Wild Notes ― Observations over Time About Birds and Other Fleeting Things

Wild Notes chronicles several year’s worth of daily observations written in a logbook style by a regular guy who happens to be a bird watcher, among other things. In the tradition of wilderness junkies like Ed Abbey, Annie Dillard and even that odd old hermit, Thoreau, the author is hooked on the elemental kick that starts with an easy-going interest in birds and goes beyond to an interest in all fleeting things. Bird watching, once considered a gentle hobby, is now known to be a wilderness adventure enjoyed by rough and ready men and women of all ages. Hard-muscled, hard-bitten, bug-bitten explorers who bushwhack trackless wilds. Or ordinary folk who stalk neighborhood nature trails. Whichever kind you are, you’re out to find animals that are not only accessible, but entirely wild. They could be avian migrants newly arrived from a South American jungle to spend summer with you. Or winter vagrants that flew across a thousand-mile tundra to visit your neck of the woods. Birds, like uninhibited thoughts, go where they want. From them you can acquire a “life list” of sightings, but you can also get insights that would never have occurred if you hadn’t lost yourself in the woods for a bit to stalk things that fly in and out of your life. Throughout “Wild Notes,” the date shown on the left page indicates a true moment in time. The right page explains what happened then: what was seen, thought about and what was worth sharing with you.