The Seasons of the Robin (Mildred Wyatt-Wold Series in Ornithology) epub

I downloaded this book onto my Kindle so I had something to read on a cross-country flight I was taking. Little did I know I would end up absolutely enthralled. "The Seasons of the Robin" by Don Grussing, although written in prose, translates mentally into poetry. The language used to convey the life of "Young Robin" is simple but incredibly effective in conveying the way a robin might think and feel. As someone who has loved birds from the moment of my first parakeet at age 5 to a later-in-life newly developed passion for birding, this book gave me a profound appreciation for the "being" of a bird. Although based in science, this is life as experienced by the bird. I don't know how Grussing did it, but he cracks open our own shell of analysis and objectivity to enable us to feel at one with this wondrous creature. While robins are pretty common birds around here, I will never look at one in the same way again. Each robin I see now is a precious being, a particular individual, and I am in awe of the challenges these beautiful birds will have to face to make it through the seasons to return and start the cycle of life anew. I would like to thank the author for writing a book of such beauty that it transformed my way of looking at the world. I would strongly recommend this book not only for adults but also younger readers (middle school and above) as a way to help them appreciate the beauty of nature and the animals around them.

Without the sort of anthropomorphising that goes into so many youth books, this book gets into the experiences of wild birds better than anything I've read. I read it when it first came out and just now re-read it. I loved it both times. It has become one of my favorite nature reads. I'm recommending it to all my bird lover friends.

While not the most literary of reads, I ended up wildly enthusiastic about this novel thanks to the profound appreciation it awakened in me as to what it really takes for a bird to survive. I haven't looked at robins (or any bird) the same way since. If you love watching birds in action and contemplating their lives, this closely observed story of a year in one robin's life will bring considerable pleasure and insight.

The product was delivered on time and in new condition. It's an excellent natural history book, very well done for high school (or older) readers. Although rated as fiction, it's actually a fact filled treatment of the life and times of a robin. I was pleased that the author did not give the bird a cute name. The type is a bit on the small side.

It was interesting to learn more about how a Robin lives. The story starts off near where we live so that made it more exciting. The author has lived in the area where the Robin travels. Easy read! Fun story!

This marvelous little book should appeal to everyone who loves birds or nature, in general. Grussing tells the story of the life of a young male robin from the time of hatching through his first year of life. This third-person account is full of drama and excitement as we live moment by moment through the life of this robin and his interactions with the world around him. We learn what it's like to be hungry and waiting for parents to bring food. We feel the excitement of first flight and the terror of the first brush with a predator, who grabbed him by the wing, and then took his sister away. We are with the robin as he leaves the nest and starts finding and tasting new foods. We feel the delight of the first bath and picture him splashing around in the water. As he grows older, he forms loose associations with other robins which come and go as he explores his surroundings. Born in suburban Minnesota, he eventually wanders to the shores of Lake Superior, where he lives as a woodland robin for a few months. As fall comes, he feels the perennial urge growing inside to migrate southward, and takes off for a wintering ground in Kansas, following his inborn instinct. We learn about the benefits of being associated with a flock. Winter turns to spring, and the young male robin again follows an innate urge to travel back north, this time to the place of his birth, which he locates by following landmarks memorized on the trip south. When he locates his new home, we learn all about how a male bird establishes and defends a territory. Finally the cycle of life renews again as the young robin chooses a mate and starts a family of his own.

Along the way we are treated to an inside look at the life of a bird which reads more like a novel than a natural history book. We eagerly follow the story of the robin and are right alongside him as he learns what it's like to be a bird, with the pleasures and struggles facing any animal in the wild. Grussing manages to infuse the book with scientific information without detracting from the story so that by the end of the book, the reader is much more well-informed about the natural life of a wild bird without realizing it. Lessons about keeping cats indoors and planting native species of flora are taught in a manner which educates the reader by showing exactly how these issues affect a bird we have come to care about.

This book does an admirable job of connecting us with the mindset of a bird, something most of us can appreciate and delight in. I highly recommend this compelling little book as a good read for everyone.

I enjoyed learning more about life cycle of robins. Would recommend to younger readers. Not a complicated story, sometimes dragged.

I read mostly fiction books = Spy / Military Techno / CIA / Murder Mysteries / Police

Ran into Don Grussing at my Exercise Class = decided to read his book and see what it was like.

Thoroughly Enjoyed it = written from the Robins perspective !!