Bill Oddie Unplucked: Columns, Blogs and Musings

Bill Oddie is well known in the UK, mostly as an actor on the ‘70’s BBC series The Goodies. Birders there, however, also know him from natural history TV programs and from the many books and articles he’s written. Here in the US, I daresay that not many are familiar with him. If they are, then they are probably like me – they’ve heard of the name, but not read anything by him. That deserves to change, and a good place to start is Bill Oddie Unplucked: Columns, Blogs and Musings.

Unplucked is a collection of articles and blog posts Oddie has written for various sources. They touch on a range of topics, from backyard observations to local (British) issues to international birding. The latter are my favorite, as they include some locations that I want to visit, such as Cape May and Guatemala. Well, Oddie has me reconsidering some birding that I want to do in Guatemala. You see, there’s a guan (think of an arboreal turkey) there that you can only see by hiking up a volcano. A steep, slippery hike that takes all day. I’m not sure that the agony that Oddie went through would be worth it. Especially since he didn’t even see the bird. But who am I kidding? If I get to Guatemala, I’ll be attempting it. But I can’t say I wasn’t warned.

The most memorable incident that Oddie recounts happened in Ethiopia a while back. Oddie was on an Eastern Africa birding trip when his group was informed, in the middle of the night no less, that their plane was leaving early and had to route through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the airport in Ethiopia, they were herded into the main airport lounge and had to wait, under the watch of nervous armed guards. The country just happened to be going through some civil unrest and an armed uprising at the time. So what do you do when you’re trapped in an airport? Well, if that airport is in a country with lots of potential lifers, you go birding! I won’t spoil the whole story, but will say that it involves both Oddie and his companions being marched at gun point and three birders in a single-person bathroom.

The selection of blog posts, which makes up about a quarter of the book, are the least interesting to me as they mostly deal with the goings-on of his backyard or news and events in England. But even then, Oddie’s wit and humor (often self-deprecating) can make anything readable. He’s pretty funny and knows how to tell an entertaining story.

Recommendation

Bill Oddie Unplucked: Columns, Blogs and Musings is a good, light, fun read, although one fairly short and quickly forgotten. It’s a good introduction to a nature writer that I, and I’m sure many other American birders, was not familiar with before. I’m sure this won’t be the last thing I read by Bill Oddie.