After buying my first house a few years ago, one of the first things I did not do was mow the lawn; this was one of my highest priorities. While my neighbors reacted with the predictable “shock and awe,” the Illinois Audubon Society generously certified my back and front yards as a Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary. As an official wildflower gardener, then, I was particularly drawn to Private Lives of Garden Birds (2002; Storey Books; 230 pp.; black-and-white illustrations by Julie Zickefoose; Forward by Scott Shalaway; index; $18.95 hardcover), by Calvin Simonds, whose main target audience is those who garden.
I believe that Simonds would share my view that a more naturalized backyard (rather than a closely clipped mowed lawn) can bring humans and nature closer together. In fact, a common, though not explicitly stated, theme throughout Private Lives of Garden Birds is that a home garden can be a bridge between a human-dominated landscape and the natural world. But while Simonds clearly subscribes to the viewpoint that “…humans are a part of nature…,” he also feels that it is important to treat nature as a partner composed of “…other organisms…[that are] sentient, striving, individual beings.” So to better facilitate understanding of such creatures, he gradually introduces the reader to a scientific method of behavior watching, with birds as the focal organisms. His hope is to recruit more gardeners to birding, and thereby encourage empathy with the natural world.
Simonds focuses on the following common, well-known bird species or species groups, one per chapter: mockingbird, swallows, blue jay, chickadees, song sparrow, American robin, house sparrow, eastern phoebe, red-winged blackbird, American crow, and hummingbirds. Information is also provided, where appropriate, on other species that are closely related to the highlighted species. Simonds shows how it is possible to gain a great deal of knowledge and satisfaction from watching birds as common as house sparrows; so serious birding need not always involve being narrowly devoted to one’s life list or chasing down rarities.
Each chapter follows a loosely similar pattern, beginning with some type of personal story or observation, typically involving a gardening activity, that segues into a specific bird reference. This is followed by a discussion of the highlighted bird species, covering topics such as species distribution, breeding biology, habitat requirements, territoriality, and vocalizations. There is usually more than one casual reference to gardening in each chapter, and this helps provide a unifying theme to the chapters; but in some cases, the references seem perfunctory, appearing to be mentioned merely to keep the gardening threat alive. So while this book may have the ultimate effect of recruiting more gardeners to bird watching, the converse will probably be unlikely.
All of the chapters are filled with interesting facts, observations, and speculations. Chapter 8, “Phoebes: Gentle Tyrants,” though, has a special appeal to my home work ethic. In this chapter, Simonds is tempted away from his gardening chores by the sights and sounds of the advancing spring season. He writes about spring in the following way: “There always comes an afternoon when the air is particularly soft and enticing, and the sun is warm on my back. On that day I have to drop my hoe in the unplanted row, put my seeds back in the seedbox, whistle up the dog, and leave the garden work to the earthworms.” Leaving the work behind, he plays hooky for a day with a walk across the countryside to a nearby stream, in search of an eastern phoebe nest. During this hike, Simonds relates his observations on the various birds he encounters while passing through a variety of habitats: a wood thrush in the forest, bobolinks and meadowlarks in a field, a kingfisher and spotted sandpiper along the stream, a catbird from a brushy tangle, and several others. In this pleasing narrative, he drives home a basic ecological principle that habitat diversity directly translates into bird species diversity.
Simonds’ scientific method, in fact, is another unifying theme for this book. An outstanding example is his discussion of hummingbird bioenergetics, where he successfully attempts to give the reader “…some idea of what it is like to try and make your living as a hummingbird.” And his analysis of crow vocalizations shows that there is a great deal that we still do not yet understand about even some of our most common birds.
Private Lives of Garden Birds has much more depth than being simply a collection of facts on common bird species. The book gently inspires the reader to consider interactions between humans and the natural world, and how even good land stewards sometimes inevitably engage in contradictory behavior. For example, while Simonds suggests that we need a new attitude in the agricultural industry, in which we should begin to treat nature “as a partner to be respected and negotiated with…” he later relates an incident in which he hurls a stone at a red-winged blackbird which is attempting to eat his corn seedlings. Furthermore, in Chapter 1, “Mockingbirds: Virtuoso Singers,” he boasts of planting autumn olive, an aggressive, invasive, non-native shrub. He also acknowledges the problems for birds of letting one’s domestic cat roam free, while never once suggesting keeping the cat permanently indoors. By relating these examples he seems to be suggesting that living with life’s contradictions may be an unavoidable part of the human-nature relationship.
Though Scott Shalaway suggests, in the “Forward” of Private Lives of Garden Birds, that the book will mainly appeal to “gardeners and casual backyard bird watchers,” it may also have an appeal to those simply seeking to ponder the human-nature relationship. And experienced birders may be intrigued by the occasional reference to unanswered questions and other mysteries about birds. Finally, everyone will enjoy the many excellent black-and-white drawings of birds by the well-known artist Julie Zickefoose.
In Chapter 12, “A Lifetime of Observing Birds,” Simons presents some birding basics with information on field guides, binoculars, using nest boxes, bird feeders, and enhancing one’s property to attract birds. Many gardeners may become birders after reading this book, especially Chapter 12. But Simonds also may wish to consider a possible unintended consequence: Some folks may now feel less guilty at abandoning the hard work of vegetable gardening and housework in favor of a birding hike! Or perhaps they may switch to passive wildflower gardening, which requires much less work, leaving more time for birding.
In my neighborhood, I have enjoyed setting a good example with my wildflower gardening. I suspect, however, that some may still be unconvinced, and may simply see unadulterated laziness within my yard’s random mix of grasses, forbs, and shrubs gently swaying in the summer breezes—especially when the wildflower gardener is seldom seen actually in the garden working. So a special friend this year has taken it upon herself to lend an air of respectability to my operation by planting and tending a true vegetable garden. As I reap the benefits of her labor, I expect to have much more energy for longer birding hikes, and I expect that Simond’s book will take on a new relevancy, as one gardener benefitting from another.
Review by Thomas V. Lerczak
[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Summer 2005 Number293, pages 12-13.]