Find Providence Of A Sparrow: Lessons From A Life Gone To The Birds Chronicled By Chris Chester Shown In Document

arent enough to properly rate this book, You wouldnt think a book about living with a rescue sparrow would be so deep, so richly amusing, so revealing of how far some humans are willing to go for love of a creature.
Im a sucker for animal memoirs and this is as good as they get, This book was magical to read for me, It is a wonderful mix of natural history, biology, philosophy, memoir, and rich literary touches, The author is truly gifted as a writer, SPOILER ALERT!!



It is a crying shame that Chester never was able to produce another work and that he died at such a young age.
I know it was cancer that took him, but I feel it could almost have just as easily been from a broken heart, What a wonderful gift he gave to the world, I found his story magical! Fascinating story with excellent writing, The tenderness with which Chris Chester tells this adventure of having a house sparrow in their house along with other words is deeply touching, along with his somewhat sardonic humor and philosophical musings it is totally enjoyable and thougth provoking.
He is a very gifted writer, Too bad he is gone, I expected to love this book, because I love birds, But after forty pages, I felt like I was stuck with a parent who just couldn't stop cooing about his new baby, how many glorious times it woke up at night, how variable and wondrous its poop, how small its clothes and loud its cries.
I felt the same way about my babies, but I don't need to read a book about it, Truth be told, I love birds, but not House Sparrows, Sorry. Enchanting! Enduring! Funny! Fascinating! This is a charmingheartwarming story between a man and his love for a sparrow,

Chris Chester enters a world beyond his own imagination when a sparrow falls twentyfive feet from his nest,
Chris had recently just gotten engaged to Rebecca when B came into their lives, Chris amp Rebecca nursed B back to health, seeking advice from a friend
Their entire lives turned upside down, Chris turned an entire room into an aviary,
B's large room had high ceilings, and had access to the entire upstairs of their house, A cage for B which sits near a window with a door held open by a safety pinwith a cloth draped over one side to form a canopy under which B sleeps at night.


All priorities in Rebecca amp Chris's lives have been altered since B has arrived, They are extra mindful of their schedules amp their social life to meet B's demands,

B is playful, observant, intelligent, loves sugar cookies, likes to sit on Chris's shoulder when he types, and developed a fetish for nostrils, B grows anxious if Chester comes home late from work,

Chris says:
"B has stolen my bookmark again, flying it to the screen door, darling me to give chase so he can play keepaway from the clumsy primate".
NOTE: I think B wants Chris to read to him! lol

"When he brings me a toy, drops it in my hand, and nudges around asking for a game, I think of Thoreau's words on being affected by a mosquito's faint hum, 'There was something cosmical about it a standing advertisement, till forbidden of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world.
"

This little book is a wonderful memoir a story of a touching relationship!

Learn about BIRD BEHAVIOR, Learn about B! The science of birds of Sparrows in particular!
This book is not only about Sparrows, but also about what it means to be human!

I wrote this review with my pet 'Birdfriends': PhilLil,amp Jill, ourhouse parakeets






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stars

Five abbreviated quotes appear on the first page of the book, I didn't notice them until I was reading one of the last chapters, so maybe Ron Carlson's comment meant more to me than if I'd read it first:
If Thoreau had not gone to the woods, but had instead invited a sparrow into his house, he might have written this book instead of Walden.


That pretty much sums up the story, This is an account of the behaviors and life of house sparrows, one in particular, and insights into a man who took the time to raise a nestling who had fallen from the nest.


Many years ago, my sister called me about three nestlings they had acquired along with a load of firewood, By the time I got to them, two had died, but the third one was still breathing, I put it in a small plastic tub, nestled in a cloth and ensconced in a gym bag with a hot water bottle, As soon as the little body had warmed up, I fed it some canned dog food, Thus began an odyssey that lasted a couple of months, For the first couple of weeks, this bag was at my side pretty much full time, whether I was at work or visiting a friend, The lumpy baby, which I named Emily, grew into a lovely male house sparrow, Unlike Chris Chester, I was a lousy observer and I focused from the beginning on raising the bird so it could be released which it was, after a brief stay with a rehabilitator.


These quotes give insight into house sparrows, the story, and the author's view on life:

p: It's difficult for me to understand the vehemence with which these birds are detested.
Since my association with B began, I find it increasingly difficult to hate much of anything,

p: House sparrows mate for life and are monogamous,

p: House sparrows are powerful flyers capable of speeds approachingmiles an hour,

My favorite passages describe interactions with the birds, B and Baby are both rescued house sparrows,

p: B, I've discovered is righthandedwinged, sided, or however you'd describe such a preference in birds, He's been exceptionally playful today because he'd like me to ignore Baby, Whenever I rise to answer his summons, B shows up with a bribe caps, paper, sticks, a pushpin that held one corner of the wall calendar in place, I'm amazed that I've never noticed before that B arcs to the left when he pounces on a cap, If he's holding one in his beak and flicks it toward me, he does so right to left, I'm fascinated enough by this that I keep throwing caps all over the room to see if he'll make an exception, So far, out of twenty throws, he has not,

On page, Chris Chester states one of my own observations:
Firework season is hard on our

birds on most animals, I suspect, . . it destroys the sleep, if not the health, of countless birds and other woodland creatures,
I understand that China has banned fireworks because they cause so much air pollution,

I'm a bird watcher and feeder, and can attest to the fact that the population of house sparrows in our neighborhood has dropped drastically, I never encouraged them to hang around my bird boxes all have openings that are too small for them to use, since they are an introduced species, But on page, CC writes that 'house sparrow numbers are declining in England, ' Now I wonder about the status of their numbers everywhere, Could house sparrows be an indicator of environmental health

I need to add that there is profanity, more than I think was necessary, but this is one man's memoir, and he needs to write in his own style, so I just cringed my way past the words I didn't like.
And, I don't know about other readers, but it took me several chapters to get into the book, I think that's because I was expecting the story to focus entirely on the sparrows, I missed the fact that it was also a memoir,

CC has a dry sense of humor, It reminds of of Jon de Vos who used to write columns for The Middle Park Times in Grand county, Colorado, If you have only an imagined sensitive bone in your body, you will be moved by this book, If you were raised to despise, and, yes, destroy all House Sparrow as pests, as I was, then you can count on being transformed, You will never see another House Sparrow as anything but a creature potent with potential providence, Thank you, Chris Chester Weird, funny, touching, and very Portland, A great narrative that weaves personal reflection, literary and philosophical references, nature, and urbanity together, Chris Chester manages to created prose that flows like a river, While there are glimpses of personal journal in the organization, the book reads as a unified whole, It is a rare author who can pull that off, A sweet and compelling memoir I recommend to anyone, I believe all who read this will cherish the experience for expanding their sense of wonder about the intelligence and emotional life of even this small, "lowly" bird,

Chris Chester saves a baby sparrow that falls out of its nest and ends up raising it, In the process he develops a loving relationship with it that changes his life and spiritual outlook on what life is really about, So often in the first phases I found myself thinking this guy is a kook and that the pleasures he gets from playing and the mutual expressions of affection with the bird named "B" couldn't possible make up for the hours of tending to its raising, putting up with its demands and jealousies over his attention to visiting friends and his girlfriend.
However, the humor and compassion that helps him past these hurdles also convinces his girlfriend to join his mission, and soon a section of his house becomes dedicated to an aviary for progressively more sparrows and other songbirds.
By the time Chester was done I rooting for his success and a believer that caring for other creatures can make us more human, .