Lyanda Lynn Haupt

"In conservation circles, starlings are easily the most despised birds in all of North America, and with good reason."

"Common, invasive, aggressive, reviled. Starlings don't just lie beneath our notice, the sentiment runs, they are actually undeserving of our notice."

I have been birding nearly two years and I did not realize that starlings held this much disdain. Well, I just received an extensive education on starlings, as the author uses these birds as informative and entertaining show more bookends: In 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, heard a starling singing a fragment of one his compositions, as he passed a pet store. He purchased the bird and kept it as a close companion for the next three years. When Haupt decided to write about Mozart and “Carmen”, his beloved starling, she picked up a baby starling herself, raised it and studied it, while working on this book.
This is an ambitious project, as we get plenty of Mozart history, nuggets about conservation and nature and a complete showcase of the reviled starling.
She is a smart and engaging writer, with a good sense of humor. She has also done her homework. A joy to read. show less

This book tackles two completely different topics: birds and Classical music. Haupt learned that Mozart owned a starling, so she decided to raise a starling of her own so that she could make some educated guesses about Mozart's experience. The book is partly a memoir of raising her starling and how she totally fell in love with the bird, and partly a biographical sketch of Mozart, focusing on the years he spent in Vienna when he owned his starling. It's a charming book. It's an interesting show more way of doing history: Haupt by necessity speculates a lot about the role the starling must have had in Mozart's daily life, and living with her own starling is kind of an experimental archaeology approach. Haupt does a good job of making it clear when she is speculating and when she is relying on primary sources. show less

This is my third book by Lyanda Lynn Haupt and she hasn't let me down yet. Her books hit that sweet spot of informative and reflective that I love to read as I fall asleep. However, this one has an underlying premise that Crows are in abundance everywhere, and while they might be overpopulated in many parts of the world, they are not in Phoenix (and weren't even here in 2009 as far as I know). I have never seen an American Crow in Phoenix; I have seen Common Ravens — in fact, there are a show more couple of Ravens that live nearby — but any "crow" someone sees in a parking lot in Phoenix is a Great-tailed Grackle. Granted, Crows ARE everywhere else according to eBird and I have a 2% chance of seeing them...somewhere??...in Phoenix.

Basically, this is not a book a dweller of the Sonoran Desert will immediately relate to, but the other part of the premise still works: we don't have to go far away from home to experience the awe and wonder of nature. It exists everywhere around us. This same idea is discussed in Slow Birding by Joan Strassmann — you want to see a bird? Sit outside for five minutes, you'll spot at least one, and when you do WATCH that Pigeon (or Sparrow, or Robin, or whatever common bird you have nearby). Slow Birding is more of a guide with info about many different species while Crow Planet is a personal reflection with ideas a reader can borrow and a focus on Crows (because for her, American Crows are ubiquitous).

In fact, I can relate to why Haupt started paying attention to her immediate surroundings, I was also experiencing a pretty intense depression when I started paying attention: to the (few) trees around me, to the lizards in my front yard, the chickens in my back yard, and to the Verdins, Thrashers, and Towhees bebopping all along the branches and fences. In my personal BC (Before Chickens), it was dim and hazy, but after, things got brighter (I also significantly decreased my cannabis intake!). Finding something outside my own brain has reduced the depresh and relieved some anxiety. Dark days still slip through the cracks and these days are full of headlines that could send me into an anxious spiral, but then I pick up my binoculars and things start looking brighter. Medication has its role in my (or anyone's) mental health journey, but so does Nature.

While this book isn't my favorite, I love Haupt's writing. Give her a shot if you love Margaret Renkl or Robin Wall Kimmerer. show less

Most books about pets seem to dwell on more common choices: dogs and cats being the most popular. This little gem came as a surprise to me. What could be more unique than a pet starling, right?

The author is a nature writer, a birdwatcher, and a committed wildlife advocate. While watching some starlings play outside her window, a story she had heard popped into her head: that of Mozart having a starling as a pet. And this random memory triggered a whole lot of action, culminating with this show more book.

You might be aware of starlings mainly for their magical murmurations. The sight of hundreds of thousands of them moving as one is bewitching to watch. But that's only one side of the story. You need to know the other side too, especially if you aren't much aware of birds in Western countries. Starlings are considered pests. If you Google for America's most hated bird, starlings come out as the winner. Lyanda Lynn Haupt herself concedes that starlings are a menace because of their huge numbers and the resultant problems because of their exploding population.

But...

Lyanda obtained a little starling for herself to see how Mozart might have been inspired by his pet. And her experience with this pet of hers proved to be unlike what she had ever imagined. Carmen, as her starling is named, turned out to be a wonderful, entertaining and intelligent companion, and still lives with the Haupt family.

The content looks into the great Wolfgang Mozart and how his pet starling might have impacted his life and his music. Mozart had discovered the starling in a Vienna pet shop, where the bird had somehow learned to sing the motif from his newest piano concerto. Enchanted, he bought the bird and kept it for three years before it died. While trying to analyse their relationship, Lyanda also tries to arrive at how the starling might have learnt the concerto.

Unlike what the title suggests, the book isn't limited to Mozart and his pet. Rather, it is all about starlings. The book presents both sides of these much-hated birds. How they are bad for the environment as well as how they are clever creatures with a great talent for mimicry. This content gets a tad too technical at times, but it is still a delight to an interested mind.

And finally, the book also presents Carmen's antics through various anecdotes peppered throughout the book, along with photographs. I loved these Carmen stories best of all. I've never been fond of the idea of having birds as pets. (This is especially because I've always seen them kept in cages.) Lyanda showed me how it is possible to have a healthy and happy bird at home without keeping it locked up in a cage. While it is still not an ideal situation for the bird, it's better than the alternative. The irony is that Carmen doesn't enjoy Mozart's music, though she loves other music and bluegrass is her favourite. So the author's original intention behind getting the starling went for a toss.

The three broad areas of content - Carmen's tales, Mozart's experience and insights about starlings - are not compartmentalized but interspersed with each other. This makes for an entertaining read because the moment the ornithological content becomes intense, either Mozart or Carmen comes as the breather.

You can make out the author's love for nature, especially for birds, throughout this book. The knowledge she offers into all things avian is amazing to read. Her sense of humour shines through in her recounting of Carmen's antics. Just how the starling learned Mozart’s piano motif is a wonderful musico-ornithological mystery. And Lyanda does her best to resolve this for us.

I enjoyed this book a lot, though it turned out a little different from what I had expected. I now see why starlings are considered a menace but I can also see the wonder of their talent. If you are a animal or bird lover, you might enjoy this offbeat read. It's not for everyone, but for those who enjoy animal-based nonfiction, it's a must.

Do note that there is some triggering content about how bird populations are kept in control or how they are made to learn how to sing.

4.25 stars from me.

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