Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year [Paperback]

Ora E. Anderson (Author), Deborah Griffith (Editor), Julie Zickefoose (Illustrator), Jean Andrews (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2007

Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year is a journey through the seasons and a joyous celebration of growing old. In fifty-nine essays and poems, Ora E. Anderson, birder, bird carver, naturalist, and nature writer, reveals the insights and recollections of a keen-eyed observer of nature, both human and avian. The essays follow the rivers and creeks, the highways and little-known byways of Appalachia, and along the way we become nearly as familiar with its numerous bird, plant, and animal species as with the author himself.

These are not the memories of a single year, however, but of a long lifetime spent immersed in the natural world. Out of the Woods, presented with humor and passion, is an account of a well-lived, productive, and satisfying life. The essays offer an intimate portrait of a half century of life on Anderson's beloved old farm (more nearly a nature preserve), where he lived in harmony with birds and nature and followed the rhythm of the seasons. We are invited to share the joys—and the disappointments and sorrows—inherent in such a life.

Generously illustrated with Julie Zickefoose's detailed drawings and evocative sketches, this book will delight bird watchers, artists, naturalists, backyard gardeners, and anyone who is sometimes tempted to take a rutted, overgrown, and unused path just to see where it leads.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The life of journalist, conservationist and artist Anderson (1911-2006) spanned nearly the entire 20th century; as such, he witnessed the enormous changes-technological, medical and economic-that left few untouched wildlands in the state of Ohio and the nation at large. The woods he wanders in these short essays, written in the final years of his life, are those he planted with his wife on the 92-acre farm they purchased in 1956 (and which became, after his death, a conservatory). Reporting on season-by-season changes, Anderson notes the arrival of birds in spring and their departure in fall, the ducklings and goslings reared on his ponds and the disruptions caused by beavers and deer-seemingly minor events that make for undeniably pleasurable reading. Essays are interspersed with vivid poems, haiku-like in their verbal parsimony and eloquent in their evocation of time and place. Anderson was also a woodcarver, who recreated the birds he observed in "basswood and water tupelo," and he riffs charmingly on a number of different species and varieties in prose that's generously peppered with rueful observations and bemused wonder. Filled with precise description and pithy metaphor, expressive description and elegant phrasing, this book is a joy to read and rewards subsequent revisits with stylistic wit and wild beauty.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Anderson was a self-taught naturalist. He was born and raised in Appalachian Kentucky, but marriage and career sent him to Ohio, where he ended up on his wife's family farm. Rebuilding the worn-out farm into a nature preserve, and working toward the establishment of Ohio's only national forest, Anderson also found his muse and wrote poems and stories reflecting on nature and a sense of place. Arranged seasonally, these lovely short ruminations reveal both the author's practiced eye for the nuance of the countryside and its denizens, and his eternal optimism that, in his words, "the riches of yesterday are replaced by new treasures today--and tomorrow." Whether wading in beaver ponds to see what birds were attracted to the impoundments, listening to the muted song of a brown thrasher on her nest, seeing the first flight of Canada goslings from his pond, or watching the ever-changing cast of birds attracted to his feeders, the author relates the connection between his spirit self and the natural world. Beautifully illustrated with Julie Zickefoose's pencil drawings. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press; 1 edition (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821417428
• ISBN-13: 978-0821417423
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,704,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars comfortable read, June 7, 2007

By 

Holey Moley "birder" (colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year (Paperback)

I would compare this book to sitting at your grandfather's knee, listening to the old stories, rambling on. Maybe you heard that one before, maybe a similar one someplace else? Just a comfortable, sit by the fire while it's raining outside kind of book. Doesn't require a great deal of thought, conveys no remarkable insights. Comfortable....

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of This Year's Favorites, January 7, 2008

By 

Duane L. Rice "Songwriter/Birder" (Chapmansboro, Tn United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year (Paperback)

Too much of the time, in these days of instant gratification, we don't take time to be still and truly observe the natural world around us.

We also don't take time to listen to those who have been around long enough to see and experience, what once was.

This book was an inspiration!

If you don't want to go for a walk in the woods (birder or not) after reading just one of his magical stories, well then, check your pulse.

How I wish I could've known this wonderful man, who had such a pure and optimistic outlook on the world.

If this is as close as I can get, then it will have to do.

The poetry is a song of love for nature, and those he loved.

Of course, Julie's illustrations (pencil only) are a marvel.

I will be buying a copy of this book for my mother's birthday. She's the one that taught me to appreciate the natural world. She's in her eighties. This is one way I can give back to her, what she gave to me.

Thank you Ora.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure by a birdwatcher and bird lover, for birdwatchers and bird lovers., September 2, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year (Paperback)

Written by journalist, conservationist, and naturalist Ora E. Anderson, Out of the Woods: A Bird Watcher's Year is a memoir reflecting upon the joys of birdwatching, the majesty of growing old, and the wondrous natural diversity of Appalachia. Wit, gentle humor, and an abiding appreciation for avian life from geese to woodpeckers to songbirds fill this appreciative guide, lovingly illustrated with beautiful black-and-white sketches of feathered friends feeding, migrating, flying, or raising their young. A treasure by a birdwatcher and bird lover, for birdwatchers and bird lovers.