to know birds adds meaning and context to everything that is affecting their lives. We notice rain, wind, insects, frogs. We become attuned to plant communities—the countless variations of “woods” and “fields” and “mudflats,” each preferred by different species of birds. We think about dinosaurs (the ancestors of birds), ice ages, ocean currents, continental drift, and evolution. We think about geography; even in a California backyard like Amy Tan’s, it is possible to see birds that spend part of their year as far away as Alaska and Argentina.
