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Birder on Berry Lane: Three Acres, Twelve Months, Thousands of Birds
A month-by-month guide to the birds that flock to the peaceful New England backyard of a noted writer, birder, and naturalist.
Robert Tougias's house on Berry Lane may look like a typical Connecticut suburban home, but as his fascinating year-long account reveals, its three-acre backyard is teeming with nature's mysteries. Acutely sensitive to the activities of birds, Tougias notes which species are present, which are breeding, and where their nests are. He identifies each species by its song, and brings us on a journey of appreciation as we learn the wonders of bird migration, the sensitive interaction of birds with their habitat, and the hidden meaning of their call notes and songs.
Intimate and acutely observed writing reveals the miracles of the ordinary in the subtle changes, season to season, of the ecosystem of the woods, streams, and meadow that make up the sprawling backyard on Berry Lane. We are led to consider, too, the dangers posed by the climate crisis and unthinking human development. The quietly powerful writing tunes our senses to the change of the seasons, the return of warblers in spring, geese flying south in the fall--all happening on time as they have for eons.
Beautifully illustrated with twenty-five line drawings, Birder on Berry Lane is a book of sublime simplicity that teaches an appreciation for what we commonly overlook.
Robert Tougias's house on Berry Lane may look like a typical Connecticut suburban home, but as his fascinating year-long account reveals, its three-acre backyard is teeming with nature's mysteries. Acutely sensitive to the activities of birds, Tougias notes which species are present, which are breeding, and where their nests are. He identifies each species by its song, and brings us on a journey of appreciation as we learn the wonders of bird migration, the sensitive interaction of birds with their habitat, and the hidden meaning of their call notes and songs.
Intimate and acutely observed writing reveals the miracles of the ordinary in the subtle changes, season to season, of the ecosystem of the woods, streams, and meadow that make up the sprawling backyard on Berry Lane. We are led to consider, too, the dangers posed by the climate crisis and unthinking human development. The quietly powerful writing tunes our senses to the change of the seasons, the return of warblers in spring, geese flying south in the fall--all happening on time as they have for eons.
Beautifully illustrated with twenty-five line drawings, Birder on Berry Lane is a book of sublime simplicity that teaches an appreciation for what we commonly overlook.
- GenresNonfictionBirdsNature
224 pages, Hardcover
Published March 17, 2020
6 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 3, 2020
I really like reading about nature (experiencing it is another matter) so when I saw this book on NetGalley, I really wanted to read it. Unfortunately for Birder on Berry Lane, I read it after I had read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (the reviews are far apart because I didn’t want to post this so far before the publish date but don’t be fooled!)
Birder on Berry Lane is a year-long exploration and love song to the birds that visit Robert Tougias’s house on Berry Lane in Connecticut. As Tougias puts it in the introduction, this book is “an account of my awareness – seeing, thinking about, and appreciating the living habitat, nature, and most specifically birds going about their business.” In a way, it’s similar to Dillard’s aim of seeing, but with the focus aimed straight at our feathered friends.
But it would be a mistake to think that Birder on Berry Lane is similar to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. They might both be about nature around the author’s home, but in style they couldn’t be more different. Dillard looks to see nature in new and unfamiliar eyes, to search for the “tree with lights in it”. Tougias is writing to show us about the beauty and wonder of birds to raise our awareness of them.
As such, Birder on Berry Lane feels like a quieter book, but that doesn’t mean that it’s without its charms. I learnt a lot about the birds in Connecticut while reading and for a moment, wanted to set up a bird feeder. But living in a HDB makes that fairly difficult so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly.
The book also comes with drawings of birds, which add to its quiet charm. Because the appearance of birds tend to be seasonal (at least, that’s what it appears to be for me), Tougias is able to focus on one or two birds for each month and intersperse his musings with drawings of them.
Overall, this is a quiet and charming book about birds. I’ve never really thought about them – except when that one annoying bird wakes me up (Singaporeans do you feel me?) – but I found a new appreciation for these small creatures after reading this.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley but the thoughts in this review are my own.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
Birder on Berry Lane is a year-long exploration and love song to the birds that visit Robert Tougias’s house on Berry Lane in Connecticut. As Tougias puts it in the introduction, this book is “an account of my awareness – seeing, thinking about, and appreciating the living habitat, nature, and most specifically birds going about their business.” In a way, it’s similar to Dillard’s aim of seeing, but with the focus aimed straight at our feathered friends.
But it would be a mistake to think that Birder on Berry Lane is similar to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. They might both be about nature around the author’s home, but in style they couldn’t be more different. Dillard looks to see nature in new and unfamiliar eyes, to search for the “tree with lights in it”. Tougias is writing to show us about the beauty and wonder of birds to raise our awareness of them.
As such, Birder on Berry Lane feels like a quieter book, but that doesn’t mean that it’s without its charms. I learnt a lot about the birds in Connecticut while reading and for a moment, wanted to set up a bird feeder. But living in a HDB makes that fairly difficult so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly.
The book also comes with drawings of birds, which add to its quiet charm. Because the appearance of birds tend to be seasonal (at least, that’s what it appears to be for me), Tougias is able to focus on one or two birds for each month and intersperse his musings with drawings of them.
Overall, this is a quiet and charming book about birds. I’ve never really thought about them – except when that one annoying bird wakes me up (Singaporeans do you feel me?) – but I found a new appreciation for these small creatures after reading this.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley but the thoughts in this review are my own.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
February 26, 2020
This is a quiet, beautiful, thoughtful, and poetic homage to the little feathered beings who flit about in the background of our lives, the kind of blessing we tend not to notice until it has vanished. It’s human nature to love and appreciate things more once we have lost them. The whole world seems to have gotten the message that bees are at risk and we must work to keep them from going extinct. We might do well to consider bird numbers as well.
If Robert Frost were a Birder on Berry Lane, he might have written this poetic bird-opic. Robert Tougias is a nature-loving bird watcher and columnist, highly sought as a speaker. With a gentle tone, a sense of reverence, and poetic prose, he takes the reader with him into his world, three acres in Connecticut which are anything but small or dull, even in the dead of winter. If you think an entire book about the birds in some guy’s yard would be boring, you are just the kind of person who needs to read it.
While others are cozy, comfy, warm, and dry on their sofas at night by the flickering light of the TV, Tougias might be caught under the stars on the coldest night of the season, hooting at owls. His teenage daughter summons him in from these unusual forays around the neighborhood. Instead of being written off as an eccentric, he has made converts to birding and habitat-creation among his neighbors. With twelve chapters that correspond to the months and changing seasons, Tougias takes us with him into his ow world of birding. You might not be too eager to rush back to your sofa. It’s a beautiful world, and you have one too, probably, right under your nose if you look up from that smart-phone that connects you to people and places all over the globe while blinding you to the marvelous friends, furry, feathered, human, or otherwise, that lurk in your own neighborhood.
The cover art and 25 black-and-white sketches of birds by artist Mark Szantyr add visual interest to the book, for those who might need more than beautiful words from a kind, wise soul. Maps, an appendix, and pages of suggested resources also may help get you out of the house and closer to nature.
This is a timely invitation to readers everywhere to pay attention to the birds that live near you. And no matter where you live, you’re sure to have birds living nearby. Birds are everywhere. But don’t take them for granted. As novelists such as Nancy Kress have taken up #FrogWatch observations, birdwatchers are becoming “the eyes of the world” monitoring a steep decline in bird populations. Project FeederWatch, supported almost entirely by its participants, is a November-April survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. Participants keep track of birds in their own backyard to help scientists track long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
Even if you don’t want to count and report birds, you would do well to pay attention to their antics. And you don’t need gadgets or road trips to see, hear, sense, and feel more at one with your world. Tougias writes, “I find birding without binoculars or through casual observation can be the most rewarding. Some may travel to the ends of the world just to see a specific bird and then turn around and never see that bird again. Most of the birds I see on Berry Lane I’ve seen countless times before, but I don’t ever want to overlook their lives. Seeing them each day, throughout the year, is the essence of knowing what it is I see.”
I never want to overlook them, either, and I hope this book will inspire others to feel a sense of affection and protectiveness toward birds, beasts, and small things that have no words. They need us, and we need them.
If you don’t read this book, I hope you’ll at least read these words Tougias wrote in the Introduction:
> My experience in birding here on Berry Lane is really a state of being. It’s a state of being that’s in peace and in harmony with the cycle of life, which you and I are part of. I look up at the clear, icy heavens in January and know that they are just a reflection of where I am and what I am. We are just a small part of the magnificence—a small but significant piece of it.
If Robert Frost were a Birder on Berry Lane, he might have written this poetic bird-opic. Robert Tougias is a nature-loving bird watcher and columnist, highly sought as a speaker. With a gentle tone, a sense of reverence, and poetic prose, he takes the reader with him into his world, three acres in Connecticut which are anything but small or dull, even in the dead of winter. If you think an entire book about the birds in some guy’s yard would be boring, you are just the kind of person who needs to read it.
While others are cozy, comfy, warm, and dry on their sofas at night by the flickering light of the TV, Tougias might be caught under the stars on the coldest night of the season, hooting at owls. His teenage daughter summons him in from these unusual forays around the neighborhood. Instead of being written off as an eccentric, he has made converts to birding and habitat-creation among his neighbors. With twelve chapters that correspond to the months and changing seasons, Tougias takes us with him into his ow world of birding. You might not be too eager to rush back to your sofa. It’s a beautiful world, and you have one too, probably, right under your nose if you look up from that smart-phone that connects you to people and places all over the globe while blinding you to the marvelous friends, furry, feathered, human, or otherwise, that lurk in your own neighborhood.
The cover art and 25 black-and-white sketches of birds by artist Mark Szantyr add visual interest to the book, for those who might need more than beautiful words from a kind, wise soul. Maps, an appendix, and pages of suggested resources also may help get you out of the house and closer to nature.
This is a timely invitation to readers everywhere to pay attention to the birds that live near you. And no matter where you live, you’re sure to have birds living nearby. Birds are everywhere. But don’t take them for granted. As novelists such as Nancy Kress have taken up #FrogWatch observations, birdwatchers are becoming “the eyes of the world” monitoring a steep decline in bird populations. Project FeederWatch, supported almost entirely by its participants, is a November-April survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. Participants keep track of birds in their own backyard to help scientists track long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
Even if you don’t want to count and report birds, you would do well to pay attention to their antics. And you don’t need gadgets or road trips to see, hear, sense, and feel more at one with your world. Tougias writes, “I find birding without binoculars or through casual observation can be the most rewarding. Some may travel to the ends of the world just to see a specific bird and then turn around and never see that bird again. Most of the birds I see on Berry Lane I’ve seen countless times before, but I don’t ever want to overlook their lives. Seeing them each day, throughout the year, is the essence of knowing what it is I see.”
I never want to overlook them, either, and I hope this book will inspire others to feel a sense of affection and protectiveness toward birds, beasts, and small things that have no words. They need us, and we need them.
If you don’t read this book, I hope you’ll at least read these words Tougias wrote in the Introduction:
> My experience in birding here on Berry Lane is really a state of being. It’s a state of being that’s in peace and in harmony with the cycle of life, which you and I are part of. I look up at the clear, icy heavens in January and know that they are just a reflection of where I am and what I am. We are just a small part of the magnificence—a small but significant piece of it.
January 20, 2021
While this book is ostensibly about Tougias' love of birds and birding, the more profound message is about a place—his three-acre landscape on Berry Lane.
"This is not the story of a small New England town, nor is it about me," he writes. "Rather, it is an account of my awareness . . . By tuning into the life around me, I have come to know my place."
Elsewhere he writes, "A great feeling of peace comes with this experience. I would like readers to find this peacefulness . . ."
The scenes and events that take place over twelve months will be familiar to anyone who enjoys the nature of southern Connecticut. Tougias helped me understand some of the subtleties of bird behavior in my own backyard. The bonus section at the back of the book offers more information our common (and uncommon) avian visitors.
More importantly, I did indeed find the book’s quiet tone very soothing. It was welcome reading as the events of late 2020 and early 2021 raged on outside. Indeed, Tougias helped me find some peace.
"This is not the story of a small New England town, nor is it about me," he writes. "Rather, it is an account of my awareness . . . By tuning into the life around me, I have come to know my place."
Elsewhere he writes, "A great feeling of peace comes with this experience. I would like readers to find this peacefulness . . ."
The scenes and events that take place over twelve months will be familiar to anyone who enjoys the nature of southern Connecticut. Tougias helped me understand some of the subtleties of bird behavior in my own backyard. The bonus section at the back of the book offers more information our common (and uncommon) avian visitors.
More importantly, I did indeed find the book’s quiet tone very soothing. It was welcome reading as the events of late 2020 and early 2021 raged on outside. Indeed, Tougias helped me find some peace.
February 12, 2023
At first glance, this may appear to be merely a How-To book, but it is equally a Why-To book. It presents both the how and why to look for birds. More than just a backyard field guide, it is also equal parts a naturalist’s memoir and in some parts a reverie about life.
This book will spark wonderment in the natural world that can be found right in front of your nose. No need to travel far from your home. There is nothing magical or remarkable about Tougias’ own home. His neighborhood is a typical suburban American subdivision dotted with a few remaining cherished tracts of forest. His oversize backyard merges with a small woodland that runs parallel to a parkway. Yet, Tougias has discovered and cultivated an avian paradise around his home. Surely you, too, can wing it right in your own backyard or nearby park. Should you already find joy in the winged and feathered fauna near at hand, Tougias will deepen your appreciation. If birding is a sport, this book is a game changer.
Like a Birds of the Month Club, each chapter chronicles the backyard birds of each month of the year, so twelve chapters in all. Tougias has condensed here his lifetime of birding into a single year. Thoreau did the same when he compressed his two years while residing at Walden Pond into a single year in his magnum opus, “Walden.” Same as Edward Abbey did with his experiences as a park ranger for two years in Utah in his cult classic, “Desert Solitaire.”
When we read books, three separate time spans coexist at once. First is the month when Tougias was writing, second what month he was writing about, and third what month during which you are reading the book. Ideally, you could savor each monthly chapter by reading it contemporaneous month-by-month with your own month of the year, thereby stretching reading the book over the course of an entire year. This might provide you with new clues to experiencing the seasons and to seeing each season’s emblematic birdlife. But who of us possesses such patience and persistence? I must confess, not I, who can never eat only half an avocado, but must devour the whole dang thing. So rather than taking twelve months to read the book, I read it in twelve days. I can’t say that I couldn’t put the book down. I can say that when I did put the book down, I often found myself thinking about it. Go ahead, call me a birdbrain.
For example, the thought-provoking “May” chapter about the seasonal miracle of migration boggled my mind for hours. Many experiments and hypotheses have attempted to unravel migration’s mysteries. Tougais even tossed around some of the theories that have been proven unfounded. About one disproven theory in particular, he concluded, “This theory had many dead ends.” That theories can have dead ends left me wondering about his theory about dead-end theories.
A few rare passages did descend into tedium, as when the author observes the daily weather. For instance, when he gave an account of his efforts to dig out his car after a blizzard, he lost me somewhere in a snowdrift. But elsewhere, as when he reminisces about his childhood or about his own child’s childhood, those memories deftly serve as seamless transitions into discussions of the birds of the month. His reminiscences are infrequent and are recounted only in relationship to the birds. The subject of the book remains the wonderous lives of birds, not the life of the author. Thus, “Birder on Berry Lane” is sorely mistitled. Rather, this heavenly conceived and eloquently written book more appropriately should have been titled, “Birdlife on Berry Lane.”
This book will spark wonderment in the natural world that can be found right in front of your nose. No need to travel far from your home. There is nothing magical or remarkable about Tougias’ own home. His neighborhood is a typical suburban American subdivision dotted with a few remaining cherished tracts of forest. His oversize backyard merges with a small woodland that runs parallel to a parkway. Yet, Tougias has discovered and cultivated an avian paradise around his home. Surely you, too, can wing it right in your own backyard or nearby park. Should you already find joy in the winged and feathered fauna near at hand, Tougias will deepen your appreciation. If birding is a sport, this book is a game changer.
Like a Birds of the Month Club, each chapter chronicles the backyard birds of each month of the year, so twelve chapters in all. Tougias has condensed here his lifetime of birding into a single year. Thoreau did the same when he compressed his two years while residing at Walden Pond into a single year in his magnum opus, “Walden.” Same as Edward Abbey did with his experiences as a park ranger for two years in Utah in his cult classic, “Desert Solitaire.”
When we read books, three separate time spans coexist at once. First is the month when Tougias was writing, second what month he was writing about, and third what month during which you are reading the book. Ideally, you could savor each monthly chapter by reading it contemporaneous month-by-month with your own month of the year, thereby stretching reading the book over the course of an entire year. This might provide you with new clues to experiencing the seasons and to seeing each season’s emblematic birdlife. But who of us possesses such patience and persistence? I must confess, not I, who can never eat only half an avocado, but must devour the whole dang thing. So rather than taking twelve months to read the book, I read it in twelve days. I can’t say that I couldn’t put the book down. I can say that when I did put the book down, I often found myself thinking about it. Go ahead, call me a birdbrain.
For example, the thought-provoking “May” chapter about the seasonal miracle of migration boggled my mind for hours. Many experiments and hypotheses have attempted to unravel migration’s mysteries. Tougais even tossed around some of the theories that have been proven unfounded. About one disproven theory in particular, he concluded, “This theory had many dead ends.” That theories can have dead ends left me wondering about his theory about dead-end theories.
A few rare passages did descend into tedium, as when the author observes the daily weather. For instance, when he gave an account of his efforts to dig out his car after a blizzard, he lost me somewhere in a snowdrift. But elsewhere, as when he reminisces about his childhood or about his own child’s childhood, those memories deftly serve as seamless transitions into discussions of the birds of the month. His reminiscences are infrequent and are recounted only in relationship to the birds. The subject of the book remains the wonderous lives of birds, not the life of the author. Thus, “Birder on Berry Lane” is sorely mistitled. Rather, this heavenly conceived and eloquently written book more appropriately should have been titled, “Birdlife on Berry Lane.”
July 20, 2023
If you were to look up the phrase “quiet, gentle read” in the dictionary, the cover of this book would appear.
Birder on Berry Lane is exactly what it says it is in the subtitle: “Three acres, twelve months, thousands of birds”. Author Robert Tougias takes us along with him as he observes bird life (and the rest of the natural world) in his little pocket of the world of southern New England. While many birders travel far and wide to spot birds, Tougias does the opposite by staying home and observing all the birds that he can on his property and immediate neighbourhood. It’s a narrow field of study, but oh so rich! His writing is lovely: slow and gentle, yet very informative and interesting. You can feel his love of nature oozing out through his words. The black and white drawings by illustrator Mark Szantyr are a lovely addition.
I particularly enjoyed this book because he’s doing with his birding what I’m doing with my own. Although my birding areas are more extensive than just my own little suburban backyard, I have over the past two years decided to stay as close to home as possible in order to explore my own “territory” more deeply. Not only is it rewarding, but it’s also better for the environment as I’m not driving all over the place, seeking elusive birds.
This book will obviously appeal to birders, but I think anyone who enjoys nature and understands how the natural world impacts so positively on our well-being, will appreciate this quiet little gem of a book.
Birder on Berry Lane is exactly what it says it is in the subtitle: “Three acres, twelve months, thousands of birds”. Author Robert Tougias takes us along with him as he observes bird life (and the rest of the natural world) in his little pocket of the world of southern New England. While many birders travel far and wide to spot birds, Tougias does the opposite by staying home and observing all the birds that he can on his property and immediate neighbourhood. It’s a narrow field of study, but oh so rich! His writing is lovely: slow and gentle, yet very informative and interesting. You can feel his love of nature oozing out through his words. The black and white drawings by illustrator Mark Szantyr are a lovely addition.
I particularly enjoyed this book because he’s doing with his birding what I’m doing with my own. Although my birding areas are more extensive than just my own little suburban backyard, I have over the past two years decided to stay as close to home as possible in order to explore my own “territory” more deeply. Not only is it rewarding, but it’s also better for the environment as I’m not driving all over the place, seeking elusive birds.
This book will obviously appeal to birders, but I think anyone who enjoys nature and understands how the natural world impacts so positively on our well-being, will appreciate this quiet little gem of a book.
March 29, 2024
The subtitle is Three Acres, Twelve Months, and Thousands of Birds, which is the one sentence summary of just what goes on within, but doesn't quite prepare you for the quiet beauty and attention to detail that you are going to find within the pages.
I am a brand new birder. I have been to one festival, with four guided walks, and three lectures, and really that was all that it took. I wanted to know more, to be aware of what is and was around me, and most of all, have a hobby that I could do well into retirement that got me outdoors. Birding is perfect--unlike hiking, the pace is slow, and if anything, there is more attention to what is going on around you.
This book revels in that. The author is a life long birder in Connecticut who raises awareness of bird habits and eccentricities in a dramatic storyline that marches through the months of the year sequentially. He also places backyard bird performances against the backdrop of steadily encroaching development, conveying how various birds have been compelled to change their habits. Light pollution necessitated some behavioral shifts from daytime to nocturnal birdsong. City noise caused other birds to increase their pitch when they couldn’t hear their own songs. Birds have become, in a sense, refugees on long treks, leaving behind their known world and trying to adapt in the new. The subtext is all about what he does to help buffer against this on his personal three acres, which is a nice example of doing what you can with what you can control. This is a lovely book to read.
I am a brand new birder. I have been to one festival, with four guided walks, and three lectures, and really that was all that it took. I wanted to know more, to be aware of what is and was around me, and most of all, have a hobby that I could do well into retirement that got me outdoors. Birding is perfect--unlike hiking, the pace is slow, and if anything, there is more attention to what is going on around you.
This book revels in that. The author is a life long birder in Connecticut who raises awareness of bird habits and eccentricities in a dramatic storyline that marches through the months of the year sequentially. He also places backyard bird performances against the backdrop of steadily encroaching development, conveying how various birds have been compelled to change their habits. Light pollution necessitated some behavioral shifts from daytime to nocturnal birdsong. City noise caused other birds to increase their pitch when they couldn’t hear their own songs. Birds have become, in a sense, refugees on long treks, leaving behind their known world and trying to adapt in the new. The subtext is all about what he does to help buffer against this on his personal three acres, which is a nice example of doing what you can with what you can control. This is a lovely book to read.
May 27, 2023
If *Birdgirl* represents one extreme of birding activity, *Birder on Berry Lane* represents the other. If the one is wide but shallow - going all over the world for brief glimpses of thousands of birds - this one is narrow but deep - staying in one place and really getting to know the birds in one neighborhood. The author takes us through the rhythms of a year, as he watches his feeders and tends his garden and searches for nests and explores the woods behind his house. He not only recognizes his birds, he knows when they arrive, how they behave, when they leave, and he shares the joys and surprises they bring. I’ve learned enough common birds lately, and there’s enough overlap between my state and the author’s, that I could imagine many of the species he described, and this added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. It wasn’t a spectacular book and it felt like it dragged occasionally or became a bit repetitive as the author made yet another tour of his property, but overall, it was a nice simple illustration of paying attention to your surroundings, and an important antidote to too much adventurous wanderlust.
August 9, 2024
Having grown up in the woods of Connecticut, a lot of the author's experiences with birds rang nostalgic for me - the descriptions of the winter calls of the barred owl, the constant racket of nesting red-shouldered hawks, and the sweet sounds of ovenbirds and wood thrushes in deep summer all felt so familiar that I felt we though these were my own experiences written on the page. This feeling kept my attention at first, but I had trouble keeping focus because the writing was often repetitive. There were a few things that seemed like errors that really took me out of immersion because they were so at odds with my own experience (for example, saying there are no black and white birds that winter in CT, or that the ovenbird sings only every thirteen minutes).
August 11, 2020
While convalescing over this past winter, I read this book and found it enchanting! I am a backyard birder and so enjoy seeing the rich varieties of birds and animals that visit my feeding stations. I only have a patch of a yard, but I make the most of what I have to entice critters to stop by for a drink or bite. It's funny how after a while one can really tell the difference between regular visitors! I did enjoy reading Mr. Tougias account of birds in his backyard. Lovely! It would make a great gift for someone, most especially if they live in the New England area.
I received a Kindle copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
I received a Kindle copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
March 28, 2020
Birder on Berry Lane is just the calming book to read right now. The author Robert Tougias shares his insights into bird watching, over a 12 month span, in his own neighborhood. From his yard, to nearby meadows, and woodland you’ll get to know different types of flocks who travel 100’s of miles every year to return to these feeding and nesting grounds. You can read his book month by month, or in a few sittings: either way you’ll come out with a new appreciation for the birds you see in your life. Also there are nice illustrations.
May 8, 2020
This is a book written by a dedicated birder that will fill a spot on my shelf that I did not know was missing. Robert Tougias shares his experiences of watching birds....and life....from his porch and/or windows. The thrill of seeing these harbingers of seasons as they move thousands of miles with no visible guides....no google maps for them....is one of nature's wonders. Sharing the experiences with others is one of the best feelings. It brings a community of diverse people together with only one goal, enjoying the show Mother Nature has provided.
October 17, 2021
I am not a birder but this was recommended to me and then when I looked into the title I realized the author was writing from my hometown of Colchester, which interested me more. It was a pleasant and approachable read for someone who knew little of the subject of birding, with really pleasant descriptions of a locale near and dear to me which was really awesome.
May 25, 2020
An enjoyable collection of stories about the birds around us through the seasons. A great reminder to notice and explore the wildlife in our own backyards, as "Sometimes, the simple secrets of nature are revealed to us solely by chance" (p.73)
February 3, 2021
Nice read about a year’s birding at the author’s home in southern New England. Provides lots of insights into the habits of various bird species that frequent his yard and wooded environs over the different months and seasons of the year.
January 11, 2024
Really a 3.5. A perfectly good book that suffered for having been read right after a 5 star read (The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride). Still, so full of good bird information and a very slow and peaceful book.
February 11, 2020
Here's my review for THE WOVEN TALE PRESS:
https://www.thewoventalepress.net/202...
https://www.thewoventalepress.net/202...
July 4, 2021
I really liked this year in the life of birds with Robert Tougias. I especially liked learning about different nests and breeding birds. Great book for backyard birders in Northeastern United States.
March 14, 2022
Thoroughly enjoyable read. As seasons changed, so do the birds visiting the author's yard.
October 31, 2022
I couldn't finish the book. It appeared to continually repeat its self.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews