Page 18 - Boca Club News - March '25

Page 18, Boca Club News

The Arts
The Arts

Book Review…

“The Backyard Book Chronicles”

By Nils A. Shapiro
Nils began his career as Marketing
Director for a major book publisher.
He has since edited the authors’
manuscripts’ for more than 20
published books, written more than
200 book reviews, served as Publisher
of several million-plus circulation
national magazines, created the
official Yearbooks for teams in Major League Baseball, the
National Football League, National Basketball Association
and National Hockey League, and “retired” as President
of a successful telecommunications company before being
appointed Editor of Boca Club News when the newspaper
was launched in January 2007. Sparrows (which alone covers 10 species), Thrushes, Warblers, “After I left the message, I cried. I tried to draw her portrait.
It was a wonderful Woodpeckers and Other Songbirds. But I could not capture her spirit. I could not capture the way
surprise—and Some visit her regularly throughout the year. Others obey she must have felt within I briefly held her in my arms and told
coincidence—when their ancient instincts and migrate thousands of miles around her I was sorry.”
a copy of this book the globe as the seasons change, returning the same time each A month later, on October 24th, 2021, a bomb cyclone
arrived at my home year to a warm welcome at Amy Tan’s backyard. arrived in the Bay Area. As Amy Tan notes—here again I am
one Monday as a gift We learn about them not only through her Chronicle’s quoting just brief excerpts from her wonderful description of
from my two daughters, fascinating and informative text but also from some of the the event:
Brett and Hillary. Just intentionally rough drawings accompanied by handwritten “It hurled serial storms and produced an atmospheric
a day earlier I had notes that are equally interesting and which point out unusual river that dropped a thirty-minute deluge. We, the denizens
noted “The Backyard facts worth knowing that she has either sketched, or less often who had been saving shower water to wash bird poop off the
Book Chronicles” at photographed then sketched, while observing the birds’ actions. porch were happy to be waterlogged…But as I watched the
the top of the Sunday The range of emotions engendered by these experiences is large limbs of our oak trees swaying, I imagined the birds in
New York Times non- exemplified by two examples that I will touch on very briefly those trees being whipsawed and flung into the storm. Where
fiction bestseller list, here. Most of the text has been omitted for lack of space and do they go to stay dry when the rain is blasting sideways?
and Barnes & Noble replaced with ellipses (…). Here is the first, dated September “As if in answer, two Pygmy Nuthatches flew into the
bookseller chain’s 26th, 2021, a situation in which a young, inexperienced covered porch off my office, shook themselves off, and sat on
naming it as their “Book of the Year.” Cooper’s Hawk flying over Tan’s backyard had spotted three top of a cage feeder a couple of inches apart. Most people
Such success is not new to author Amy Tan, whose ten cage feeders and done a fast dive intending to pluck a songbird would agree that the Pygmy Nuthatch is one of the cutest birds
earlier books include the novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” which from its perch as an easy meal, not realizing that the birds were on earth. They look and sound like squeaky toys. I assumed
became an international bestseller and the inspiration for the safe inside the metal feeders. It crashed into one of the feeders, they would eat a few suet balls for fortitude and head for a
hit motion picture of the same title. injured a wing and Amy Tan, after frantic efforts to free and heavily leafed hiding spot. But after five minutes, they were
After learning of the book, I had immediately decided to release her, rushed the Hawk to a wildlife center to try to have still there…
schedule it for review in my column. Thanks to my daughters’ the bird healed. “They did not go into the feeders to eat. They simply
thoughtfulness, a clear indication that they are very much tuned “She received a total of three months of incredible care. watched the rain from their spectator seats. The smaller
in to my reading tastes, this very special book was already in But she was still not flying symmetrically. A few days after that nuthatch scooted closer to the bigger one. The bigger one then
my hands. And now, as I have just turned the last page I am in report, I received a voicemail message from the medical director, allopreened the smaller one, poking and picking at its feathers.
awe of every aspect of this remarkable work: asking that I return her call. I knew by her soft, consoling tone I assumed they were adults, a mated pair, since the season for
• the very concept of the book—a day by day dated journal that the news would not be good. I spared her the difficulty of fledglings was long over. For thirty minutes the two nuthatches
of the author’s experiences watching and inter-acting with the telling me and left a voicemail message, saying I appreciated sat close together like lovers on a porch swing, watching the
natural lives of the wide variety of bird species that visit her all that they had done. I knew that if (the Hawk) could not fly rain as I watched them.”
home’s backyard in the San Francisco Bay area; well enough to find food, she would slowly starve in the wild…I These offer just a bare hint of the information and
• the author’s writing skills that reflect the wide range of understood why it was more humane to euthanize her, and I was experiences awaiting you in the almost 300 pages of this book,
emotions she (and we) feel through her experiences; the more grateful that they would do it in the kindest way possible. so deserving of its recent honors. Experience it for yourself.
than 130 drawings, sketches and color illustrations Ms. Tan
herself learned to create that include many which compare
favorably to the iconic Audubon paintings,
* and even the splendid presentation of this initial edition from NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS
the publisher, Knopf, with a hardcover binding that is slightly
flexible and the book’s overall stunning design.
In 2016, unhappy and uncomfortable with the national and
international news swirling around her and everyone else—and Boca Raton Concierge Medicine Doctor
having always been aware of what she refers to as her lifelong
“obsession” with birds —Amy Tan decided to focus inward,
studying the natural life within her own backyard, and to keep Board Certified in
a personal journal of that experience. She took drawing lessons
to brush up on the art skills she had already demonstrated at a Internal Medicine
very young age. with Added Qualifications in
After an excellent and informative Foreword by renowned
ornithologist David Allen Sibley, who explains why Geriatrics (2002).
birdwatching has become such a popular activity throughout
the U.S., followed by the author’s Preface in which she Steven E. Reznick, MD, FACP
describes a childhood and personal life interests that have
led to this new book, the first entry in the Chronicles is dated Voted a “Best Doctor”
September 16, 2017; the last is dated December 15, 2022. by his peers.
That is a period of just over five years in which Amy Tan,
and we readers along with her, learn so much and feel so much
as she not only watches the many species of birds that visit her Call to request a complimentary meeting
backyard, but often becomes a part of their lives–feeding them,
sometimes holding them, protecting them whenever possible with Dr. Reznick.
from predators, trying to outsmart the agile and determined
squirrels who want their portions of the seeds meant for the
birds—and each day learning something wonderfully new 561.368.0191
which she shares with us: their individual personalities, her
avian friends’ food likes and dislikes, fears or willingness to be
approached, mating habits, parenting skills, dominance traits, 7280 W. Palmetto Park Road | 205N
aggression or shyness—and so much more. Boca Raton, FL 33433
Throughout the period covered in these pages Ms. Tan www.bocaconciergedoc.com
learned to identify 62 different kinds of birds that visited her
backyard and lists them at the back of the book in such categories
as: Corvids, Doves and Pigeons, Finches, Nuthatches, Raptors,