Comments for The Armchair Birder

Comment on NOTES ON THE NATIVE VARIETY by Ruthie

Ruthie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Oh I didn’t realize the turkeys had disappeared from your woods! How sad– they made such a beautiful commotion.

Comment on PROVIDENTIAL BIRD BOOK by Mark Simpson-Vos

Mark Simpson-Vos — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:06:37 +0000

Thanks for the tip, John. Need to add it to my list of birding reads.

Comment on BIRD SONG CONTEST A WORLD TOUR HIGHLIGHT by Mark Simpson-Vos

Mark Simpson-Vos — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:40:37 +0000

Great report, John! Would have been great to witness first-hand.

Comment on BIRD SONG CONTEST A WORLD TOUR HIGHLIGHT by Ruthie

Ruthie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:41 +0000

Would’ve given anything to have been there! I’m working on several calls for the next contest . . .

Comment on BIRD SONG CONTEST A WORLD TOUR HIGHLIGHT by Dede

Dede — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:45:13 +0000

The Armchair Birder gives an accurate rendering of the process of the great event on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the truly now world-famous Decatur Book Festival. What John has not said is what a complete hoot his and Richard’s and Lawson’s show was. John had spent hours loading Stokes’s bird calls onto his ipod. What the ACB had not mastered was how to work his player. So when we moved into the bird call identification part of the presentation, John’s ipod loudly announced “Bald Eagle” before playing the call. Since Richard had tried earlier to get his really fancy-dancy player to sound the notes of the calls contestants were making and had a pretty hard time of it, the Yow boys appeared slightly Luddite-ish. Susan, Richard’s wife, said in a loud stage voice, “Richard just got that thing; he doesn’t know how to work it yet” to the delight of those sitting around us. I knew John would play with his like a monkey. I watched him trying to load the thing. Lawson, handsome and charming, just sat smiling throughout as though he had borne his father’s and uncle’s ineptness over many years. Indeed the dear boy has.

The most important point, though, is that it was a really fun event. The crowd got into the spirit of birdcalling with zest and silliness, cheering wildly the dove and clapping maniacally for the sandhill crane and the exotic ibis. John didn’t mention that Scott had flapped his arms wildly with his pterodactyl call, to the amusement of all. Nor did he mention that Scott scared the wits out of us earlier that morning as we walked up Clairmont toward the courthouse. Cawing like a crazed crow, he zoomed by us on his bike, shouting back: “That’s not the call I’m doing!” Such a wonderful prelude to a totally cool event. Epic, I don’t know. Comic, yes. Tragicomic with John and Richard’s genius with technology.

If you didn’t make it, catch the show in Nashville at the Southern Festival of Books in early October. Maybe by then John will have figured out how to work his ipod. Or even more amazing–perhaps he will have seen a wood thrush.

Comment on WORLD TOUR ‘09 (cont’d) by UNC Press Blog » Come sing your birdsong for the Armchair Birder

UNC Press Blog » Come sing your birdsong for the Armchair Birder — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:34:52 +0000

[...] Yow, the Armchair Birder, will be at the Decatur Book Festival Sunday afternoon at 2:30, and he’s put out a special [...]

Comment on WORLD TOUR ‘09 (cont’d) by Mark Simpson-Vos

Mark Simpson-Vos — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:10:18 +0000

Wish I could be there to watch the contest unfold, John. Reminds me of a time when I was a kid, probably 8 or 9 years old. A cardinal had set up shop in our front yard and was singing his heart out. I stood below him under the tree and watched for a while, and then thought I’d try to talk back to him. I probably spent 20-30 minutes believing I was having a conversation with this bird.

I would not, however, put my current birdcalling abilities on public display.

Have a great time this weekend!

Comment on THE ROBINS OF SUMMER by Gina Webb

Gina Webb — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:12:19 +0000

Hi John! When we first moved to Sagamore Hills, I had never heard so many cardinals in the mornings, and loved watching them at the feeder we’d inherited with our new house. But soon, there were just too many cardinals and they all talked too much. They do get up very early and like to sit outside (feels like inside, frankly) the windows and call to each other. Now that we have many more kinds of birds turning up, the morning cardinal symphony has eased off, thank goodness.
Just wanted to share with you that we have a nest of chimney swifts in our chimney. Rather, perched in the V of the damper, where I think it may have dropped at some point.Awfully close to our fireplace logs, actually. The babies must have survived the fall, as they all sound healthy when they are begging as one – certainly as you describe in your book “as loud as a thousand nighttime crickets.” What’s the time frame for them to fledge? Will we need to have our chimney cleaned before we figure out how to keep them from coming in again? Or is it best to provide a refuge for them once a year?
PS: This blog is so wonderful. How have I survived, not reading your writing all these years?

Comment on THE ROBINS OF SUMMER by Lindsie

Lindsie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:24:07 +0000

Robins are much in evidence in our Marietta backyard and keep us entertained (we don’t get out much). For one thing, they seem to run more than they fly. Typically, they sprint across the yard, stopping so suddenly that they tip forward from the arrested momentum, then dashing onward. Also, they are bathing fools; they are in the birdbath more frequently and for longer periods than any other bird. They seem to get great pleasure from their wallowing and splashing in the cool water.

Comment on PHOEBE: TIMES TWO by Ruthie

Ruthie — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:36:03 +0000

Wonderful entry. I wish I had phoebes– is it rafters I need, or is the problem that there are no phoebes in Connecticut?