Birds Art Life: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant

Author Kyo Maclear presents a fragile fluid commentary of her inner impressions as she spends a year taking note of birds in her urban setting. Following a pied-piper leader who is part musician and part ornithologist, she comes to appreciate the winged flyers in her environment. The observations associated with their sightings trigger her reflections on her relationships, family, and outlook. As a voracious reader, the writings are seeded with quotes from past masters. Her background is reviewed while looking at her relationships with her barn-storming journalistic father and her reticent, delicate, creative mother and how she has become the product of her parents. Reviewing past loves, she now is tranquil with her supportive, musical husband and two young, expressive sons. The twelve chapters, one for each month, read like a diary as her sensitive impressions are recorded in a lyrical format. The reader can relax in the solitude of her musings as the words gently flow into the consciousness. Some of the pages are graced with quick sketches or photos related to the subject. Read about the connections elicited from birds and their links to life and art.