“Bird!” someone shouts as a hawk soars overhead. From awe-inspiring sights to breathtaking close encounters and introspections, Dr. Brian Wargo’s book “Bird!” is a series of 22 essays designed to inspire and highlight various aspects of hawkwatching.
Through the series, the reader will explore a day in the life of a hawkwatcher, and additionally Wargo’s journey to become one. A collection of independent essays exemplify completely dissimilar experiences in hawkwatching. Essay one simply describes a day in the life of a hawkwatcher, explaining exactly what it is they do for eight hours a day. Essay two, “Tom the Zen Master”, describes the group of people that make the journey every day to the hawkwatch and count birds. These people, described by Wargo as simple birders, are a key asset to scientists who are dependant upon their findings. This field is an unusual mix of common non-scientific people who relay information to researchers who have a scientific background. This codependant mix ensures that the birders collect an exorbitant amount of data, and in return, the birders rely on the scientists to make sense of their findings. Essay three describes how to become one of these essential hawkwatching people.
Despite being one of these lay people, Wargo is more than qualified.
“I have a Bachelor of Science with physics, biology and general science, a straight master’s in physics, and my Ph.D. is in science education,” Wargo said.
It wasn’t his education that inspired Dr. Wargo.
“This process came about because —it is actually written in the book—when I was completing my master’s in physics, I was a hypothesizing, data collecting machine, and that was all I did for four years. Most of that was with X-ray crystallography, and that was rather hard, so it was just a nice outlet to count birds and look at birds and find out the patterns that existed. It was actually cathartic, a nice way to release some tension,” Wargo said.
It is more than a relaxing hobby. Wargo intends to inform and inspire the many people who know nothing about hawkwatching. “Almost no one knows about hawkwatching, and before I became a hawkwatcher, I had no idea about this either, so I started writing things down as I was becoming a hawkwatcher, and that allowed some introspection into this world of hawkwatching…The book is essentially an ethnography, which is where you go in and you make the ordinary extraordinary.
I happen to have the luxury of starting as a hawkwatcher to becoming a hawkwatcher, and writing during this time. It shows the genesis of my journey through this,” Wargo said.
The book is not written to teach. Its goal is to inspire and open the reader’s mind to the extraordinary world of hawkwatching. Readers can continue on to read other informative literature on identifying and logging bird data, but currently Wargo’s book is the only one available on hawkwatching specifically.Paperback copies and ebooks can be ordered on Amazon, and stay tuned for the audiobook which is slated to be published in two months.
Whether you enjoy fascinating introspection or are curious about becoming a hawkwatcher, “Bird!” is guaranteed to inspire, intrigue and illuminate another world.