Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?
200 birds. 12 months. 1 lapsed birdwatcher.
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- £5.99
-
- £5.99
Publisher Description
At twelve years old, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He was also a fraud, a liar and a cheat. Those lists of birds seen and ticked off? Lies. One hundred and thirty species? More like sixty.
Then, when he turned fifty, he decided to right his childhood wrongs. He would go birdwatching again. He would not lie. He would aim to see two hundred British bird species in a year.
Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? is the story of that year, a story about birds, family, music, nostalgia, the nature of obsession and obsession with nature. It’s about finding adventure in life when you twig it’s shorter than you thought, and about losing and regaining contact with the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world.
It’s a book for anyone who has ever seen a small brown bird and wondered what it was, or tried to make sense of a world in which we can ask, ‘What’s that bird?’ and ‘What’s for lunch?’ and get the same answer.
Customer Reviews
A delight
Expecting an odyssey I was comprehensively disarmed by this conductor’s (‘no, not busses’) canny observations of people, from fellow birdwatchers to amateur musicians.
Built round his challenge to see 200 birds in 12months, we are treated with stories of his long suffering family, musicians, twitchers and naturalists. A running theme contrasts the competence of professionals with the enthusiasm of amateurs.
Thank you for the inspiration Mr Parikian, I will never approach orchestra practice the same way again, and decided to attempt a ‘half Parikian’ this year. I’ve reached 36 in January so far. How come the water rail, little egret and kingfisher all came before the blackbird and starling!