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There was a time, and not so long ago, when the little island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, was the undiscovered hunting ground not only of the well-to-do, but also of birdwatchers from all over the world. The island has since been "discovered," overrun by tourists and casual visitors. Birdwatchers have changed, too; as E. Vernon Laux writes, tongue securely in cheek, "Birding is no longer the exclusive domain of little old ladies in sensible shoes and dottering Englishmen." But the birds have not changed, and Laux paints an exceedingly affectionate portrait of their lives in this little corner of the Atlantic Ocean, a place full of swallows, loons, kinglets, warblers, buntings, woodcock, orioles, murrelets, gulls, blackbirds, and other birds--some 300 species in all.
There was a time, and not so long ago, when the little island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, was the undiscovered hunting ground not only of the well-to-do, but also of birdwatchers from all over the world. The island has since been "discovered," overrun by tourists and casual visitors. Birdwatchers have changed, too; as E. Vernon Laux writes, tongue securely in cheek, "Birding is no longer the exclusive domain of little old ladies in sensible shoes and dottering Englishmen." But the birds have not changed, and Laux paints an exceedingly affectionate portrait of their lives in this little corner of the Atlantic Ocean, a place full of swallows, loons, kinglets, warblers, buntings, woodcock, orioles, murrelets, gulls, blackbirds, and other birds--some 300 species in all.
Laux sings the praises of watertight boots and rubberized, close-focusing binoculars. He writes with clarity of the ecology of swamps and the harshness of a New England winter. He honors his fallen fellows, notably the great birder Roger Tory Peterson, and he encourages newcomers to the pleasures of ornithology. And he airs a few unabashedly eccentric sentiments, including a hurrah for hurricanes, whose winds sweep onto Martha's Vineyard all kinds of unusual bird species that make a birdwatcher's day. "This may not be a sane reaction," he admits. It is certainly a passionate one, and in this gentle book Laux does a fine job of sharing his love for birds of all kinds. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
"Most birds undertake perilous migrations with no guides, maps, or experienceAit is a wonder that any survive," opines Laux, an ornithologist. A bird's life, as he describes it, is a nearly constant frenetic round of athletic activity. After heavy rains, innumerable young birdsAnot yet fully featheredAget soaked and freeze, or else starve. Laux writes with rare passion, knowledge and insight about birds, finely tuned biological marvels honed by millennia of evolving and surviving. Attractively designed and complemented by b&w photographs and sketches, this unusual book melds Laux's crisp essays with his "Bird News" columns for the Martha's Vineyard Gazette into an informal year-round log of birdwatching on Martha's Vineyard, the popular Massachusetts tourist spot and birders' island paradise. Roseate terns, snow buntings, short-eared owls, little blue herons, yodeling common loons, turkey vultures, orchard orioles and a multitude of other speciesAsome local, others migrantAwing their way through Laux's daybook. In democratic, grassroots fashion, the text incorporates the sightings of a network of fellow bird enthusiasts spread out over the Vineyard's shores, tidal flats, towns and forest. What saves this ornithological diary from becoming a cluttered, repetitious catalogue or recital of colorful and exotic bird sightings is Laux's uncanny empathy with our feathered friends and his lyrically precise observations of the island changing through the seasons. He makes birdwatching a continual adventure, a way of relating to nature and the planet.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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