Birds and Birders in fiction

A while back I read Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov. It's a great book, noir-ish, about a man, a penguin, and the Russian mafia. Reminded me a bit of Motherless Brooklyn.

Then I picked up The Conjurer's Bird and I was so disappointed I could have thrown the book. It's got multiple plots in multiple eras, like Possession. Unfortunately, the main character in the present-day plot was so selfish and dull that I wanted to punch him - I'd have far rather read the story from his ex's point of view. The subplot that involved his grandfather searching for peacocks in the Congo was about the only interesting thing going on.

Have you read any fiction lately with birds, birders, or birdwatching as a major part of the action? Help me avoid another COnjurer's Bird experience, please!

It's been a while, but try My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead. These are love short stories, with birds.

I would suggest you try Patrick O'Brien's nautical series. The story takes place about 1800 in the British navy (Nepoleanic Wars). Now they are nautical stories so understand that but......the second lead character in the series is the ships surgeon who, as was not uncommon during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, also a naturalist. The series is packed with his natural history observations among which his birding takes a major share.
Start with "Master and Commander" the first book in the series.... and a Hoopoe makes an appearance as the first bird observation.....

I as a birder and 19th century natural history fan throughly enjoyed the series. There are about 20 books in the series. They are nautical history so be prepared to accept that. O'Brien is famous for the detail of 19th century life that he portrays...not only nautical but also food, music, etc......enjoy.

I have not yet finished it... but I love it so far... Andes Rising. Be patient with the first little bit - it is choppy and more like speech than writing, but then it gets good.

It's about a guy who up and left his life to go seek birds in South America. So far, 25% into the book, I love it.

This is an illuminating discussion. I'm always struck by the dearth of birders in fiction and film, especially when compared to the equally popular pursuit of fishing. There are countless novels and films featuring fishermen, from the crusty Old Man and the Sea types to the refined fly fishermen of A River Runs Through It. Why is birding so unattractive to authors and producers? The UK's major bird conservation organisation, RSPB, has over a million members - surely an indication of the popularity of the past-time. The only recent film I remember featuring a birder came out several years ago and featured Sean Connery, no less, as a decicated but incompetent (he completely misidentifies a Yellow Warbler as I remember) birder.

Chrisharpe
Funny you mention Sean Connery as a birder. Sean Connery gained his film fame in great part from his roll as James Bond. Now as a bit of trivia, the name James Bond as selected by Ian Fleming for the character actually came from a friend of Fleming's. His friend, the real James Bond, was a birder, Ornithologist and Curator of Birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He also authored "Birds of the West Indies", Houghton Miffllin Co.

Yes, a shame Fleming didn't make Bond a birder - maybe that would have opened the door to more celebrity birding idols, hahaha!

Great observation Chris
It would have done a lot for birding...........but then thinking
about the crowds that might fill the NWR's...
Oh well feast or famine.

bluejw

chris
re 5 above...a little off topic but...as for 'River Runs Through It', that book has the best opening line of any book I have ever read..hands down....bar none..........to wit, "In my family the line between religion and fly fishing is not to clear"........what a great opening.

bluejw

Coming to this post rather late, but may I suggest In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld? A synopsis:

At 34, Scarlet Kavanagh has the kind of homecoming no child wishes, a visit back to family and dear friends for the gentle passing of her mother, Addie, a famous bird artist and an even more infamous environmental activist. Though Addie and her husband, ornithologist Tom Kavanagh, have made their life in southeastern Pennsylvania, Addie has chosen to die at the New Jersey home of her dearest friend, Cora. This is because the Kavanagh’s ramshackle cottage is filled with too much history and because, in the last ten years or so, and for reasons that are not entirely clear, even bird song has seemed to make Addie angry, or sad, or both. Now, in their final moments together, Scarlet hopes to put to rest the last tensions that have marked their relationship.

http://www.inhoveringflight.com/index.html

I hope you'll check out this gorgeous novel!

What about nature stories for the birds, about birds, from a bird's perspective, anyone?

There IS a dearth of avians in the world of fiction and literature. Unlike the abundance of stories about cats, dogs, great cats (on my other librarythingee shelf) and mammals large and small...

Alas Yorrick, man hath not wings to fly along with and observe the feathered offspring of dinosaurs. While waiting for the vast hordes of birders to move beyond chirping about their exploits, here are some snippets of wings in the windy tunnel...

Watership Down 's Richard Adams utilizes a backdrop of birds thru-out.

Yonder on the natural history side, more is on the feeder. For instance, Loreen Eiseley muses a chapter onto the philisophy of birds in his Immense Journey.

Been awhile on this thread---

BUT--if you want fiction and birds/birding--

Birdbrain by Virginia Arthur
www.virginiaarthurauthor.com

What an interesting thread! I've been thinking it over for the last ten minutes and I can't, for the life of me, remember reading fiction that featured bird watching in any significant way.

Er ... having written the last paragraph, a novel popped into my mind. It was about the first little ringed plovers to colonize the UK. I think it was written by a well-know TV journalist who died soon after. I have a vague memory of prematurely white hair. I remember I quite liked it at the time, but it was decades ago ...

I should probably post in 'Name this book' ...

>13 alaudacorax: - On a quick google, I think it was Adventure Lit Their Star, by Kenneth Allsop.

Have you guys read A Guide to the Birds of East Africa? Although it sounds like a birding guide, it's really a story about a birding competition. Great characters and lots and lots of birds.

There was a book at the library a few months ago, about a reporter (?) and bird watchers, think the cover had feathers all over it.

While trying to find the title, I found this: Birds of a Feather: A Novel by Jacqueline Winspear.

Addendum: found it! Snapper by Brian Kimberling.

In Hovering Flight would fit the bill. It's about a painter/bird watcher whose reputation was ruined when she claimed to have seen a possibly non-existent bird, and her daughter's memories of her mother long after the scandal had subsided and been forgotten. There is a lot about the technical aspects of bird-watching, but it is really as much a mother-daughter story.

And another discussion to scan later. All this dust is making me sneeze.

I found an online quiz with birds in the title of books, and had read a mere 9 out of 80 titles. The sad aspect was that the average score was 5. I will go back to make a list of the variety but most common seemed to be; crow, owl, phoenix, etc. as well as the generic bird(s).

Here's a link if anyone's interested: https://www.listchallenges.com/books-with-birds-in-the-title

It prompted me to create a 'birds' tag for my own books, and I found 26 right out of the gate, either book or film, and hope to increase that tally with intentional effort.

Can I air a very minor frustration? Agatha Christie: it's always a slight niggle with me that she so often depicts her Miss Marple as a bird watcher (and one or two other characters in the Miss Marple books, as I remember), but there is practically nothing in the books to back that up--I can't, offhand, remember an instance where a real, life bird makes an appearance.

>15 paruline:

I was just about to add A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson. As you say, not a bird guide but a novel about a birding competition. A charming book, and one that presents a sympathetic view of life in Africa.

>19 alaudacorax: A few weeks ago I caught David Suchet as Poirot in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and the few scenes of the poor man in his new 'rural' garden made me grin. The 'foreigner' Belgian attempting to fit in but failing miserably, desperately happy to get back to work, although it is an investigation of his old friend. I wonder if something similar happens with Marple? She is trying to enjoy an activity that she thinks everyone expects of her, including herself, but she'd rather be fully embroiled in a caper. Best laid plans, and all that. Theories abound with Christie on a regular basis, I suppose.

I found it funny also when viewing Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows again, that the worst villain ever, Moriarty, is depicted as being a fan of pigeons. I wonder if that element ever shows up in the books?!

Another few books to add; Crow Lake: A Novel by Mary Lawson (unread at present, on CanLit wishlist), The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald (a real doorstop but involves false imprisonment theme from real life false felon Canadian David Milgaard, whose mother fought tirelessly for his release).

>21 frahealee: - ... Moriarty, is depicted as being a fan of pigeons.

You've just jogged my memory--how could I have forgotten Robert E Howard's short story, Pigeons from Hell? We had a thread on it in the Gothic Literature group and I thought it a good horror story ... except that I just couldn't buy the idea of scary pigeons ...

>22 alaudacorax: I don't know that one, sounds fun! Although I've not been to England, the pigeons in front of the gorgeous gothic Milan Cathedral outnumber tourists 10-to-1 and are terri-flying! =D

Others discovered; The Cormoran(t) Strike detective series by JKRowling's pen name Robert Galbraith (ie. Lethal White), The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, etc.

>22 alaudacorax: >23 frahealee: Well, I've read it now, zoinks!
Also, after discussions about John Malkovich as Poirot in ABC Murders, I read it yesterday and smiled when one of the characters in the first few chapters was named Partridge. =)

There is a mystery series by Steve Burrows about birding- I have only read one but it was ok.
https://www.librarything.com/series/Birder+Murder+Mysteries

>25 Helenoel:

I've just read the first one, A Siege of Bitterns. "OK" sums it up, I think. I enjoyed it for its birding milieu and its Norfolk setting (which I remember from childhood holidays on the Broads), but the plot was a bit contrived and I can't say the characters were very believable.

I can't remember if anyone has mentioned two World War II works of fiction, probably more commonly known as films, Where Eagles Dare by Alistair Maclean and The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins. Neither are actually about eagles, of course, but both involve paratroopers.

I'm currently rereading Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Eagle, set in the Peninsula War in 1809. I've only just noticed that Sergeant Harper was a birder. "He knew every bird in Ulster, loved them, and as he walked he searched the skies for new birds because the sergeant never tired of watching them. In the hills north of Oporto he had caught a quick glimpse of a strange magpie with a long blue tail, unlike anything he had seen before, and he wanted to see another" (p39). As it happens I was in Portugal and Spain about six months ago making a pilgrimage on the Portuguese Camino, and I presume the bird Harper saw was an Iberian Magpie, of which I saw many.

This is a bit out of left field, (or maybe I should say out of the blue sky), but I highly recommend Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley. Some of the characters are crows, which might seem goofy to some readers, but Crowley does this so extremely well, you are certain that this must be how crows think and feel. It is not silly or kid stuff in any way. A novel of depth and the finest writing.

Re-reading this thread, I suddenly remembered being rather moved, many years ago, by a television film or play called The Snow Goose, based on Paul Gallico's short story of the same name, which I then read and enjoyed. Unfortunately, I can remember very little of either (well, it was near fifty years ago).

Also, does anyone remember an old British film, perhaps wartime or not long after, about villagers trying to fight wartime measures that would destroy a bird colony? This really is one of the vaguest of memories, so I can't remember a thing else.

Just watched on YouTube a 2003 episode of the British amateur detective series Rosemary and Thyme, entitled, And No Birds Sing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4O7Ulvfzvw). Despite the title, it's not about birds, although it is about plants. The title is from a Keats poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad: "The sedge has withered from the lake, And no birds sing..."

A great read The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century It's a non-fiction that reads like fiction.

Also, 365 Penguins by Jean Luc Fromental is a great older children's book, about math and birds.

Looking through my list of tags for birds...

A Redbird Christmas: A Novel by Fannie Flagg sweet book about a man who is told he doesn't have long to live.
The Birdwatcher by William Shaw detective who enjoys birdwatching.
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald training a hawk helps her come to terms with her father's death.
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines teenager trains a kestral.

Going back a while the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons series has a subgroup set in the Norfolk Broads and which have birdwatching and protection as an important part:
Coot Club
The Big Six
And a further one also based on Birding:
Great Northern?

i read the new book migrations by charlotte mcconaghy last year (the author's debut novel). the main character is a young female scientist living in a future world in which birds are less plentiful and many creatures have gone extinct. without giving more away, the story involves arctic terns and how incredible their annual migration is. i thought it was a wonderful debut and the birds really added a tender, wrenching element to it. give 'er a try :)

Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney (2020) is told from the perspective of a real-life homing pigeon who served during WWI and was awarded a service medal after helping to save 194 soldiers who were surrounded and receiving both enemy and friendly fire.

A list published by The Guardian about bird books, both fiction and non-fiction

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/09/top-10-books-about-birds

>36 Tess_W:

For various reasons, I've added several of those titles to my recon list.

The story behind Nr 10 is pretty funny.

This is an old thread, but let me add:

Border Songs by Jim Lynch with the nerdiest birder character I've ever read

Accidentals by Susan M. Gaines about a young birder and a newly discovered species of rail, set in South America

The Bird Saviors by William Cobb a birder and an ornithologist as main characters in a realistic near future filled with climate change, pandemic, and religious fanaticism

>36 Tess_W:, >37 elenchus:

I was so intrigued by what I read about no.10, An English Guide to Birdwatching (a novel), that I bought a copy and I made a start last night. I shall report back in due course ...

>39 alaudacorax:

I'm curious to see whether a Doppelgaenger theme emerges, please do report back.

Chris White's "Life List of Adrian Mandrick," 2018... https://www.librarything.com/review/200331879

>40 elenchus:

Well, I'm more than half-way and no doppelganger theme yet. The author does put himself and the other Nicholas Royle into the novel, though, and not, as regards himself, in a minor role, either. I'm finding it a rather weird and rather fascinating novel; I've read very few modern novels and I'm a bit bemused with the games the author is playing.

No bird watching yet, though; though a rather daunting flock of herring gulls has had a significant role.

"Rather weird and rather fascinating" certainly is high praise to my thinking. Hope it maintains that to the end.

>43 elenchus:

It didn't, really. 'Part 2', which was the last third of the book, tried my patience—self-indulgent and very 'literary'.

Incidentally, the book as a whole has very little to do with bird watching or birding. Part 2 is divided into 'Hides', the author, at some length, explaining for the benefit of US readers that these are 'Blinds'. That's where the relevance ends and these chapters are, in part, concerned with animal rights, but mostly with people and their interactions (I think ... a lot of the time I couldn't work out what the author's concerns were).

Anything else I might say would really not be relevant to this thread or group, so ...

Too bad he didn't pull off a good start, but certainly isn't the first time that's happened!

I'm currently reading Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves. It's part of the Vera Stanhope series. Vera is a Detective Inspector in the north east of England, no longer in the first flush of youth. Birding pops up a bit in the whole series, as Vera's late father was not only a birder but he did some taxidermy on dead birds and also stole birds' eggs. She thus has at least a passing interest in and knowledge of birds, as he used to take her with him on some of his birding trips when she was a wee lass. But this particular book, the third in the series, has four major characters who are both birdwatchers and also ringers (catching birds and putting rings on them for future identification and scientific study). Incidentally Vera is also a long running British TV series, with ten completed series and I believe they are now filming an eleventh. Brenda Blethyn, now aged 75, plays the part of Vera brilliantly. An added attraction of the TV series is that she drives an old Land Rover, as I do!

>46 John5918: Vera is perhaps my very favorite TV series, and I rarely watch TV!

>47 Tess_W:

I missed it when it was on TV but I've watched the whole series on YouTube. I love it. Not only is Vera nearer to our age than most TV protagonists, but I've lived in that part of the country so I recognise many of the locations. And then there's the trusty Land Rover too.

Just finished Ann Cleeves' The Seagull. Despite the title, it is not about the bird but is set around a fictitious night club of the same name in Whitley Bay. Birds and birders pop up from time to time as the story focuses on some of her late father's old mates who used to collect and trade in birds' eggs and rare birds.

Edited to add: And I've now just watched the TV episode of The Seagull on YouTube. Once again, the story is simplified somewhat, but it's still recognisable as the same story.

Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht Not fiction, but a book I laughed out loud while reading. A hilarious and sarcastic book featuring major North American birds. The author has made up nicknames for the birds, such as Caspian Turd (Caspian Tern), Yellow-Bellied Shitsucker (Yellow-bellied sapsucker). Reminds me of teenage boys! Even though irreverent, I found it quit funny! The author has also hand drawn each bird and it is rather exact even though it appears to be done with crayons. 135 pages

>50 Tess_W:

We have a sub-species of bulbul here which is distinguished by a yellow vent. I can't stop myself referring to it as the yellow-arsed bulbul.

The Bluebird Effect by Julie Zickefoose just got a good review in one of my other groups. It is a non-fiction, but the reviewer said it read "as smooth as fiction."

Another non-fiction recommendation:

World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul

Am doing re-reads of the Bard's works this year, and came across this in Romeo & Juliet (which I've read 5-6 times before but did not "notice): Act 3, Scene 5, Romeo and Juliet are "arguing" about whether they heard a nightingale or a lark.

>54 Tess_W:

Will seems to have known his birds and flowers and a lot of other countryside stuff. You can just feel it, sometimes.

>55 alaudacorax:

Just thought of a good example. If you read up on falconry (or do it, of course—never did, myself) it can give you quite different ideas on The Taming of the Shrew.

The Reading Through Time LT group is featuring a January theme of "Feathered Friends." You might check it out for some good titles involving our feathered friends: https://www.librarything.com/topic/345255#n7971203

In case you are interested, the January reading topic for the Reading Through Time Group is "Our Feathered Friends. Since it is a history based group, the time frame is WWI....you can find all sorts of recommendations here. I'm sure Judy (Deltaqueen) would love it if you would join in this challenge!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/345255#n8007720

I read H is for Hawk by by Helen Macdonald. It has been languishing on my shelf for several years. This is the story of Helen, who is grieving the death of her father. As something to take her mind off the passing of her father, she decides to train a falcon. She was heavily influenced by T. H. White's book, The Goshawk. (He is better known for his book, The Once and Future King). White was a tortured individual and so is Helen. The writing is beautiful and transfixing when describing nature. However, the reader is unsure if at times Helen is describing her own experience or relating something that happened in White's book. The entire book has an mystic quality; making the reader decipher What is real, imagined, or being retold. 300 pages Non-Fiction CAT: Early Birds 3 stars

>59 Tess_W: Huh. It's been languishing in my Kindle for years, too! Maybe this year...maybe.

The Category Challenge 2024 Group is having a January Category Challenge entitled "Early Birds" The challenge is to read (either fiction or non-fiction) about birds....or with a title that has the word "bird" contained within, or the author has name of bird or byrd! If you want to get some good titles or BB's, the link is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355872#n8338486

>11 subarcticmike: William Norwood wrote two novels about and from the perspective of (at least in part) eagles: The Stonor Eagles and Callanish. They're getting old now, published in the 1980s of I remember correctly and I read them last in the mid-90s, but they read fairly well then.

This is a non-fiction book, but I didn't want to start a new category!

Extinct Birds by Julian P. Hume. I bought this brand new (plastic wrap still intact) in 2009 at a garage sale. This is a beautiful book listing and detailing bird extinctions of the last 1000 years. Sometimes there are only 2-3 lines on a specific bird, but oftentimes there are 2-3 pages. Some of the extinct birds have only been "recovered" through fossil records and have never been recorded as being seen. This book is more like a reference book with copious notes. It isn't a book to just sit down and read. I have read it in portions, trying to cover one letter of the alphabet weekly. However, that really didn't work and it has taken me three years to complete the book. I have to confess that the lengthy portion on Hawaiian and New Zealand birds sort of blurred together. This is a beautiful book, but since the price is exorbitant on Amazon, it's off to be listed! 604 pages 5 stars

I've just been reading a mystery series called the "Birder Murders" by Steve Burrows. The first in the series is A Siege of Bitterns. Although they are set in Norfolk, the author and main character are Canadian. All feature birds and birding to some extent. I enjoyed these, although there are a few factual issues I picked up on, and probably more I didn't, and it would be nice if sometimes the author could pick up the pace a bit.