Shadowbirds: A Quest for Rails - Hardcover

Burt, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558212930 ISBN 13: 9781558212930

Publisher: UNKNO, 1994

Synopsis

A personal account of the author's quest to photograph the elusive bird, the rail

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"All the rails, it seems, are out to vex me personally." So writes William Burt in this remarkably absorbing and resonant account of his years spent in pursuit of photographs of rails - tiny, elusive marsh birds that are nearly impossible to find, let alone photograph. Shadowbirds chronicles his quest: the cameras that would not fire, the suspicious onlookers encountering Burt and his apparatus on deserted roadsides, the countless near-misses that make this chronicle of a self-imposed challenge, and his ultimate success, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always provocative and delightful.Yet Shadowbirds is more than the story of a single-minded search for birds. Indeed, it is the tale of the age-old human quest for things, elusive, mysterious, unattainable - a story as old as the Holy Grail and as current as our own dreams. All readers will find something of themselves in William Burt, whether they seek birds or other things. No one can fail to be captivated by this sensitive and telling book. (71/4 X 91/2, 186 pages, color photos, b&w photos)

From Kirkus Reviews:

Lovely anecdotal moments in pursuit of the furtive rail, from a wildlife photographer so deeply under the bird's spell that sometimes you wonder if he was dealt a full deck. Burt's mission was to photograph two fairly drab, songless birds: the black rail, citizen of the salt marsh, small of stature, notoriously stealthy; and its yellow cousin, no less elusive, but happier in fresh water. Both birds are airborne misfits, preferring to walk, thus they are stalked late at night by their calls (the black sounds froggy, the yellow like a typewriter). In the dark, with the black rail making off through the grass and the yellow melting away through the straw, the job is long, hard, and more often than not without reward. Burt takes in stride mosquito swarms, quicksand, and encounters with drunken teenage yahoos, managing to bring an air of indolence to the task; he digests it all at a wonderfully sedate pace. He recounts his tales in an appealing, graceful, old-fart style, occasionally waxing acerbic-- he takes to task two nonagenarians out adding to their life lists for being uninspired--but only enough to keep the narrative from getting flabby. And Burt knows how to laugh at himself, as in his description of a quest in the backwaters of North Dakota for the lost hunting grounds of Reverend P.B. Peabody, turn-of-the-century bermensch of yellow rail birders. In the end, the author got his photographs of the nocturnal skulkers, although at the rate of about one a year. It's impressive enough that Burt has fashioned mysterious and engaging creatures out of a couple of eccentric birds. Add to that an absorbing storyline and a talent for depicting the places he roams, and this modest book takes on rather grand proportions. (8 pages of color photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1558212930
• ISBN 13: 9781558212930
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 172