Birdscapes

Birds in Our Imagination and Experience

Jeremy Mynott

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400832835
• Print ISBN:
  9780691154282
  9780691135397
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies

What draws us to the beauty of a peacock, the flight of an eagle, or the song of a nightingale? Why are birds so significant in our lives and our sense of the world? And what do our ways of thinking about and experiencing birds tell us about ourselves? Birdscapes is a unique meditation on the variety of human responses to birds, from antiquity to today, and from casual observers to the globe-trotting "twitchers" who sometimes risk life, limb, and marriages simply to add new species to their "life lists."

Drawing extensively on literature, history, philosophy, and science, Jeremy Mynott puts his own experiences as a birdwatcher in a rich cultural context. His sources range from the familiar--Thoreau, Keats, Darwin, and Audubon--to the unexpected--Benjamin Franklin, Giacomo Puccini, Oscar Wilde, and Monty Python. Just as unusual are the extensive illustrations, which explore our perceptions and representations of birds through images such as national emblems, women's hats, professional sports logos, and a Christmas biscuit tin, as well as classics of bird art. Each chapter takes up a new theme--from rarity, beauty, and sound to conservation, naming, and symbolism--and is set in a new place, as Mynott travels from his "home patch" in Suffolk, England, to his "away patch" in New York City's Central Park, as well as to Russia, Australia, and Greece.

Conversational, playful, and witty, Birdscapes gently leads us to reflect on large questions about our relation to birds and the natural world. It encourages birders to see their pursuits in a broader human context--and it shows nonbirders what they may be missing.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Wondering about birds
• Chapter 2: Amusive birds: Attraction and association
• Chapter 3: Seeing a difference
• Chapter 4: Rarity value
• Chapter 5: Beauty and the beholder
• Plates
• Chapter 6: The sense of sound
• Chapter 7: A time and a place
• Chapter 8: Wild nature: The politics of preference
• Chapter 9: Naming matters
• Chapter 10: Birds are good to think with
• Envoi: “Stirred for a bird”
• Appendix 1: Some notable lists: The Sumerians, Thomas Jefferson, John Clare
• Appendix 2: Birds and bonnets: A New York hat story
• Appendix 3: Nightingale mysteries
• Appendix 4: Some Australian bird names
• Reference matter: Abbreviations
• Index of birds
• General index
• Acknowledgements and permissions