Literature is great. World literature is greater. Great world literature is greatest of all. But even great world literature can be improved by taking a birder’s perspective.
“For sale: Bird Guide Ecuador, never used.”
“Four legs good, two wings better”.
“Hell is other birders.”
“It was the best of birds; it was the worst of light.”
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a birder in possession of a good lens must be in want of a better one.”
“The identification is rarely certain and never simple.”
“One cannot see the same bird twice.”
“The blur! The blur!”
“Every successful identification is alike; every misidentification is wrong in its own way.”
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.
He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.
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