It interests me that in the midst of a chaotic war people go birding. The
Economist book review section reports birding in wartime Iraq:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7055799.
If you cant get behind the firewall (the only extra you get is a photo) with
this link you can read this:
'IN EARLY 2004 Jonathan Trouern-Trend of the Connecticut National Guard
started a year-long posting in Iraq. A birdwatcher since he was a boy, he
used his spare time on base, and on trips "outside the wire", to look for
birds, and wrote about the 122 species he saw in the Gulf in a blog that
attracted thousands of readers. This tiny, beautifully illustrated book,
produced in the style of a birdwatcher's diary, collects together the
highlights of his online journal into a gentle war memoir that conveys a
simple message of hope.
Mr Trouern-Trend was stationed at Camp Anaconda, one of America's biggest
bases, in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad. Although under almost daily
mortar and rocket attack, the camp was full of wildlife; "a refuge of
sublime natural beauty to those who looked."
Despite the effort of birdwatching in "full battle rattle", and the searing
desert heat, Mr Trouern-Trend delights in the antics of the birds he sees: a
spectacular Smyrna kingfisher perching on the reeds of the pond by the base
laundry; white-cheeked bulbuls chasing each other in the tamarisk trees;
wood pigeons unfazed by the roar of F-16s tearing down the runway; a flock
of white storks riding a thermal "never once flapping their wings as they
spiralled up higher and higher".
What makes this little book special is the author's joy that "something
worthwhile or even magical" could take place amid the horror of war.
"Knowing that the great cycles of nature continue despite what people happen
to be doing is reassuring," he writes. "There is an order we can take
comfort in and draw strength from."
Although the chaos in Iraq continues, those great cycles have already
started to repair the damage. Iraqi ornithologists have begun surveying the
birds of the country's southern marshes, which stretched for 20,000 square
km (7,722 square miles) until they were drained and destroyed by Saddam
Hussein's government. Some species feared extinct have recently been seen.
Life goes on. (my emphasis)
Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq.
By Jonathan Trouern-Trend.
Sierra Club Books; 79 pages; $9.95'.
Harry Clarke
33 The Righi
Ivanhoe 3079
Australia
My blogsite is here: <http://kalimna.blogspot.com/>
http://kalimna.blogspot.com/
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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