This is a short guidebook
to birds with its smart tongue planted deep in its cheek. It's
copiously illustrated with photographs of bird droppings (splays) on car
windshields and instructions on how to tell what species of bird they came
from. As the authors say: "A knowledge of each splay is essential
to fully describe and understand the variations in ornithological dejecta."
It's largely by taking the subject exactly that faux seriously, but then
subverting it with the choice of topic and some very funny invented vocabulary,
that they elicit laughs. Here, for instance, is one of their terms of art
and its definition:
audibon: Soft sound made by avian dejecta
as it strikes a windshield and forms a splay. Audi (l) sound, bon
(fr) good, literally, good sound.
The book's kind of a one-trick pony, but a very amusing trick.
(Reviewed:27-Oct-02)
Grade: (B+)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-WHAT
BIRD DID THAT?
-You
Don't Know Poop (Car Talk)
-INTERVIEW:
Car Talk Interviews Burton Silver, Co-Author of "What Bird Did That?
A Guide to Some Common Birds of North America." (Car Talk, NPR)
-The
History of GolfCross
-ESSAY:
It's Got the Distance . . . It's a Par! (Golf Digest, August 01 2002
by David Owen)
ORNITHOLOGY:
-The Birds
of North America
-The American
Birding Association
-Bird Source
-Cornell Lab
of Ornithology
-The Birds of
North America
-Audubon
Magazine
-ORNITHOLOGY:
THE SCIENCE OF BIRDS
-FAQ's
About Bird-feeding
-Bird
Sounds Digitally Recorded (Nature Songs)
-ESSAY:
The Winter Banquet: Is backyard bird feeding helping or hurting? New
research answers this and many other questions. Plus, five feeders every
yard should have. (Stephen W. Kress, Audubon)
GENERAL:
-Flattened
Fauna (Great Moments in Science)
Comments:
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