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"Perfect for the anti-aviary (or bird fanatic with a sense of humor), this snarky illustrated handbook is equal parts profane, funny, and--let's face it--true. Featuring 50 common North American birds, such as the White-Breasted Butt Nugget and the Goddamned Canada Goose (or White-Breasted Nuthatch and Canada Goose for the layperson), Kracht identifies all the idiots in your backyard and details exactly why they suck with humorous, yet angry, ink drawings. Each entry is accompanied by facts about a bird's (annoying) call, its (dumb) migratory pattern, its (downright tacky) markings, and more. With migratory maps and tips for birding, plus musings on the avian population and the ethics of birdwatching, this is the essential guide to all things wings. No need to wonder what all that racket is anymore!"--Amazon.com.… (more)
User reviews
Even though you are unlikely to have considered the question before now, you probably already know whether or not you'd enjoy a profane bird guide. I love the idea; the title and the
Each bird gets a two-page spread, pairing a full-page illustration with an insulting name, followed by a common name that explains away the joke. (Isn't it enough to describe the "Red-winged Buttwad" without clarifying that most people have traditionally called this a Red-winged Blackbird?) Maybe one could wish for more from the names, but I had fun arranging them along a continuum of antipathy: Dumb Western Bluebird, Dumb-Ass Robin, Stupid-Ass Steller's Jay, Damn Crows, Goddamn Song Sparrow, Goddamned Canada Goose, Fucking Pigeon, Motherfucking Bald Eagle. (In fact, the eagle probably belongs at the other extreme.)
A paragraph or two of text identifies the defining features of each species, and expresses the author's disdain for it. Often, this is pretty funny. See under "Red-winged Buttwad," for example: "Southern and some lazy western populations don't migrate at all. Interestingly, who cares, because they're already everywhere." Or under "Great Blue Moron:" "[I]t's always trying to choke some giant fish down its stupid neck. There are plenty of other fish that would fit."
Extra sections offer tips on bird-watching. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be in the market for that advice, but it's made more palatable by the author's casual cynicism.
I have to mention that the editors missed a couple of things along the way, including the substitution of "who's" for "whose" twice in a single sentence.
His bird "guide" has everything from rules to follow, tools, how to keep a journal, and his own description and art of birds.
He has his name for the birds and then the common name. A description of the birds then their color or tips about them or both. Then the picture. My gosh, my stomach hurt from laughing! I read bits to my mom who is in her 80's and she started laughing!
This is a book for any bird lover, animal lover, or anyone that needs a good laugh!
As a lifelong nature-lover, I own (more than) my share of field
The paperback itself is a nice, small size, and the artwork is very clever. My major gripe is the text: it's teeny-tiny and uses a very thin typeface; it's extremely difficult for anyone over the age of 30 to read. That would have been easy to avoid, and since the target audience (bird watchers) are mostly adults and seniors, it's a shame.
Overall, it's clever, but the attitude isn't my thing. Plus, I'm over 30 and can't read the wee print.
Modeled after actual field guides, this snarky little spoof of a book has sections on the birds, bird watching tips, seasons, extinct species, bird feeders, and more. The section on the birds themselves are the most entertaining, of course, and that is subdivided into author created bird classifications. Kracht has grouped the birds in the categories of Typical Birds; Backyard As#%les; Hummingbirds, Weirdos, and Flycatchers; Egotists and Show-offs; F@&kers; Floaters, Sandbirds, and Dork-legs; and Murder birds. He illustrates each entry with quick, appealing sketches roughly colored in. The birds are given sarcastically derisive names (the real name is listed below the invented one) and the entry on each bird is short, pithy, and often hilariously annoyed. For example, the seagull's entry reads in part " The commonly used term 'seagull' is actually a catch-all for the many different types of gull and it doesn't describe a specific bird. Practically speaking, this doesn't matter because they're all the same trash bird at heart." His entry on the Canada Goose starts off sarcastically, "Thanks a lot, Canada." Kracht's primary complaints about birds are their annoying and constant loudness and their tendency to poop everywhere. Despite his irreverent, negative and fairly accurate descriptions, it is clear that Kracht actually enjoys birds quite a lot (and not just roasted or baked). The biggest problem with this book is the positively microscopic print but that's a design flaw, not a content flaw. The humor does wear a little thin over the course of a reading unless you read it in small snatches but as long as profanity doesn't offend you, you'll probably giggle along often enough to make this worth reading. I know I did.
As to the content itself - it was...okay. I wouldn't call it a laugh-out-loud book, but it certainly had a few amusing moments. Some readers have objected to the language being rather salty. I can confirm that, in the alternative names for the 50 or so birds it describes, and in the descriptions themselves, scatalogical references are frequent, and there are more than a few F-bombs as well. That didn't bother me, but if this is the sort of thing that troubles you, be warned!
Of course, covering as it does only 50 different birds, this book leaves a lot of ground uncovered. I'm not a bird aficionado, but not particularly a bird hater either (Squirrels, on the other hand, those loathsome little chisel-toothed vandals....but I digress.) I was surprised to note that not a single owl was included. A pity, I'm rather fond of owls, though I don't exactly know why. Perhaps I envy them being to sleep all day and prowl all night. And the one bird that I really do loathe was also missing: the Turkey. There are several flocks of these wretched creatures that wander around town where I live, one of which made an extended visit to my neighborhood earlier this year. One bird in particular, a female, decided that my front porch would be the ideal spot to bed down each evening with her brood of nine vile little turkeylets. Which means that my porch was covered each morning in turkey crap. I admit, it was rather satisfying to catch them on the porch and chase them off, shouting "Raaahr!" and gesturing with my hands like the monster under the bed, and I only had to do this twice before they got the idea and stayed away. On the downside, my neighbors possibly now think I have serious mental health issues. But I digress again: the point is that this book is something to read for amusement, but is not sufficiently complete if what you want is a "real" almanac of North American birds for purposes of bird identification.
A humorous, spiteful look at birds. The main gag is that every real bird in the book has been
The author also goes on diatribes about how much he hates each particular bird as well as birds in general. He also lashes out at birders and birdwatching as a hobby.
It's pretty repetitive, but it stays fun if doled out over many days a little at a time.
I slightly prefer Tits, Boobies and Loons and Other Birds Named by People Who Clearly Hate Birds by Stu Royall as it mocks real bird names and makes the people who named them so poorly the butt of the joke.