One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives

Bernd Heinrich lives in a cabin in the Maine woods. It is from here that he is able to closely observe and report upon the wild birds around him. Heinrich does what all curious people do: he asks questions. Then he does what good scientists do: he watches, takes careful notes, and reports his findin......more

Three and a half stars. Some chapters were better than others, but on the whole I enjoyed Heinrich's tales of his bird studies. Each chapter focuses on a particular sort of bird and on a certain aspect of that bird's behavior. There is a lot about nesting and raising babies, flock behavior, feeding,......more

Going through the large audio book collection at the mid-Manhattan library, which seemed to mostly consist of schlocky thrillers and self-help books, I was surprised to come upon this quiet work of ornithology. I thought it might make a refreshing change of pace for my audio listening, my last book......more

This is the Heinrich book I’ve been waiting for. I choose not to finish Ravens in Winter, and I did read Mind of the Raven, but it’s scholastic tone was not exactly what I was looking for. But Heinrich is an engaging writer when he’s writing for a “popular” audience, and this title is a perfect fit f......more