Although a copy of the new “RSPB Spotlight: Hedgehogs” by James Lowen arrived from Bloomsbury a few months ago, I delayed adding it to the Newly Noted column in order to better align it with an annual threat to its subject: Bonfire Night bonfires.
Taking the form of a large-format plate book, The Splendor of Birds presents a collection of some of the finest ornithological artwork and photography from the National Geographic archives. Spanning a 130 year range, beginning in 1888 and moving forward chronologically up to the present, the images included present a remarkably varied assortment of photographic styles and subject focus areas, as well as some truly choice illustrations, most notably by the great Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
Whenever I find myself looking at a gull and not being able to put a species level identification to it, I invariably think back to my childhood alongside the mouth of the Columbia River and lament how much of my youth was wasted in things other than learning to identify the ever-present and seemingly endless numbers of gulls in the area.
David Lindo first came to my attention back in 2012 with his memior “The Urban Birder.” Here, I recall thinking, was a voice that was different, had something interesting to say, and certainly came from a place – both geographically as well as demographically – that was not represented in the previous literature of the bird watching community.