[Andrew]

Just finished Pete Dunne's 'Small Headed Flycatcher. Seen Yesterday. Didn't Leave His Name.'

I thought it was not bad with a mix of some dull stories and some great stories.

I wish I could place the best chapter here (copyright) which was 'Separating Hoagies' where he challenges a member of the records committee to prove he had just enjoyed a turkey hoagie and couldn't. Therefore Pete justified keeping a bird on his list that his committee had just rejected!

One downfall of putting together a collection of short essays like Pete does so many times is that is is difficult to flow through the book as every three or four pages you have to reset your mind in another place or time.

The ISBN number is 0-292-71600-1 and it is an American book from University of Texas Press but may be obtainable in the UK or on the net.

[jeffc]

I too just finished this book. The one thing I found rather funny, either intentionally or ironically funny I am not sure, is in the chapter called "Eternal Errors". In this chapter Dunne describes various publishing snafus related to birds and birding. In one anecdote, Dunne describes a situation where a birdseed company was trying to pitch to the ABA board of directors for an endorsement. The pitch consisted of a video that at one point shows a “…point-blank male house finch … that to everyone’s astonishment, threw back its head and belted out a beautiful morning warbler song.” My rather limited bird knowledge tells me that there is no such thing as a “morning” warbler.

[Andrew]

Jeff, I remember that story and it too made me chuckle as there are also few glaring errors in the magazines over here now and then. Sometimes it is the discreet and subtle mistakes that make me laugh the hardest!