HAPPY NEW YEAR
Best Bird Books, 2020
“It’s the most invidious time of the year….”
For all its horrors, 2020 did see the appearance of lots of eagerly awaited bird books. I haven’t read them all–it’s just not possible any more, given the pace of publication nowadays–but here are some favorites among those I have got around to so far. (The cover images are linked to the catalogue pages at Buteo Books.)
A Truly Scary Bird
And you thought skimming the occasional milk pail was bad.
Halloween seems a good time to recall that nightjars, those mysterious nocturnal flutterers, have been rumored to engage in behavior far more treacherous than merely suckling at the udders of defenseless livestock.
In 1750, the Pomeranian ornithologist Jacob Theodor Klein listed as names for the European nightjar “witch,” “night harmer,” and something that seems to mean “child smotherer.”
Some of us snooty moderns may have our doubts, but the terrifying engraving that accompanies Klein’s account convinces me. Myself, I’m keeping the windows closed til Halloween is over.
New Books for the Jersey Birder
The latest volumes in the Custom Bird Guides series are now available at Watchung Booksellers and at Wild Birds Unlimited in Paramus.
If your bird club would like copies, or you have a store full of birding customers, let us know at custombirdguides@gmail.com. Christmas is on its way.
The Osprey’s Secret
The FISH HAWK … receives his name from his food, which is generally fish; it skims over the lakes and rivers, and sometimes seems to lie expanded on the water, as he hovers so close to it, and having by some attractive power drawn the fish within its reach, darts suddenly upon them. The charm it makes use of is supposed to be an oil contained in a small bag in the body, and which nature has by some means or other supplied him with the power of using for this purpose; it is however very certain that any bait touched with a drop of the oil collected from this bird is an irresistible lure for all sorts of fish, and insures the angler great success.
– Jonathan Carver, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America
