I really like reading about nature (experiencing it is another matter) so when I saw this book on NetGalley, I really wanted to read it. Unfortunately for Birder on Berry Lane, I read it after I had read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (the reviews are far apart because I didn’t want to post this so far before the publish date but don’t be fooled!)

Birder on Berry Lane is a year-long exploration and love song to the birds that visit Robert Tougias’s house on Berry Lane in Connecticut. As Tougias puts it in the introduction, this book is “an account of my awareness – seeing, thinking about, and appreciating the living habitat, nature, and most specifically birds going about their business.” In a way, it’s similar to Dillard’s aim of seeing, but with the focus aimed straight at our feathered friends.

But it would be a mistake to think that Birder on Berry Lane is similar to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. They might both be about nature around the author’s home, but in style they couldn’t be more different. Dillard looks to see nature in new and unfamiliar eyes, to search for the “tree with lights in it”. Tougias is writing to show us about the beauty and wonder of birds to raise our awareness of them.

As such, Birder on Berry Lane feels like a quieter book, but that doesn’t mean that it’s without its charms. I learnt a lot about the birds in Connecticut while reading and for a moment, wanted to set up a bird feeder. But living in a HDB makes that fairly difficult so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly.

The book also comes with drawings of birds, which add to its quiet charm. Because the appearance of birds tend to be seasonal (at least, that’s what it appears to be for me), Tougias is able to focus on one or two birds for each month and intersperse his musings with drawings of them.

Overall, this is a quiet and charming book about birds. I’ve never really thought about them – except when that one annoying bird wakes me up (Singaporeans do you feel me?) – but I found a new appreciation for these small creatures after reading this.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley but the thoughts in this review are my own.

Featured Image: Photo from Canva