Staff Review by Michelle Snyder
Author Lyanda Lynn Haupt has no qualms about letting her readers know that she was not a big fan of crows when she began writing Crow Planet – Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness. Like the rest of us, she had her own personal horror stories of the black bird with a bad reputation, yet began watching them nonetheless, since they are such an integral part of our urban wilderness. What she didn’t expect was for these corvid companions to become such a big part of her life.
Haupt begins watching crows in our urban landscape: from her window, while shopping, or simply walking down the street. She discovered that they are immensely intelligent, with behaviors that are complex, unpredictable, fascinating and mystifying. An exceedingly clever bird, crows are very loyal to their mate and offspring, are known to play more than other birds, will attack anything that appears to threaten their young, can remember your face for up to two years (so don’t annoy them, they hold a grudge), and are surviving the urban takeover of nature better than most other species. Simply put, crows are not going anywhere.
Crow Planet teaches us that we cannot break away from nature, but should open our eyes to it and see the beauty and wonder around us at any given moment, including those pesky and enthralling shiny black birds that wake us up most mornings. Perhaps like this reader, you’ll feel compelled to get your own pair of binoculars and finally take a look at your neighborhood birds that have most likely been watching you!