Ok so here is a collection recommended resources that have really helped me to broaden and deepen both my appreciation for Australia’s unique biological heritage. These writings, when fully absorbed into one’s brain have the effect of activating the necessary attitude of curiosity and awe that motivates the enquiring mind of all decent field naturalists.
In my opinion, JA Baker’s epic descriptions and pondering reflections while tracking peregrine falcons across the English countryside is some of the most awe-inspiring naturalist writing you are ever likely to read. It’s only a shortish little book, but every page needs to be absorbed slowly and with great deliberation. It will change the way you approach spending time in the bush, or at least it did for me.
I was perhaps only in my early twenties when I first read this book. Besides the captivating visual storytelling of moving through (and over) the artic wilderness, Lopez’s perspectives altered my relationship to wild nature in ways I didn’t fully appreciate for decades. I was inspired by his next-level ability to synthesise palpable descriptions of landscape, detailed naturalist observations and his own sensory experiences into every story. Simply incredible.
I stumbled upon this gem at a weird, dimly-lit secondhand book shop in Newcastle. It’s basically Lopez reflecting on a series of travels in wonderous natural landscapes. His description of walking through a windswept dry valley in Antarctica did something to my brain. Something permanent and entirely good. I aspire to write like Lopez…he’s my literary hero.
This book awoke in me the stunning realisation that the words we use (or don’t use) to describe landscapes actually shape what and how we perceive the world. I don’t just mean perceive in an abstract or purely literary way, I mean, actually SEE the natural world. MacFarlane brings us back to what JA Baker once warned us – that the hardest thing of all to see is what is really there.
All of Gisela’s books on birds are brilliant and would be essential reading in school if I were Australia’s (much needed) eco-dictator. But this one and Bird Bonds are incredible resources for the bird language student. Basically Australian songbirds are awesomely brainy. Although it’s a bit sciency in places, there’s so much awesome field knowledge in this book it’ll keep you occupied.
A perfect companion piece to the book above. This time the story is about the saucy sex life, courtship and deep social connections between Australian parrots and songbirds. Absolutely sensational stuff.
It took European and North American ornithologists (ponderous old bird boffins) decades to finally accept the irrefutable scientific discovery that all Earth’s songbirds owe their evolutionary origins to the ancient Gondwanan rainforests of Australia and New Guinea. Low tells the story beautifully.
This book has only recently been published (by CSIRO) and it ain’t cheap…but it’s a rare perspective not easily found elsewhere. Personally, I found parts of the writing to be a bit dull but there are large chunks that were totally riveting. A good one to ask your local library to order in perhaps?
An excellent deep-dive into the ecology and behavioural shenanigans of Australia’s night birds. Despite debus being an academic, the book is easy reading and super interesting. If you’re sick of the dry, thin fare dished up about birds in field guides, you need to reach higher up the shelf for books like this.
Ok so this book will leave you forever looking into the steely black eyes of crows and ravens with a profound new sense of awe and respect. Although the writing can be dense and sciency in parts (I mean, the authors are bird neuroscientists so you have to expect some crazy brain science) it’s full of wonderfully touching and insightful anecdotes from observation of corvids both in the lab and the wilds.
This naturalist treasure has long-since gone out of print, but it sometimes comes up in dingy second-hand bookstores and online. If you see a copy, get it. Chisholm belonged to a class of true naturalists whose writings on Australian birds provide rare insights about their behaviour and ecology from personal observations. This guy did his ‘dirt time’ and it shows.
