Sparrow Envy

Download or read book Sparrow Envy written by J. Drew Lanham and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same." That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds? With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.

Download or read book The Home Place written by J. Drew Lanham and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A groundbreaking work about race and the American landscape, and a deep meditation on nature…wise and beautiful.”—Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk A Foreword Reviews Best Book of the Year and Nautilus Silver Award Winner In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place “easy to pass by on the way somewhere else”—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity.” By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a meditation on nature and belonging by an ornithologist and professor of ecology, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today. “When you’re done with The Home Place, it won’t be done with you. Its wonders will linger like everything luminous.”—Star Tribune “A lyrical story about the power of the wild…synthesizes his own family history, geography, nature, and race into a compelling argument for conservation and resilience.”—National Geographic

Download or read book Providence of a Sparrow written by Chris Chester and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2004-04-13 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” --William Shakespeare, Hamlet B fell twenty-five feet from his nest into the life of Chris Chester. The encounter was providential for both of them. B and Chester spent hours together playing games like bottle-cap fetch or hide-and-seek. They learned “words” in each other’s vocabularies. B developed a fetish for nostrils and a dislike of the color yellow. He grew anxious if Chester came home late from work. At bedtime he would rub his sleepy eyes on Chester’s thumb and settle to sleep in his palm. Chester ended up turning part of his house into an aviary and adjusting his social life to meet B’s demands. This was a small price to pay, though, for the trust and comfort of a twenty-five-gram friend who brought joy and wonder back into his life.

Download or read book Envy written by Ernst von Wildenbruch and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Rare Birds of North America written by Steve N. G. Howell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-16 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive illustrated guide to North America's vagrant birds Rare Birds of North America is the first comprehensive illustrated guide to the vagrant birds that occur throughout the United States and Canada. Featuring 275 stunning color plates, this book covers 262 species originating from three very different regions—the Old World, the New World tropics, and the world's oceans. It explains the causes of avian vagrancy and breaks down patterns of occurrence by region and season, enabling readers to see where, when, and why each species occurs in North America. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, taxonomy, age, sex, distribution, and status. Rare Birds of North America provides unparalleled insights into vagrancy and avian migration, and will enrich the birding experience of anyone interested in finding and observing rare birds. Covers 262 species of vagrant birds found in the United States and Canada Features 275 stunning color plates that depict every species Explains patterns of occurrence by region and season Provides an invaluable overview of vagrancy patterns and migration Includes detailed species accounts and cutting-edge identification tips

Download or read book A Catalog of Birds written by Laura Harrington and published by Europa Editions. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This novel of a wounded Vietnam veteran’s homecoming is both “a searing war story and a page-turning thriller” (The Washington Post). Billy Flynn has always wanted to fly, like the birds he draws with pencils and paints. He is also a patriot, so in 1970 he cannot resist the call to serve in Vietnam. A year later, he is the only one to survive after his helicopter is shot down. A wounded Billy returns home to his family in upstate New York, including Nell, his adoring younger sister. In his absence, the woman he loves has mysteriously disappeared. His wounds have crippled his ability to hold a pencil and his hearing loss has cut him off from the natural world he loves so much. Nell, a brilliant student headed for a career in science, is determined to do all that’s possible to save him. A Catalog of Birds is the story of a community confronted with shattered innocence and with wounds that may never heal, in “a beautiful book about family, loss, and love [whose] memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down” (Claire Messud, New York Times–bestselling author of The Woman Upstairs). “Stunning natural descriptions provide a rich backdrop for Harrington’s beautifully articulated coming-of-age story, which captures the pain of loved ones grappling with the after effects of war.” —Booklist (starred review)

Download or read book Every Least Sparrow written by Carolyn Walker and published by People & Society. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A child can simultaneously break your heart and set it free. Such is the case with Jennifer Walker, born with the rare Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, which severely challenges her mental and physical capabilities, even as it piques her mother's dread of the unknown. Jennifer's is a disorder that most doctors have never encountered, one that informs the story of Every Least Sparrow. On the night of her birth, the Walkers' pediatrician lays out a new reality that will upend their household. He speaks of deformities that make no sense: spatula thumbs, cathedral palate, webbed neck, beak nose, a bird face. Confused and frightened, baby in hand, determined to find healing and understanding, Jennifer's mother, a journalist writing about life in their small midwestern town, embarks on a quest that takes them from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, and state to state. It's a quest filled with surgeries, therapies, and educational interventions, mitigated by Jennifer's love of music and her fun, curious obsession with the Titanic - one that forces her mother to examine her own prejudices. Her combined private and professional lives impact Jennifer's mother in a profound way, creating for her a new understanding of what it means to be wife, mother, and human being. Filled with natural self-esteem, Jennifer never realizes she is different from others. Instead, she becomes their teacher, proving that disability is but a notion. Spirited and impish, brave and loving, she takes her obstacles in stride, and throws herself into the excitement of life - friendships, romance, employment. Those who know her eventually come to think of Jennifer, in her lack of prejudice and guile, as someone to be envied. Jennifer proves to all in the most affecting way that it's possible to surmount seemingly impossible hurdles, live fully, and love unconditionally.