Birding Without Borders Quotes

“Birds teach us that borders are just lines drawn on a map— a lesson we can all take to heart.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“Palm oil, squeezed from nuts produced on squat trees, is used in half of all supermarket products—including lipstick, soap, chocolate, instant noodles, bread, detergent, and ice cream—and labeled under a host of names, such as vegetable oil, vegetable fat, glyceryl, and Elaeis guineensis (the plant’s scientific name). Just today, you’ve probably eaten palm oil, washed your clothes with it, and rubbed it on your scalp, skin, and teeth. The stuff is ubiquitous—it’s even an ingredient in biofuels—but nearly invisible. Few people realize how much palm oil they consume, and even fewer know where it comes from. The global demand has doubled in the past decade and is expected to double again by 2050, “at the expense of tropical forest,” according to the World Wildlife Fund.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“So what does a list measure, if not expertise or talent? Some argue that a list is only a metric of the depth of one’s pockets and the free time to empty them. Those critics have a point, but I think a list is grander than that: besides reflecting how many places a person has traveled, it measures the desire to see those places and those birds firsthand. A list, in other words, is a personal account of dreams and memories. It conveys poetry and passion and inspiration.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“Expertise comes from focusing on a single region or taxonomic group, or even just one species. There is no such thing as “the greatest birder in the world”—and even if such a determination could be made, it probably wouldn’t be the guy with the most notches on his binocs, me included.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“Judging by the roadside shops, Ghana was quite a God-fearing country. As we drove through a city called Kumasi, I noted the Saint Computer Service, By His Grace Phones, With God Carpentry Works Shop, God Is in Control Sewing and Decoration, the Sweet Mother Bar, and—leaving nothing to chance—the Holy Driving Institute. I pointed out a store called the Nothing But Christ Electrical Shop to Kalu.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“Spotlighting for animals at night, you’re looking for their luminous eyes. Eyeshine is technically an effect of the tapetum lucidum, a layer of tissue behind the retina of some vertebrate animals that reflects light, allowing the eye’s photoreceptors a second chance to process incoming signals. This gives nocturnal species their superior low-light vision, and the tissue is highly visible: if you direct light at an animal with a tapetum lucidum, its eyes will seem to glow in the dark. The color varies by species, and you can often guess the type of animal by its eyeshine. Cat and dog eyes glow iridescent green; horses and cows are blue; fish are white; and coyotes, rodents, and birds are red. (Primates, including humans, don’t have a tapetum lucidum, so you won’t see any eyeshine by spotlighting a person. The redeye effect in powerful flash photos is a reflection of blood vessels at the back of the eyeball.)”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“The importance of natural diversity in this tiny nation cannot be overstated. It’s even written in the constitution: Ecuador is the only country in the world to recognize “Rights of Nature”—the idea that ecosystems have inalienable rights, just like people do—at the highest legal level. “Nature, or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence,” states Article 71 of the country’s constitution, in accordance with the Ecuadorian concept of Buen Vivir, which emphasizes harmony with other people and nature above material development.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“For me, that afternoon, the Marvelous Spatuletail represented something far beyond a single bird. It distilled the whole experience of Peru, incarnated in avian form— all of the rough, raw material of an entire country compressed into one bright and shining diamond.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

“He was right, of course. When all birds are created equal, no bird is worth a significant amount of time. It’s an age-old tradeoff: you can go narrow and deep, or broad and shallow, but you can’t focus in all dimensions at once.”
― Noah Strycker, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World