Field Notes From an Unintentional Birder / Julia Zarankin

 

Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir by Julia Zarankin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Years ago, I was birding with a group one evening in Arizona when a car sped past us. One of the occupants hollered, “Bird nerds!” as they whizzed by. I turned to my friend and said, “I think he meant that as an insult, don't you?” And we laughed like two hyenas.

I can identify with so much of what Julia Zarankin writes here! But I wasn't nearly as conflicted about becoming a birder as she was to begin with. Part of that was being a farm child and seeing birds while gardening or doing chores. My dad was a hunter and a great observer of nature, passing that love along to me. Birding is like hunting, but with binoculars instead of a gun. My mom kept a special box of treasures for rainy days that included a couple of flower field guides, so I knew about using books to identify things. I was an early riser from a very young age and I remember slipping on my shorts and a tee shirt and quietly heading outside while the rest of the family slept.

I also remember my very first official bird walk at a local bird sanctuary led by the man who later became my birding mentor. I was hooked! I started on the Path of the Bird with determination. There was so much to learn, so many details, and one could strive towards expertise, something I coveted. My biggest handicap was my vision, which has never been great, but I will always recall the wondrous day that my ears “clicked" and I realized that I knew what birds I was hearing. A glorious day indeed.
As Ms Zarankin describes, birding is addictive. You start small, frustrated by your inability to see what more experienced observers do. But once you've put in your ten thousand hours, you get good enough to enjoy your limited abilities. Plus who doesn't love spending a day outdoors? If you admire flowers and butterflies too, you have an even better time. As my mentor said many times, you can't let the weather control your plans. You are guaranteed to see more birds in the field than you would while sitting on your chesterfield. You will see something different every time you head out and you can never be absolutely sure of what you will find. The eternal lure of what might be out there will drag you out of bed at 4 a.m. to be to the perfect spot by sunrise and you will never eat a better sandwich than one eaten in some wild spot overlooking a lake.

OMG, I could write so many birding stories! I’ve been kicked out of at least three parks. Adventures vary from sleeping on the ice in Antarctica to the disaster that was camping in Bhutan to roaming rural southern Alberta, the thrill of identifying a rare bird unassisted, coming face to face with a Great Gray Owl, watching a Sandhill Crane turn her eggs, spotting my first Evening Grosbeak at a feeder, watching a Wilson's Snipe escorting two fluffball chicks across a country road and a young Western Grebe trying to swallow a fish almost as big as it was. Too many to list them all, but so many good memories.

I liked that this memoir was about the same size and had a similar design as a bird field guide. Very smart design. If you enjoy this book, may I suggest that you might also like The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession or Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World.


Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in Mexico


Juvenile Western Grebe determined to swallow a large fish




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