This richly illustrated book by the Sausalito author of The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter has coloured lifelike drawings of birds on almost every third page except for the Foreword and Preface. This is accompanied by quirky imaginative questions and assertions in Amy Tan’s distinctive style, as she observes them from the window or porch. Each observation is dated from September 2016 to December 2022, with cryptic cursive notes about them, often attributing in a tentative anthropomorphic way, some explanation of what their songs and actions may mean.
I have long enjoyed watching birds but am terrible at identifying them. From my earliest memories of watching barn swallows flitting in and out of the stable, finding killdeer nests in the pasture, robin’s nests in the crooked rail fence, raising a great horned owl fledgling to maturity, and studying penguins in Antarctica, I have appreciated the complexity of avian life, never more than when I read Jennifer Acerman’s The Genius of Birds and What an Owl Knows. And this book was a pure pleasure to read and a valuable addition to those books.
Not for list keepers who want to claim to see the most diversity of birds, but for those more interested in understanding the behaviour of about 60 particular species, Tan speculates extensively about what their songs and actions may mean and how they learn new skills, often without coming to any firm conclusions. Her obvious love of all things avian is highly infectious.
My only criticism of this book is that I had some difficulty imagining the layout of her backyard and the placement of her many feeders and bird baths. A sketch of the area would have been very helpful.
4.5/5
Thanks, Alana.
The Passionate Reader 