The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds

by John Yow

While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives. Yow offers his own observations, anecdotes, and stories as well as those of America's classic bird writers, such as John James Audubon, Arthur Bent, and Edward Forbush. This unique addition to bird literature combines the fascination of bird life with the pleasure of good reading.

Genres: Nonfiction, Birds, Nature, Science, Memoir, Audiobook, Animals

245 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't mind keeping this forever and rereading it periodically, a bit at a time, just as I have been doing. But I've decided not to hoard, and to send it to my mom, who can then pass it on to other friends. Instead, I'll read some of the many books he references.

Highly recommended if you're interested, and I do want more by Yow or more related. The closest I've already read is The Minds of Birds by Alexander F. Skutch, which was amazing, and I recommend it even more highly, but it's not quite the same.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a few thoughts for now...This book was okay, but maybe I'm not the target audience. I'm not a birder, nor have the desire to become one. But I am interested in learning about birds, their lives, especially those common ones around us. This book does reveal some of that, but there are so many birds discussed the book seemed more like an encyclopedia or a compendium of birds. Each bird was not given much description and some was about how the author saw the bird, or what it did around his place.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most birding books look at the exotic birds birders find. John Yow focuses on the familiar birds in our backyards. My favorites are birds I see in my own backyard, including the mourning dove, the eastern bluebird, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, ruby-throated hummingbird, blue jay, Carolina chickadee, and the tufted titmouse.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, easygoing, informative read. For bird and nature lovers. Very good audio too.

[Allison Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the perfect audience for this book -- an enthusiastic novice armchair birder living close enough to the author to share almost all of the birds profiled here. I even keep a casual journal with notes about what I see from my window, and that makes me admire his writing all the more. He admits to inappropriate anthropomorphism, but those passages are some of the funniest and most enjoyable. I also loved all of the literary references. The Hemingway quote ("Isn't it pretty to think so") in the hummingbird chapter was particularly memorable.

I was pleased to see that the author has since published another book, this time featuring shore birds. My attempts to identify waterfowl at local parks have been frustrating since they are often too far away to see with my tiny binoculars. Lesser scaup? Greater scaup? Ring-necked duck? Help! Once I polish up my ID skills a bit, I'll look forward to reading the next book.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant book that focuses on the birds who visit our backyards and feeders. Its four sections correspond with seasons, and, given the time of year, I started at the end with winter. Some nice writing on chickadees, robins, and hawks. I’ll return to the rest of the book as the seasons progress.

[Mary B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread this book about once a year. It is humorous but also meditative for me and "repeaks" my interest in the common birds around me. My copy is missing right now and I feel bereft!

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a joy spending time in this book!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting and I think I learned a lot about some of my favorite birds. Kevin Young does a superb job reading the audiobook. Highly recommended.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and informative!

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish that I enjoyed this more but the writing just felt a little too juvenile for my taste.

[Sandra Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little book. Nice conversational language and interesting fact on birds. I like the laid back style of the book

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this bird book and John Yow's wit. Loved thinking about what goes on around my bird feeders.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even a veteran birder will learn a few things from this book. Glad I found it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yow presents about 3 pages of information about different 40 birds, each with a black and white reproduction of an Audubon print. It took me a few chapters to start enjoying his approach. He has a basic outline in a chatty, self deprecating style - description, mating behavior, nest and nesting building, raising the young, and miscellaneous historical and contextual comments. He uses (and cites) well-known ornithologists and bird people from Audubon to Burleigh, to Birds of North America Online, and I began to really appreciate that he was providing me with the good quotes and information from sometimes less than readable sources. He definitely has an environmental approach, but even that is handled softly and lightly.

Yow lives in Georgia and we lived in the south for 20 years, so I had a number of nostalgic bird moments. I do miss my cardinals and mockingbirds and yellow billed cuckoos and Carolina wrens. The book was lent to us by friends and now I don't want to give it back! Date with Amazon I guess.

For bird people.

[Corky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting glimpse of bird watching from a backyarder. As a backyard birder myself, I found Yow's descriptions of his yard visitors antics to be quite on the ball and fun. I also learned a few bird facts that I did not know. Such as cardinals won't eat from feeders in the late fall when they are molting as they must ingest a certain amout of carotene to retain their beautiful coloring. I always wondered why they kept my feeders empty during spring, summer, and early fall and then disappeared for most of the late fall/early winter.

[Avary Doubleday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book to read straight throug but to enjoy in pieces when the mood hits. It's not a field guide, but more a compilation of Yow's personal observations of birds in his yard and things he has read about them -- just what the title says it is. I recommend it for anyone in our part of the country who hangs a feeder in his yard.
I've not read the entire book, but keep it by the window with my binoculars.

[cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

bird geek alert! this book was exactly what i had hoped for - an interesting mix of bird facts and well-written birdwatching observations. as the publicity put it, "John Yow's "The Armchair Birder" is here to remind us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows." and right he is, with great essays on 35 different birds including some of my personal favorites, the woodpeckers and the nuthatches who pay regular visits to my feeders.

[Gaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was NOT excited to find this topic on my book club list, but I REALLY liked this book. I do not know one bird from another but this book was humorous, informative, and a quick read. The author chose 40 birds that he finds frequenting his GA. locale. He then proceeds to give a quick overview of each of the 40 birds. I am looking forward to reading the other bird book for book club - Birdology.

[KRom · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a bird-aphile , this book will give you some rather extraordinary and often hilarious insights into the manners of familiar backyard birds. Easy to read style and delightful insights as to how, why, where and with whom! Your bird watching will only be enhanced as you chuckle at what the author conveys about our "backyard flyers".

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really have enjoyed reading this book! It's full of really interesting tidbits about the behavior of birds, the very factoids that are missing from my bird identifier books and that I've been craving. It is well written and researched with a nice touch of humour. I will buy this book as gifts for friends and for myself since my read was from Lamont.

[Harla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled onto this one when I was pulling books for a display at the branch. I found it full of interesting facts and very easy to read. Did you know that buzzards mate for life and feed their young regurgitated road kill? Neither did I! I know very random facts :-) but this book was full of stuff like this. Amazing what you can learn...

[Linda "Lilybug's Library" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wasn't my normal type of book to read, but I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about different birds and the author has an easy to read style that made it a fun book to curl up with on a cold Winter day.

He lives down South, but he covered many of the common birds that we also see on the East coast of Canada; the robin, crow, chickadee, blue jay and many others.

[Birdie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant and enjoyable stories about familiar birds in the Southeast. I read the chapters I was interested in and learned a lot. Most of all, I enjoyed getting to know John Yow and his wife through his writing. If I lived in Georgia, I'd want to be their neighbors.

[David R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, an anthology of bird observations for the rest of us! Yow ably brings his backyard birds to life, combining personal anecdotes with hard data and even adds J.J. Audubon's illustrations (albeit in black and white) for added interest.

[Odoublegood · Rating 2 out of 5]

rather derivative; quotes from a set of sources (did love the Audubon quotes) and then adds brief personal commentary; this book is good for reading in bed (brief segments, no suspense); enjoyed the Audubon illustrations even though in black and white

[Henry]

A delightful book that focuses on the lives of birds commonly found in America, such as mourning doves, cardinals and red wing blackbirds. I liked it so much that I found myself reading some of the chapters two or three times.

[Heidi Marc-Aurele · Rating 5 out of 5]

These bird essays are so delightful! You'll wish you had 40 acres of woods so that you can sit and watch bird behavior all day long.

[Linda]

So far I have "read" the illustrations and 3 pages in this book, and I just know I am going to enjoy it. I love that happy feeling of anticipation at the start of a new book!

[Kat Leache · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a lot of fun. I didn't read it from cover to cover, but it doesn't demand that. Loved the chapter on robins! What funny little creatures they are.