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It‘s fun hearing about how someone fell in love with birding. Mostly this is about the author learning about “birding culture”: the different levels of commitment and obsession with the hobby, the terminology, and the gear. She relates her birding experiences to other life lessons, such as being patient and accepting of what the world offers instead of always adhering to expectations.

She captures the excitement of seeing something unexpected.

This book makes me happy! JZ is genuinely perplexed when birds become a source of compelling fascination to her after going through a difficult time in early middle age. (I'd say it happens to the best of us! 😉) She's a witty and self-deprecating companion: she might consider herself a perpetual beginner birder but, as she's based in Canada and I'm only familiar with UK birds, she's given me a lot to follow up. 🦆❤️

4/5

I love reading books by people who are incredibly passionate about part of the natural world. Zarankin's passion for birds is catching, and inspired me to pull out my Field Guide to Birds of North American to identify a Northern Cardinal in my backyard. I don't think I'll ever become a birder, but listening to this book has certainly served as a reminder to pay more attention to the world around me and to appreciate the majesty of birds.

1. Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder by Julia Zarakin & Conversations by Ai Wei Wei

2. All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Taproot by Keezy Young, Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda & lots more I'm forgetting

3. Dirty chai (a chai latte with a shot of espresso)

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

A delightful book of a woman who finds the meaning of life through birds. #dreamscapemedia #netgalley #bluestockingreviews https://www.bluestockingreviews.com/post/field-notes-from-an-unintentionally-bir...

Between glimpses into her families exit from Russia and relocation to Canada she details her evolving passion with birds. Alongside piano lesson & ballet - she's out birding, learning the vocabulary, making friends, experiencing nature & contemplating the usefulness of multi pocketed gilets! It was lovely to share in her delight as she finds her groove, reminding me how happy I am when learning something new and doing it with commitment & passion.

Thanks @Lindy for helping me find the tagged book. I‘ve got it on order. Think it pairs well with this podcast #nfn2020

In a midlife crisis, Julia Zarankin started auditioning all kinds of hobbies and that‘s how she discovered birding. With self-deprecating humour, Zarankin does a great job of explaining the appeal, even when she makes embarrassing mistakes like thinking a heron is a kind of hummingbird. “Birding is a masterclass in learning how to see and how to be present.” #CanadianAuthor

If someone had told me, even a year before, that I would sit still for eight hours and simply look out the window for white blobs against a mostly white background, and that I could do this without pulling my hair out and dying of boredom, I would have laughed out loud.

(Photo: ChristopherMartinPhotography.com)

I‘d like a cedar waxwing‘s hair, a northern flicker‘s intrepid sense of style, a Ross‘s goose‘s superlative confidence, the mellifluous singing voice of a wood thrush, a belted kingfisher‘s singular glare, a winter wren‘s capacity to be heard, a northern gannet‘s fierce single-minded determination, a black-and-white warbler‘s awesome, classic elegance, and a red-winged blackbird‘s ability to make a first impression.
#bird-speak
(Internet photo)

And then the Novemberness of things creeps in.