I n his inimitable style—articulate, eclectic, and thoroughly readable—Ted Floyd unfolds the stages, events, and epiphanies of a lifelong interest in bird study. Two hundred epistles organized in six chapters are arranged by season of the year and growing length and depth of experience: January–February, “Spark Bird”; March–May, “After The Spark”; June–July, “Now What?”; August–September, “Inflction Point”; October–November, “What We Know”; and December, “What We Don’t Know.” In a baker’s dozen examples chosen almost at random, these chapters include subjects such as (16) If It Walks Like a Duck, (17) A Colorless, Shapeless, Amazing Bird, (22) The Value of Local Experience, (33) Do the Checklist Shuffl, (40) The Absolute Best Way to Learn Birdsong, (62) The Logic of Migration: A Tale of Two Teals, (83) Whither the Field Notebook?, (119) What Is Molt Anyway?, (121) Two for The Price of One, (161) On The Origins of Knowledge: Bird Banding, (164) On the Origins of Knowledge: Scientifi Collecting, (177) Schrödinger’s Hawk, and (200) Who Knew? You cannot go wrong here. I think that anyone’s interest in bird study will only be enhanced, and often clarifid, by reading this book. And John Schmitt’s handsome illustrations punctuate the work at every turn. <br class="Apple-interchang