In the Crosswinds
Birds, Humans, and the Paradox of Place
Reflecting on the significance of wild places and belonging, In the Crosswinds is Eli J. Knapp’s fascinating memoir about his bird-watching adventures.
Challenging traditional assumptions about the wilderness, Knapp emphasizes that humans and nature share the same “sacred” ground. A sighting of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from Central Park Zoo, prompts his consideration of “wildness” in a sprawling city. An observation of a mangrove cuckoo near a Sanibel Island causeway becomes part of a discussion of “margin,” or “life around the edges.” References to Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Barry Lopez are matched with lighthearted comments about characters in the movie The Big Year. Knapp also writes about his family connections, including playful competition with his brother over lifetime birding lists. Elsewhere, his father’s recovery from illness evokes the resilience of once-endangered birds.
Meditations on home, place, and belonging weave into the book’s accounts of avian migration, naturalization, and nesting behaviors, which are contrasted with human attempts to claim ownership over land. Enlightening information about diverse bird species and habitats also plays in. A chestnut-sided warbler is spotted under a power line in rural Pennsylvania; a rare tawny frogmouth is seen on a scraggly oak near Melbourne. A camping trip on Michigan’s remote Isle Royale is covered, as is a miraculous glimpse of an African finfoot rustling in the elephant grass along a frothing river in Tanzania. Engaging portraits of expert birders, including eighty-year-old Fleur Ng’weno with “hair as unruly as a weaver nest” who leads birding expeditions in Kenya, flesh out the book’s insights into birding too.
Pairing astute observations of birds and birdwatchers with philosophical musings about wilderness and identity, In the Crosswinds is a delightful, thought-provoking nature book.
Reviewed by
Kristen Rabe
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
