The Birdwatcher's Companion

by Barry Kent MacKay

Book by MacKay, Barry Kent

218 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one at a used book store, and picked it up because of the birding theme. It's a collection of essays about various places the author has enjoyed going birding, many of which I would dearly love to visit: the Florida Keys, Southern California, pelagic birding off the coast of Nova Scotia. The book is well-written and the author clearly loves birds, so this was a good choice for my vicarious birding fix. As with a lot of these birding stories, though, I found myself wanting something just a little bit more personal. Anyone who knows me would say that I can happily talk about birds and birding all day long. But a birder is also a complete person, not just someone who watches birds, and when I am reading these accounts, I want to know a little bit about the rest of who they are as well. Despite that caveat, I would say that if you like birds, this book is probably worth tracking down. It's a bit too doom-and-gloom and almost misanthropic in parts, but I can't say I blame him. For example, he refers to the Eskimo curlew as being "endangered." Twenty years onward, and it's safe to say that the poor bird is extinct, so yeah, it can be hard not to be bitter....