A-Birding on a Bronco

by Florence Merriam Bailey

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Genres: Birds, Audiobook

Nook

First published June 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jassmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

...the shrikes certainly have a bad name among their neighbors. They had a proud bearing and an imperative manner, but seemed so gentle and human in their domestic life that my prejudices were softened, as one's generally are by near acquaintance, and I became really very fond of my handsome tenants.

I'm not really sure how this book got on my TBR, I just know that in 2023 I read a picture book She Heard the Birds: The Story of Florence Merriam Bailey which was quite lovely, but not really so much about Florence Merriam Bailey. I also know that some years ago (not really sure when exactly) I saw an audio of this book from LibriVox on YouTube and saved it onto my audiobooks playlist. It was one of those books I wasn't sure I actually wanted to read but it sounded interesting.

I'm on and off struggling with insomnia and one night, I was scrolling through my audiobooks for something calming, maybe a little boring so it would put me to sleep, but not so boring that it wouldn't lose my attention entirely. I wouldn't call this book boring actually, but even despite that it was perfect for this purpose and I'm crediting it with improving my sleeping habits by quite a bit.

But maybe you are asking what this book actually is, well. Florence Merriam Bailey was one of the leading voices that changed the face of ornithology. In her time, it was completely normal that ornithologist shot the birds and identified them later, working with their skins, while observation wasn't really a big part of the science. With publishing Birds Through an Opera Glass Merriam Bailey argued for observation using an opera glass and that is something she practices in this book as well.

A-Birding on a Bronco is a book written about her two trips to Twin Oaks in Southern California and as such it is a bit of a travelogue (which, you know I have a soft spot for historical travelogues! See Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and History of a six weeks' tour), but mostly it's nature observation with a sprinkle of people. I will point out that she anthropomorphizes the birds quite a lot, which sometimes also means that her descriptions perpetuate gender stereotypes (with some birds she isn't sure of their genders, so she ascribes them according to her expectations). This might be annoying to some and I'm honestly surprised it wasn't annoying me, but I just found her love for birds too endearing for annoyance to have any place in my experience.



So, long story short, I loved this. It is a hard book to recommend because it is pretty niche. But if this sounds like something you would like, go for it! Just a fair warning, although this book read pretty cozy to me, know that several of the nests are destroyed and there are some deaths. It is life after all.

I was debating with myself if I could give this book five stars when objectively it didn't quite feel like a five star book, but fuck it, this was great read for me!

P.S. Also forgot to say that the book is very nicely illustrated and there are also photographs that are kind of hilarious from our point of view because not that much is actually visible on them.


Get the audio for free here: https://librivox.org/a-birding-on-a-b...
Get an e-book for free here: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/33410

[Tracy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful period memoir about birdwatching in California while astride several reliable but sometimes colorful horse companions is a historical treasure. Florence Merriam provides an empathetic and voyeuristic view of the lives of the birds around her. She gives few details of her own life, nor does she really share much about her reasons for visiting this ranch every year. However, her observations reveal her thoughtful behavior and habits.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a record of the author's birding observation's over a couple of years In southern California. It is an interesting glimpse into the early years if bird watching. This same author wrote one of the first field guides -- Birding Through Opera Glasses.

[Carla Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a treasure to find a window into a naturalist's life and farm life in the 1800s. I listened to the Librivox talking book and it was lovely to listen to. As someone said, it was as if the young Florence herself was telling us her adventures.

[Lorraine Sulick-Morecraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1896, Florence Merriam (free m NY/MA) details the comings and goings of the avian species she observed in the forests & valleys of California while riding on horseback. A notebook and a pair of binoculars, "opera glass," her only tools. I only wished she had sketched what she saw but she made up for it by writing extensive descriptions of bird behaviors - nest building, caring for young, defending their territory.

[Ariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. I found it more intimate and in-depth than her broad overview in “Birds Through An Opera Glass” (which is a seminal work – one of, if not the first field guides for North American birds). One of the founders of modern birding as we know it (and early proponents of wild bird protections), this book follows her multiple springtimes in Southern California during nesting season.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Florence Merriam Bailey was an author, and ornithologist famed for her late 19th century advocacy of using opera glasses to identify birds rather than shooting them and examining them in the hand as was the custom at the time. She believed, “The fact of the matter is, you can identify perhaps ninety per cent. of the birds you see, with an opera-glass.” And produced a series of bird guides to help others follow her example. She also believed in observing birds in their natural habitat, instead of in captivity to learn about their behavior, and this activity is what led to the writing of this book.

A-Birding on a Bronco details observations made on two trips to Twin Oaks, a township in southern California, in 1889 and in 1894, and as the title suggests, the author did most of her birding on these trips from the backs of horses. Besides being an easy mode of transport she was familiar with, she felt being on horseback was less of a disturbance to the birds, as well as a good way to stay out of reach of the snakes she regularly encountered. The horses themselves are important supporting characters in the book, and you definitely get to know each of them and their individual traits well.

An incredibly patient observer, the author spent hours staking out bird nests of a wide variety of species, many of them southwestern specialties like Acorn Woodpecker, California Gnatcatcher, and Phainopepla, recording their nesting habits in great detail, though with a sometimes irksome tendency to describe them in anthropomorphic terms.

Knowing exactly which species she was writing about could be a challenge at times. Naming conventions have changed greatly in 130 years, I often myself wondering things like, what the heck is a Chewink? (Towhee), or a Rosy-breasted Linnet? (House Finch). A list at the beginning of the book is helpful, as is described behavior, and occasionally an illustration or picture clinched the ID. I found this process fun, though I’m not sure I was 100% successful in solving all these puzzles.

Overall I found this to be a charming read, and a great look at a time when modes of bird observation were changing greatly. If you would like to read this, various commercial editions can be found, but as a book in the public domain, it can also be read for free online from Project Gutenberg.

(A rare long-form review due to me having written this for The Otter Creek Audubon Society’s newsletter)