Birds of a Feather: Seasonal Changes on Both Sides of the Atlantic

by Colin Rees, Derek Thomas

In Birds of a Feather, an informative and beautifully illustrated book, Colin Rees and Derek Thomas portray the changing seasons in the UK and US, bringing their observations together with some startling results. With images by artists Robert Gillmor and Ian Rees, the book will appeal to anyone with an interest in birds and their future in North America and the UK. Exploding flocks of Snow Geese rising from icy fields; the arrival of the osprey; the harmonies of the dawn chorus; migrating waders racing south before the surf – these are but a few moments evoking the sights, sounds and colours of the passing seasons observed and recorded over a year by two experienced ornithologists living on both sides of the Atlantic. In the context of their gardens, neighbourhoods and in larger landscapes, Colin Rees and Derek Thomas provide a month by month account of their birding year, commenting upon what they see and hear. They also consider how our world is radically changing the lives of birds. Birds of a Feather celebrates the gentle patter of raindrops, the scent and luminescence of spring, swallows of an evening and the first flight of young ospreys. They take the reader on walks through grasslands, forests, marshes, estuaries and along coasts and describe the effects of changing weather on flora and fauna, the unfolding of the breeding season, bird counts, the character of birders and bird organizations in the US and UK. They also address the challenge of conservation in the modern world. Over 45 million people consider themselves bird watchers in the US and 20 million watch birds in the UK making this book appealing to bird watchers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction

376 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2014

Reviews

[Mark Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book - written by two ornithologists about the changing seasons on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. It's a simple idea but it works very well.

Isn't Robert Gillmor's cover both clever and lovely all at once - like the artist himself?

The book consists of accounts, from either side of the Atlantic through the year, of birds seen and places visited. Each month has about 20 short, blog-length, essays. And the observations carry you through the changing seasons and make you reflect on the time of year seen through naturalists' eyes, in the same hemisphere but in different continents. So, both authors are waiting for the spring migrants to arrive and are delighted when they do - whether they are Wood Warblers or Yellow-throated Warblers.

But there is much more than just birds in here. The writers are educated men who are aware of the world around them, and care for it, and worry about its future. Current events are wrapped into the accounts with skill and without any forcing. So we read about oiled Brown Pelicans, the Third Global Biodiversity Outlook, the Big Butterfly Count and the Wildlife Trusts' Living Landscapes projects.

The writing styles of the two authors are similar - they go well together. There's a very attractive visual clue to which writer is which, which changes through the seasons - buy the book and see what I mean (it's rather clever and very fitting I think).

Some of these accounts were written several years ago, back in 2010, but all are timeless in their subjects. I hope the authors have kept going and might give us another volume sometime not too far away - I would definitely want to buy and read it. But, if not, then this copy will get thumbed again each year so that I can dip into the time of year in the USA and Wales and vicariously enjoy nature and the authors' thoughts and musings on the changing seasons.

All profits from the sale of this book will go to The Wildlife Trusts and to a 'yet to be decided' US conservation cause.

Birds of a Feather: seasonal changes on both sides of the Atlantic by Colin Rees and Derek Thomas is published by Troubador (from whom you can also buy it) and is available on Amazon as is Mark Avery's Fighting for Birds and his soon-to-be-published-but-already-preorderable A Message from Martha.