Albatrosses, Petrels & Shearwaters
Reviewed by Mark S. Garland
I wish I could say I was well qualified to review this book. I wish I could say I had traveled around the world’s oceans, observing the great birds of the open seas, especially those rich seas of the Southern Ocean. I would love to experience remote islands off New Zealand, Tasmania, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula, home to so many of the birds in this new book. Alas, like most people I know, this is a “wish book” for me. Still, since I ogled Harrison’s Seabirds repeatedly many moons ago, I can make a few comments that I hope will be useful to my faithful readers.
First off, this is a beautiful book. I like the artwork, which is more the broad brushstrokes of Sibley’s style than the detailed feather-by-feather paintings seen in many field guides. This style works extremely well for birds you’re not likely to see extremely well, ones for which details of individual feathers are not likely to be useful in the field. Anyone who has been pelagic birding knows how rarely that exceptional view comes along – no, we usually see oceanic birds winging over the seas from the bouncing perch of a moving, rocking boat.
Authors Derek Onley and Paul Scofield, both New Zealanders with extensive seabird experience, have updated the taxonomy of many species, changes that made a knowledgeable friend say, “It’s about time someone made that change.” Repeatedly, I am not completely devoid of experience with the birds covered in this book, and I like what I see and read about familiar species. I do wonder, however, if Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters are as easy to separate in the field as the authors imply, having struggled to separate the two in Alaskan waters.
The authors have taken a fresh look at many field identification questions. Right in the acknowledgements, the first page of text in the book, they write, “We would like to point out that many texts in this book do not agree with the ‘conventional wisdom’ and contradict published identification texts that many birders accept as the ‘truth’. These differences of opinion are based on many hours of observation at sea and detailed examination of museum specimens. We may be wrong in some cases and we accept that any inaccuracies here are our own. We … welcome a vigorous debate.” At a time when many books simply recycle “conventional wisdom,” I find this attitude and approach to be quite refreshing. It’s easier to take an unconventional look at species that are not frequently observed by thousands of skilled birders, and that must surely be the case with many of the species in this book.
Sure wish I had a chance to put more of this book to a test. Anyone want to fund my fact-finding voyage to the Falkland Islands, Polynesia, the Chatham Islands, Bermuda, Midway, Tasmania, and Antarctica? Didn’t think so.
Onley, Derek and Paul Scofield. Albatrosses, Petrels & Shearwaters of the World. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007. 240 pages, $29.95 paper. ISBN-13: 978-0-691-13132-0; ISBN-10: 0-691-13132-5.
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Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watchers
Reviewed by Mark S. Garland
Here’s a welcome idea to supplement the ever-increasing number of titles in the Peterson Field Guide series. Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watchers is partly an instructional manual for novice birders and partly a set of handouts and exercises to be used in a course for beginning birders. The idea is great and the execution is good. It might have been much better had the author shown more creativity in the development of the activities, but given the void – nothing like this book exists, to my knowledge – and the great value of practical exercises, you’ve got a worthwhile volume.
The book is actually a mix of instructional lectures and activities. The lectures are a bit tedious, as author Guttman often seems to be talking down to the reader. He also has a tendency to repeat himself, surely with the intent of emphasizing important points. While this is a very effective technique in verbal lectures, in the context of this book I find the repetitions to be annoying. At least I learned to watch for them and was quickly able to skim past many such passages. Admittedly it’s been a long, long time since I was a beginning birder, so perhaps I’m judging this book too harshly.
The activities are not especially creative or inspired. Yes, it is instructive to match up bird photos with families, to describe differences between birds, and to answer targeted questions. There is nothing in the activities, however, that would inspire a casual reader to become enthused about birds. These are activities for the self-motivated learner, someone who already has decided to learn about birds. Activities do exist that are more creative and fun, and playful exercises can be very effective when teaching those who need to be convinced that learning about birds is interesting and worthwhile. Teachers in school settings often use these sorts of activities very effectively. Finding Your Wings will be of no help to teachers of children. Chapter 17 is labeled “Fun and Games,” yet this chapter is nothing more than a few more exercises like those peppered throughout the book. They don’t seem especially fun to me.
I wonder how many people will really use this book as the author intends. Most self-motivated adults are able to learn about birds without a step-by-step methodology. For those who prefer detailed instruction and guided “homework” activities, however Finding Your Wings will be a valuable book. I just don’t think there are a lot of people who fall into this category. For most beginners, I’d recommend a mix of Pete Dunne on Bird Watching and Sibley’s Birding Basics. Still, Houghton Mifflin, publisher of the Peterson Field Guides, is to be commended for making this attempt. With a creativity infusion the second edition of Finding Your Wings could easily be a valuable addition to the basic birding library.
Guttman, Burton. Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watchers. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. 224 pages, $14.95 paper. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-78216-1; ISBN-10: 0-618-78216-8.
Between Forks and Alpha Centauri
Review by Mark S. Garland
Chiggers L. Stokes is a retired park ranger, and he has written a wild and perhaps quasi-autobiographical novel set in his beloved Olympic National Park titled, Between Forks and Alpha Centauri. Buckle your seat belt before delving into this book, it’s a wild ride to be sure.
The setting is the idyllic forests of western Washington state, a region with arguably the most astounding forests on earth. Since nearly a million acres are protected as National Park, extensive stands of this primeval forest remain intact, but step an inch outside the park’s boundary and you’re into the land of clearcuts and Spotted Owl hatred. This land of biological contrast and human conflict is where Mossy Stone, the books protagonist, is born and raised. Her life is shaped by mishaps. Her father, an intellectual logger eager to perform his craft in more ecologically sensitive ways than do his colleagues, dies in a logging accident before Mossy is born. As a young school child, Mossy herself nearly perishes after her school bus careens off the road. Her mother loses a battle to cancer. As a young adult, Mossy loses her lover, an environmental activist, to a villainous opponent, a logger who loathes conservation.
Through it all, Mossy Stone is a child of nature, a child of the Olympic rain forest, symbolizing nature itself. She has allies, but her adversaries are more numerous, more powerful, and certainly better funded. If you are in love with nature, you will fall in love with Mossy Stone, and wish you knew a dozen people as virtuous as she. It would be a better world with more Mossy Stones. You can guess how the parable ends, but I’m not telling here. Suffice it to say that the threats to nature and an intact environment are relentless.
Each section of Between Forks and Alpha Centauri is dated – the story runs from the 1970s to the year 2020. The narrative jumps back and forth through time, so the dates are necessary to keep track of where you are in the story. More than once the author addresses the reader directly in a rather awkward literary device, yet part of the joy of Between Forks and Alpha Centauri is that the book is constantly throwing surprises at the reader. The best parts of the story are the descriptions of some wild and remote corners of Olympic National Park; if this doesn’t make you want to head out into an old growth forest to experience its magnificence, well, then perhaps you’re not in the Mossy Stone camp. Chiggers Stokes clearly knows his way around the park he served for much of his career, and it’s a delight to follow him into the woods. Skip over the long asides into cellular biology and particle physics (really, these are in the text), and get lost in the story. Like any good novel, this one will take you to a different place and time. It’s a roller coaster to be sure, but one with a great view from its high points. Lots of fun.
Stokes, Chiggers L. Between Forks and Alpha Centauri. Forks, WA, Flying S Press, 1997, reprinted 2006. 282 pages, $12.95 paper. ISBN: 0-9786941-1-2.