott encourages active observation, springboarding to a discussion of general awareness. Elsewhere he tackles the human penchant for collecting, but he also addresses birder-specific idiosyncrasies like ""twitching,"" when a flock of birders convene on the location of an unusual sighting, where they mark their lists and disappear just as quickly as they arrived. Mynott is also happy to goof on himself and his fellows, presenting a bird-spotting version of the Beaufort wind speed intensity index (level 9 birder behavior includes ""high anxiety, traveling long distances at great expense... losing sense of humour (or job or partner)."" Though Mynott provides ample references for further reading, this leisurely, thoughtful, generous book provides ample information and amusement.