The Nature Pages

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      Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds: 
      Notes from a Northwest Year 
      by Lyanda Lynn Haupt 
      Sasquatch Books, 2001
      Here's a little book on how to watch birds -- not with binoculars or from a blind, but with your heart and from anywhere looking outward.
      Good Books on Birdwatching
    • Watchable Birds of California 
    • Diary of a Left-handed Birdwatcher
    • Brushed By Feathers : A Year Of Birdwatching In The West
    • The Ardent Birder: On the Craft of Birdwatching
    • The Real Roadrunner
    • There's no right way to watch birds, of course, and everyone's interests are different. Some folks keep "life lists" of species spotted and identified, some watch with their ears, and others just enjoy their feathered presence without any need to know names. What matters most, in this study of birder behavior, is the entree that birds afford into wild nature; any manner of watching is just as valid. This book consists of several essays, each largely centered on a single commonly observed species (starlings, wrens, woodpeckers, thrushes) and the author's experiences with these birds. Complemented by literary and scientific references, and stories about how people have interacted with them, these pieces offer textured word portraits of birds and birders in their natural environments.
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      "Birds will give you a window, if you allow them," writes the author. "They will show you secrets from another world -- fresh vision that, though it is avian, can accompany you home and alter your life. They will do this for you even if you don't know their names -- though such knowing is a thoughtful gesture. They will do this for you if you watch them."
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