The Feather Quest: A North American Birder’s Year
by Pete Dunne
Paperback; 368 pages; published Apr, 1999
The Feather Quest was published long before we reviewed Pete Dunne On Bird Watching. I was going to review “Quest”, but since it was a how-to book we did “On Bird Watching” first for we thought it would be of more value to club members. The “Quest” could wait. Now a club member birding with Dunne finds there is to be a sequel!
Wow! I had better get cracking. However the member then mentioned that since Dunne was working on a field guide that project was on hold. Whew! A reprieve. However, these bird types are turning out guides, references and bird story books so fast I can’t keep up with the expense, reading and reviewing. So we had better get with it anyway.
Pete Dunne has now written eight books related to birding, bird specie identification, and personal birding experiences. As in the past, Dunne and his wife Linda again show their fine writing and story telling abilities. Reading this book is time well spent for all birders.
In twenty-one chapters, from Manitoba to Attu, by air, train, auto, boat and shank’s mare, the “Quest” spans the full spectrum of birding activities from the search for a “lifer”, birding “hot spots”, CBC’s, birding camaraderie, pelagic trips, the history of American ornithology, to birding the continent’s edge as well as the Brownsville dump.
Using as a setting “Ann’s Diner” in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Dunne takes us through the founding and history of North American birding. Over a before-first-light breakfast Pete and Linda conjecture on those historical birders who may also have eaten at this all night diner. They find out though that “Ann’s” only dates from 1942. Dunne’s characterization of the waitress is that of many we have met along the birding by-ways.
Dunne’s pelagic trip is a great read. He reviews the dos, don’ts, sighting expectations and those ugly things that can happen when going to sea for the day to find those “lifers” which may only be seen at sea.
Pete and Linda visit their friend and well-known birder, Father Tom, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Their request was to have Father Tom assistance in locating the rare Mexican Crows that frequent the Brownsville Dump. All birders who have visited sewer treatment plants and garbage landfills will relate to this quest.
In Chapter 6 Linda and Pete join in the search for a vagrant “good bird”, a Ross’s Gull. Here, in writing, they frolic with birders in general, the “elites” in particular, as well as the event and sighting.
Dunne does not forget those birders who participate on the average Christmas Bird Counts. Skipping over those counts which record hundreds of species and draw hundreds of observers, they participate on the nineteenth CBC of the Baldwin City, Kansas Audubon Society. This read is what birding is all about.
Chapter nineteen, in this birders view, is an important commentary. Titled Ghost Dancing on Mt. Pinos, it is an accurate, serious, excellently written editorial.
Birders and non-birders alike will learn much about birding and enjoy dozens of wonderfully written stories within stories. We look forward to the sequel to The Feather Quest. Mr. Dunne, we can wait on the guide. We can’t carry all those we already have! |
