The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal: The Secret Lives of Birds of the Southeastern Shore

One of my favorite places to bird is the Georgia coast. In this state, we’re lucky to have many undeveloped (or nearly so) barrier islands, miles of salt marsh, and other protected sites. It’s a special place filled with special birds, where the beaches can be covered with shorebirds, gulls, and terns, and waders add splashes of color to the marshes. John Yow captures that experience in The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal: The Secret Lives of Birds of the Southeastern Shore.

As a self-professed “armchair birder”, Yow prefers watching birds that come to him. In his first book, The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds, he profiles birds that he routinely encounters at home. Then, on a family beach vacation, he enjoyed some different birds and thought he could write a book for the resident and vacationing armchair birders of the coast. But in order to do that, he had to step out of his comfort zone. He had to become a “birder”. Not that Yow was complaining. As he put it:

Five seasons of birds and beaches, seafood and salt marshes, ocean breezes and island smiles. Nope, not bad. Not bad at all.

The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal features 28 chapters, each covering one or two characteristic birds of the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts. These include birds that no one visiting can help but notice, like Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, and White Ibis. But Yow also includes some others – i.e. Clapper Rail, Reddish Egret, Wilson’s Plover – that, while not rare, one may actually have to seek out. Obviously, one could include many more than 30 or so birds in a book like this, so some whittling had to be done. Yow doesn’t include any ducks (he “doesn’t do ducks”) or passerines (no Boat-tailed Grackle, unfortunately), and picked just one species to represent the gulls (Laughing Gull, so no Ring-billed or Herring). But overall, I thought it was a good selection. I just wish more could have been included.

As in his first book, Yow relies heavily on Audubon, Arthur Cleveland Bent, the Birds of North America series, and other sources for information on these birds. He incorporates a good bit of the bird’s natural history – feeding, courtship, nesting, and other behavior – into these accounts. Yow doesn’t delve deeply into identification issues, although he does describe the birds and gives some notes on distinguishing between similar species. But the accounts aren’t just dry facts; many interesting anecdotes have also been gathered from these various sources (Audubon is always good for a fascinating story!). The author combines this with his own experiences with the birds. These may not always be extensive, but his observations are very astute.

For example, Yow proposes that the Royal Tern is the quintessential American bird. No doubt you’re as surprised at this suggestion as I was, but he does a good job of explaining how, in his opinion, the tern’s behavior typifies America. Yow argues that this is most readily apparent in how they raise their chicks. In a colony of Royal Terns, the chicks gather together in a large group and are supervised by a small number of adults while the rest go foraging. Can anyone say daycare? The parents will continue to feed their offspring for 5-8 months after hatching, which is a good while in the bird world. The author carries the comparison a bit too far in suggesting that the parents do this as a way of relieving “parental guilt and remorse” at having to abandon their chicks earlier on. But to be fair, I don’t think that Yow believes that either. It was just too good of an analogy to make to modern American childrearing, and I don’t begrudge him of that.

The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal seems to be targeted at newer birders and those who, while maybe not birders, are aware of and curious about the birds around them. Such readers should prepare to be amazed by what they discover here, such as the unbelievable migratory feats performed by shorebirds. However, that’s not to say that more experienced birders won’t get anything out of this book. For example, based on what he writes here, I’ve undoubtedly seen American White Pelicans on many more occasions than the author. Yet I’ve never witnessed anything like the spectacle of feeding pelicans he describes in his account. Heck, I’ve never seen them feed on any occasion. But after reading about it here, I really want to.

Although Yow quotes other sources liberally, the author’s own voice is never lost. His style is very casual and amusing, but he can paint a vivid picture with words when needed. Speaking of pictures, about half of the birds are illustrated with charming black-and-white sketches. But it would have been better, especially for those not familiar with them, if all the birds could have been given this treatment.

One drawback to using older sources is the outdated names contained therein, such as Cabot’s Tern (currently known as Sandwich Tern, unless the AOU follows their British counterpart and splits the New and Old World Sandwich Terns, in which case the American one would likely again be known as Cabot’s). Since Yow doesn’t note the current names, these could easily confuse readers. Actually, in one case the author himself got confused when a jaeger is referred to as a “skua” in one of Bent’s accounts.

Recommendation

For me, reading The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal is like bypassing the five-hour drive and getting transported immediately to the coast where I’m reunited with the fabulous birds there. This book is a great way to get to know these birds, perhaps the best and most pleasurable way to do so apart from making the trip yourself and spending considerable time in the field.

By the way, you don’t have to live, or bird often, on the southeastern coast to appreciate this book. Yes, it covers a good number of southeastern specialties, but many others can be found elsewhere. Here are all of the birds included:

1. Black-necked Stilt
2. American Oystercatcher
3. White Ibis
4. Black-bellied Plover
5. Ruddy Turnstone
6. Reddish Egret
7. Anhinga
8. Wilson’s Plover
9. Royal Tern
10. Wood Stork
11. Laughing Gull
12. Brown Pelican
13. Forster’s Tern
14. Double-crested Cormorant
15. Clapper Rail
16. Willet
17. Tricolored Heron
18. Snowy Egret
19. Sanderling
20. Roseate Spoonbill
21. Short-billed Dowitcher
22. Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs
23. Wilson’s Snipe
24. American White Pelican
25. Black Skimmer
26. Red Knot
27. Whimbrel
28. American Avocet