The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds.(Brief article)(Book review)

The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds

Julie Zickefoose. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28 (368p) ISBN 978-0-547-00309-2

Mr. Troyer, a bluebird saved from the fatal clutches of a sharp-shinned hawk, goes on to live a life of bigamy. Thus begins bird lover Zickefoose's captivating memoir. In her collection of avian stories--enlivened by her evocative line drawings--Zickefoose, a naturalist, bird painter, and songbird rehabilitator, shares her passion and curiosity for "the zone where birds interact with people.., the moment when my gaze meets a bird's--that exchange of awareness of the 'who' in each of us, the spark of understanding leaping from the bright …