Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts

A new and expanded edition featuring poetry and prose from the renowned ornithologist and writer.

In Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds?

With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two Black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.