One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives
By: Bernd Heinrich / Narrated By: Rick Adamson
Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
Soooo good I had to interrupt listening to go check out pissed off blue jays… What a treat!
Seriously! I KNOW I’ve said it before, but where I currently live had me well and truly depressed. Back in the old place, in a garage apartment high amongst the trees, I could see my beloved Papa and Lady Cardinals, could hear songs from lovely birds, could stroll the neighborhood and pick leaves from m’ hair as I exchanged smiles with neighbors.
Here? Dude! asphalt and concrete, scowling neighbors (Thank GOSH for masks as they at least hide the worst of the scowling!). But good gosh, the Merlin app changed all that, like, in a heartbeat… or p’raps I should say: With Sound ID. This place is GLORIOUS (Or at least the wooded area by the Post Office is)! So when it came time for the Weekly (Usually weekly) Animals Pick? Good cow, man! One Wild Bird at a Time was simply BEGging to be heard.
I kinda sorta panned my first Bernd Heinrich effort as a Listen, but here I was absolutely enchanted! I was sooo grateful that this one had a different narrator, tho’ I must confess the beginning had me a trifle worried about Rick Adamson. He rather has the even and sorta dry tones of a documentary narrator, and a dry documentary was NOT what I was hoping for whenst considering my much-loved birds. That said? Oh gosh, from the moment Adamson chucked out the “Who-cooks-for-youuuuuu” hoot of an owl, showing me that the man was game for just about any birdcall he’d be called upon to hoot/sing/warble? Just stellar!!! NO problems with him as narrator, esPECially when the author Heinrich’s enthusiasm for what he does is sooo freaking irrepressible! SUCH joy, such delight he takes in each and every bird he encounters.
Now, one minor quibble: The man thinks of only learning more more more, and as such does some, to me at any rate, questionable experiments. Dragging out little nestlings to run an experiment to see how mom/dad bird will react? Jiminy H. Cricket, guy, do NOT do that!!! -BUT- I s’pose that’s exACTly how knowledge is gained (Pooooor Mom and Dad!!!!)?
That aside, expect complete devotion to understanding just how each specific bird operates. Complete this with some rather tedious details details details, such us exactly how many trills or peeps per minute were made, exactly how many minutes a call to attract a lovely lady went on for, AND exactly how many bits o’ bird scat a grouse pooped per minute whilst holed up in a snow cave, and my friend, we apparently have an eager, oh sooo eager, documenter of minutiae on our hands.
Dry? Maybe the precision of numbers could be? Only for ardent lovers of birds? Welllll, I m’self would indeed count myself amongst those folks BUT hey! just do a google search for pics of each bird and you’ll be wildly entertained. Edifying? Oh holy heck yes, do allow yourself the absolute joy of learning something!
I am sooo looking forward to the plethora of audiobooks I have of Heinrich’s work (Jeez, may I call you Bernd as ‘twould appear we’re both daffy about feathered friends?!) that are also narrated by Adamson. Some creeped out tests/experiments aside, I’ve learned so much from this audiobooks.
And dude! You feel trapped in a city setting, nary a bit o’ Nature to be found? Doooo try the Merlin app (FREE!). Can’t do anything about people scowling, but man! you CAN find an entire KINGDOM of absolute wonder, just perched and flying. And gosh, may we all sing so proudly!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.