PROFIT OF BIRDING

From a few thousand tours he has conducted in 70 countries, Bryan Bland recounts history, dramatic scenery, green exercise as a therapeutic intervention, and location filming and much else from world politics to the crucial life-enhancing role of music in his light-hearted examination of the profit of birding. Red-Lord Parrot, Keel-billed Toucan, Red-Crowned Ant-tanager, Collared Aracari, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Indigo Bunting, Ocellated Turkey, Red-capped Manakin - the only man-made structures visible were pre-Columbian and the roof combs of Mayan temples constructed 1,300 years ago. As far as the eye could see stretch nothing but the largest tract of the rainforest, north of the Amazon 'like sitting on top of a giant broccoli.' Author Bryan Bland has spent a lifetime discovering that there is more to birding than the obvious interest derived from just watching the birds. The pastime is also instrumental in opening doors for life's other pleasures and with his humorous and anecdotal text, birders and non-birders will be swept along with his tales of running 50 miles across the land-slide strewn Himalayas in order to keep an appointment with a tour group, to meeting Britain's first-ever breeding pair of Parrot Crossbills using material from Bryan's beard to build their nest. Based in the birding hotspot of Cley in Norfolk, Bryan alternates his highly regarded residential bird watching courses with his overseas tours, and he is also a highly regarded bird illustrator. 352pp, beautiful line art throughout.