Down and Dirty Birding: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, Here's All the Outrageous but True Stuff You've Ever Wanted to Know About North American Birds

by Joey Slinger

From Simon & Schuster, Down and Dirty From the Sublime to the Ridiculous is Joey Slinger's fascinating exploration of North American birds.

Joey Slinger's Down and Dirty From the Sublime to the Ridiculous is all the outrageous but true stuff you never wanted to know about North American birds.

Genres: Nature, Birds, Nonfiction, Humor, Natural History

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 1996

Reviews

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know that the best way to see a Merlin was to watch pigeons and if one of them suddenly turns into a hawk, you've got it? If you're a real birdwatcher, you'll know this isn't really a joke. It sounds funny...until you've been there.

Here's a book full of good advice. And jokes. And sometimes you can't tell the difference...unless you've been there.

As a funny book, it's pretty darn funny.
As a how-to book, I wish he'd spend a little less time on the "parts of birds" chapter and added a chapter on field technique. I'd love to read his pointers on squatting, crawling, climbing, and what to do when your binoculars are assiduously scoping out the Rufuous Hummingbird at your neighbor's window and they suddenly espie a pair of human eyes looking back at them?

It's a dangerous job, bird watching. Don't venture forth without reading this first.

[Steve Petkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book on birding is nearly 20 years old. Is it perfect? No. I wish it were more organized at times; and there is at least one moment where his off color humor goes a bit too far afield even for someone as tilted as me. But to say such things feels weird, because I believe this book is an amazing book, a thing worthy of classic status. I mean, when it's a book about birdwatching, for Christ's sake, and it's 20 years old, and I'm RE-reading it ... and yet it STILL makes me laugh out loud, to the point where my tweener son says "What the heck are you reading?" and it still makes me juiced about birds and nature in general, and it still--again, this is a re-reading of this book--makes me smile about the world and about people, I say, WELL DONE. I would like to see Joey Slinger's approach applied to other esoteric fields of life, in the way of Christopher Guest's approaches in film to such topics as community theater and dog shows: if everyone had the balance of knowledge and sheer humanity/humility/humor that Slinger has here, we'd all be heaps better off.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like bird watching, or you know any bird watchers, or you think birds are any bit interesting; I think you'd like this book. Its pretty funny. It makes fun of bird watchers. It even makes fun of birds. It makes the idea of watching birds fun.

And the guy definitely knows his birds. He's got some great little factoids that will help round-out your birding skills.

Its a great gifty book for any bird lover you know.

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crass, hilarious book on birds, birding, and those nuts amongst us who call ourselves birders. Despite being published in the '90s, the humor holds up.

It does feel a bit dated due to the lack of important updates in the birding world (websites, bird apps, and of course, no mention of Sibley's contributions to the field guide world), and I'd love to see an updated edition.

Nevertheless, it's a fun addition to the birder's shelf.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is as entertaining as it is informative. It's not for the easily offended, since some of the humor is a little off-color. (After all, it DOES have to make birds' sexual, digestive, and other indelicate functions fun to read about.) That said, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in birds and/or in reading something funny.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a riot! It also had a lot of very helpful birding information in it. I will use it for reference in future. If anyone wants to begin birding, this is a good book to begin with as it is anything but intimidating. Heck, its even fun if your just curious about birds. A very good read.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much cruder than it looked on the museum-gift-shop shelf. For all that, some very funny moments. But needless to say, the children will NOT be seeing this one.

[K M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a riot! Very funny, yet quite educational.

[Arlene Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reference book written by a serious birder who is also a humorist. How he presents his material in a irreverent, whimsical way is very different from the standard reference books.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole book is like this:

"Birding" as a word to describe the activity of watching birds supplanted the term "bird-watching" and "birder" replaced "bird-watcher" because "bird-watching" and "bird-watcher" bring to some minds the image of spinster ladies in tweed underwear bounding through the woods calling "Haloo! Haloo!" Not wishing to be sexist, I am, of course, referring to spinster ladies of any gender you care to name.

[Michelle Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I read many bits and pieces. It was intriguing and funny!