Distilled from one year of introspective observation, 40 years of attentive bird watching and a pantheon of literary references, this fiercely poetic memoir expresses a magical love of nature's migratory feathered marvels. Dee, a BBC radio producer and editor (The Poetry of Birds
), began his romance with birds at age three, enthralled by the sight of a swallow's nest. By age seven, he was following birds on the wing with his first pair of binoculars, and in later years bemused his tolerant children with “bizarre holiday” excursions to spot previously unseen species. Far more than a recitation of rare birds sighted, however, Dee's gripping meditation offers a cornucopia of resonant sonic and lyrical images: a Zambian sprosser emits “a beautiful mud gurgle”; a flycatcher's silver notes are “thrown like meltwater”; thousands of starlings are “the condensing breath of the earth.” In one particularly poignant passage, Dee takes to the skies in a glider to soar with buzzards “in a shared chimney of air.” Page after lyrical page, this account articulates the author's fascination with the world's birds with airy, artful grace. (Oct.)
