THE FALCONER OF CENTRAL PARK

by Donald Knowler ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 30, 1984

British journalist Knowler, living in N.Y. in 1982, spent much of the year in Central Park--birdwatching primarily, but also observing the other wildlife, some of it human. In the January cold he's obsessed with gulls, on the hunt for raccoons, intrigued by a post-blizzard battle over nuts and seeds between squirrels and blue jays--the ""muggers"" of the animal kingdom. (But the ""type of mugger who takes your wallet but leaves you with enough money to take a taxi home. . . ."") By March, Knowler is committed to birding, with a year-end goal of 150 species: he sights birds of prey, the usual titmice and chickadees, all sorts of ducks and herons, and (in the fall) rare bluebirds and an osprey. But meanwhile he also catches a glimpse of a woodchuck; he develops a growing attachment for a feral cat (who is killed before Knowler can place him in a Long Island home); he notes each Park murder, tries to win the trust of a squirrel-eating vagrant, and learns much from veteran birder Lambert (e.g., how to order a BLT from a Spanish-speaking counterman in a busy Times Square deli). And, with reference to conservation controversies (tree-cutting, pesticides, etc.), Knowler changes his views of this wildlife-center within the city: ""Early in the year I had considered the park an oasis, but I have come to see it as an island, perhaps like the Galapagos where specific species, adapted to the park, might evolve."" Short on personal presence (Knowler is moody but unrevealing), and too dense with birding for wide appeal--but a lean, literate, unpretentious view of the Park, from season to season without sentimentality or pseudo-poetics.

Pub Date: May 30, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Karz-Cohl

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION