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Slow Birding

The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard

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Slow Birding

De: Joan E. Strassmann
Narrado por: Joan E. Strassmann
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A one-of-a-kind guide to birding locally that encourages listeners to slow down and notice the spectacular birds all around them.

Many birders travel far and wide to popular birding destinations to catch sight of rare or “exotic” birds. In Slow Birding, evolutionary biologist Joan E. Strassmann introduces listeners to the joys of birding right where they are.

In this inspiring guide to the art of slow birding, Strassmann tells colorful stories of the most common birds to be found in the United States—birds we often see but might not have considered deeply before. For example, northern cardinals thrive in the city, where they are free from predators. White brows on a male white-throated sparrow indicate that he is likely to be a philanderer. This essential guide to the fascinating world of common, everyday birds features:

  • Detailed portraits of individual bird species and the scientists who have discovered and observed them
  • Advice and guidance on what to look for when slow birding, so that you can uncover clues to the reasons behind specific bird behaviors
  • Bird-focused activities that will open your eyes more to the fascinating world of birds

Slow Birding is the perfect guide for the birder looking to appreciate the beauty of the birds right in their own backyard, observing keenly how their behaviors change from day to day and season to season.

©2022 Joan Strassmann (P)2022 Penguin Audio Aire libre y Naturaleza Animales Ciencia Ciencias Biológicas
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An excellent survey of several wonderful and common birds, and of the techniques of careful observation.

Everyone should read this

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So much of birding in the field is not about behavior but just species identification. This book is perfect to fill in that gap.

Fun learning for all levels of bird lovers.

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Dr. Strassmann is an evolutionary scientist who observes birds daily. Reading her perspective on local birds is fascinating. She provides behavioral science information grounded in papers and research. The book reflects her interests in mating, sexual selection, natural selection, parental attention, etc. Dr. Strassmann shares personal experiences of bird watching and recording. If you enjoy fun scientific facts and are open to being led wherever, this book is epic. However, if you seek a guide for bird identification, this might not be the right choice.

A combination of science and personal experience

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This book promotes REALLY looking at birds... at the birds one sees and hears from a backyard, a local park or the nearby countryside. It is the complete opposite of books that describe trips to the ends of the earth to 'see' the rarest of rare birds and check it off a life list. From sparrow to robins to cedar waxwings, the author describes many details of how each of these common birds live. I particularly loved hearing about the experiments that elucidate bird life-styles - monogamy, paternal care, competition etc. In the process, the author also reveals much about her life as an academic researcher and citizen of the Midwest.

lovely book about the author and her local birds

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Really tough to listen to, tried several times and finally gave up. The content is interesting, the writing is not great, I should have skipped it.

Somewhat interesting but oh so painful

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As a fellow St. Louisan, a fellow member of the Washington University community, and a fellow slow birder, I was really looking forward to enjoying this book. My family and I listened to the whole book on a cross country trip. We felt let down. The book does not deliver on its title. It is more about science than birding.

Strassman describes the concept of slow birding, which includes birding in your own backyard and at nearby parks, wildlife reserves and bodies of water, and which may involve spending an hour or more observing a few birds, instead of racing around the state, country, or globe in search of rare birds to check them off a birding list.

Strassman discusses many of the birds we see in our garden, which we appreciated, but she curiously omits one of St. Louis’ rare gems, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, a bird introduced to St. Louis from Germany in 1870 and a bird that David Sibley says is rare and still to this day local to St. Louis. A missed opportunity, but not the biggest one in Strassman’s book.

Strassman gives numerous tips on how to slow bird for each of the species she discusses. But most of the tips are bare bones and repetitive: find and identify the bird, look for the birds’ nests, watch a single bird for five minutes or more, enter your findings on eBird or in a journal, etc. What’s more, Strassman rarely shares details of her own experiences slow birding. It would be wonderful to hear how Strassman implements her own tips and what she discovers during her own birding sessions. That she rarely shares these stories is the real missed opportunity.

Instead, Strassman recounts the results of scores and scores, if not hundreds and hundreds, of scientific experiments performed by others, not by Strassman herself, on the birds. Some of the science is very interesting, but at times Strassman’s retelling is tedious and bogged down in minutia, and many of the studies are repetitious. I love the birds Strassman discusses, and I enjoyed hearing her walk us through the scientific literature, but I kept feeling a little bit cheated, thinking to myself “when is she going to talk about birding?” She rarely does.

Also, beware that some of the experiments were performed over a century ago, when there were different ethical standards about the treatment of animals and fewer, if any, laws protecting migratory birds. For bird lovers it can be jarring to hear about scientists killing birds to examine their “stomach” contents, making incisions in birds and inserting things into them, attaching weights to their feathers, separating birds from their chicks, etc. Wasn’t this supposed to a book about birding? Strassman sometimes describes the scientific study of birds as slow birding, which seems to stretch the concept to the breaking point.

There is something of a pattern to this book, which emerges very quickly. Each bird chapter begins with a description of a bird and a quick nod to birding for that species and then dives into an exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) tour of the scientific literature concerning that species. Each chapter ends with a tribute to the bird and suggestions for how you, the listener, might slow bird for that species, but without many illustrative or instructive examples.

In the end, the book is a worthy synthesis of the scientific research performed by other ornithologists and biologists, but it is hardly a satisfying (or intimate) book about slow birding. I will be looking elsewhere for a more personal account of slow birding.

Beware: This Book Is Not (Really) About Birding

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