Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book
Written by Bill Oddie - Published by Portico
Written by a birdwatcher, for birdwatchers about birdwatchers, Oddie is adhering to the maxim that only Jewish comedians can make Jewish jokes by being a birder/twitcher laughing at birders & twitchers. In May 1947 Oddie (allegedly) found an egg, later identified as belonging to a hedge sparrow. This prompted 7 years of egg collecting, before, in 1954, he turned to live birds, and in the last 50 years he has documented all the places he has been, what he saw (or didn't), what he claimed he saw, what others claimed they saw, what was there but wasn't seen,adn what wasn't there, nobody saw, but some still claimed. He has learned about the characters, the cheats, the equipment, how to justify a claim, whether a dead bird counts (no - but what about if you saw it just before it died?), and the difference between bird watchers, birders, twitchers and bird spotters.
This us an updated version of Oddie's book that was first published in 1980.
RRP £9.99, usually available from Amazon for £5 - 7.50. To buy from Amazon, click Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book
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