I read this book last year, but a search of this blog indicates that I never reviewed it. As a middle-aged female birder, I was naturally interested in a book by a woman who takes up birding in her middle age. But instead of just coming to greater appreciation of nature and of life, instead of working through life's inevitable disappointments, instead of growing, Ms. Rogers substituted an obsession for birding with what was probably unhealthy obsessions in the rest of her life. She falls into a relationship with a man with whom she shares nothing but birding. She obsessively birds, even to the point of faking rising in order to get a fishing license to go birding on a reservoir, an action (and an attitude) that would have been anathema to the birding community. She compares her binoculars, bought at the Audubon shop in Tucson (where I've shopped myself) to the very expensive binoculars Peter, her new boyfriend, was using, and immediately decided that costlier must be better (chalk up another win for marketing and advertising making us feel bad and inadequate). And then, she recounts when she and Peter try to lure a bird (generally forbidden in birding circles); they go out for long jaunts without food and water (???). At one point, I realized that Peter has not life either (having tragedy in his past that he used birding to avoid coming to terms with it), so in one sense, they deserved each other. I found neither of them particularly likable, but Ms, Rogers more so. I wanted to like the book. Ms. Rogers lived here in Tucson for a while, and she mentions local places, like the Audubon shop and the Santa Rita Mountains andWhitewater Draw, places where I have been, places where I have birded. But I didn't. It's self-indulgent, a sad revelation of a life spent lurching from one obsession to another, of someone dissatisfied with life and unwilling to face why that really is.

This is an utter delight of a read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Rogers accounting of her birdwatching.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book is the journey of one woman and how bird watching and bird watchers make a big difference in her life. I skimmed most of it, but did not find it a book that I wanted to read word for word.

I loved Learning the Birds. As a bird lover myself, Susan's descriptions of the birds were wonderful. Watching her human relationships change with the birds was fantastic! Excellent book

For most of Susan Fox Rogers' life she had noticed birds in the way that many people do, peripherally, paying little attention unless they were bright and close and loud. In middle age, a beautiful birdsong coming in her window caught her attention and sent her down the road to discovering not only the source of that particular song (a veery), but also to developing a deep interest in all birds. Told in essays, this is the story of her first few years as a birder.

'Learning the Birds' is utterly charming. At the very beginning, I wondered if my attention would remain for 300 pages, but the book softly drew me in.

I am British, living in the UK, but it's always a pleasure to read about wildlife in other countries and continents. Roger's narrative is a perfect balance of nature-writing, science, history, and memoir. She has a wry and often self-deprecating voice, and the personal elements never felt self-indulgent.

The book is essentially a collection of separate episodes in Rogers' birding life, but more or less chronological in order, tracing the beginning and end of a relationship as well as her growing love and knowledge of birds. I suppose, in a way, the format is repetitive - but the writing is so lovely, and the life is so well-observed, that I really didn't notice. Here's one particular quote I hope never to forget:

"Until that dreamy day on a desolate road when a bird named Henslow's Sparrow appeared, I had not given the bird a thought... Now, its song tattooed to my heart, its fragile legs clutching the parsnip, I cared. If the Henslow's were my brother, I would call and text asking for news. Did they mow your field? Did you find a mate? How are the little ones?"