This is an eye-opening book for those who think trekking through the woods to study songbirds is an idyllic experience. Anyone who has been in the field will recognize some (or even all) of the hardships. Symanski (ecology and evolutionary biology, Univ. of California, Irvine) and his wife, behavioral ecologist Nancy Burley (ecology and evolutionary biology, Univ. of California, Irvine), went to Australia to study blackheart finches for her research, taking with them their one-year old son, a student as babysitter, and three student field assistants. Unlike Margaret Lowman (Life in the Treetops (LJ 5/15/99) and Marty Crump (In Search of the Golden Frog (LJ 5/15/00), who discuss their careers in the field, Symanski covers only one field season, with some discussion of his wife's previous results. Like Crump, Symanski makes some interesting observations about the people and countryside around the field site, especially the place of Aborigines in Western Australia. However, he focuses on fieldwork, particularly recounting the social interactions among the field team members, and he has hard words for students unprepared for the difficulties of field life. Recommended for public libraries with travel or natural history collections; highly recommended for academic libraries.DMargaret Henderson, Cold Spring Harbor Academics, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
This is a fascinating firsthand account of the adventures of an ornithological field team studying long-tailed finches (blackhearts) in primitive outback Australia. The experiences of the author, his wife, behavioral ecologist Nancy Burley, their one-year-old son, and four American student-assistants provide rare insights into social relationships and problems that can develop on field expeditions and how they can adversely affect the scientific endeavor.
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