Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts
by J. Drew Lanham
Publication Date: Apr 20, 2021
List Price: $17.00
Format: Hardcover, 104 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781938235818
Imprint: Hub City Press
Publisher: Hub City Press
Parent Company: Hub City Writers Project
“You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same.” That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds?
With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.