Quote

I am a closet birdwatcher. I can identify Southern African species, but it irks me I can barely tell a jay from a blackbird in the U.K.

All birds are incipient or would-be songsters in the spring. I find corroborative evidence of this even in the crowing of the cock.

My mom used to call me a parrot, because the way I spoke would change in every country we'd go to.

Birds are the most popular group in the animal kingdom. We feed them and tame them and think we know them. And yet they inhabit a world which is really rather mysterious.

A bird in hand is a certainty. But a bird in the bush may sing.

I'm not really a bird person or an Audubon guy who studies them, but as I was around them, they interested me.

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

I would love to be more specific, but really, any type of bird is the funniest animal. They have to move awkwardly when walking. They have beady eyes; they are very suspicious. They can't do anything right. They have no hands, which is inherently funny.

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?

I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.