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oldswampy's review against another edition
5.0
A delightful book that only spends a little too much time on some historical topics I found less than compelling, though they certainly add to the story. It's interesting that Dunn claims not to keep lists of his life birds, since in so many ways this is a birder's story, and birders generally keep lists of which birds they've seen where. The stars of the story are certainly the hummingbirds, and the ones he sees and the places he goes to see them are enough to make many birders envious, though the human characters met along the way are diverse and colorful as well.
yumilynn's review
3.0
我到厄瓜多尔的第一年，家门口的树上住着一对蜂鸟。我经常能看到它们绕着院里的粉红色扶桑花飞舞。那年我开始学西班牙语，在课堂上造了一个自认很不错的句子：
El colibrí baila con las flores.
蜂鸟与花朵共舞。
后来读 聂 鲁达的《疑问集》 ，看到这么一句：
Cómo se llama una flor
que vuela de pdjaro en pajaro?
叫什么名字的花
从一只鸟飞向另一只鸟？
琢磨很久，我才想明白到这句诗化自另一种常见的说法：鸟从一朵花飞向另一朵花。这种鸟也就是蜂鸟。
蜂鸟身材娇小如微缩模型，羽毛艳丽且带金属光泽，能够在空中悬停，喝花蜜存活——堪称新大陆生物多样性的终极代表。
《绿丛中的闪光：追寻蜂鸟的踪迹》乔恩·邓恩 著
乔恩·邓恩是一位来自英国的自然史作家、野生动物摄影师，也是一位铁杆观鸟爱好者。
《绿丛中的闪光》出版于2021年，这并不是一部介绍蜂鸟生理构造或生活习性的大众科学图书，而是一部关于蜂鸟的自然史、文化史，同时也是邓恩的美洲大陆游记。
邓恩的蜂鸟观赏之旅从美国最北端的阿拉斯加开始，一路向南，经过亚利桑那、墨西哥、古巴、哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚、厄瓜多尔、秘鲁、巴西、玻利维亚、智利，最终抵达阿根廷最南端的火地岛。
这本书的章节也按照地理位置划分，每一章都会记录作者在当地自然向导帮助下的追寻蜂鸟踪迹的经历，同时穿插介绍各个地区与蜂鸟相关的文化、历史及现状，其中不乏许多令人大开眼界/痛心疾首的故事。
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16世纪，欧洲殖民者征服了阿兹特克帝国，将中美洲全境纳入西班牙殖民帝国。欧洲人发现阿兹特克人对鸟类羽毛重视不亚于黄金。原住民中甚至有一批专门制作羽毛制品的手工艺匠人，这些羽毛装饰的服装器具主要用于阿兹特克的宗教仪式。
西班牙人试图用天主教取代当地宗教，所以最初对羽毛艺术品持压制态度，但很快他们就开始重视原住民工匠的精湛技艺，并要求他们为欧洲的天主教会制作圣像。匠人们把色彩艳丽的羽毛碎片拼贴在底板上，辅以金箔和其他颜料，制作成基督教主题的羽毛马赛克。
1539年，教宗保禄三世收到了一幅精美绝伦的羽毛马赛克，题为“圣额我略弥撒”（ The Mass of St. Gregory ）。很快，羽毛马赛克成了欧洲权贵圈子里的热门商品。主教们甚至拥有羽毛装饰的法冠和祭服。
到18世纪末，此类艺术品渐渐绝迹，一方面因为阿兹特克匠人的手艺逐渐失传了，另一方面，经过两百多年的不断“收割”，中美洲的蜂鸟、鹦鹉等热带鸟类也变得越来越少了。
19世纪中后期，欧洲（及北美）再次陷入羽毛贸易的热潮。遍布全球的“收割”网络向当地中间商供应羽毛，中间商又将大量羽毛出口到伦敦、巴黎和纽约的贸易中心。这些羽毛被拍卖，最终流入女帽行业。
当时《美国鸟类学家联盟》杂志的一位记者称1887年伦敦某场羽毛拍卖会上 “售出了 6千只天堂鸟、5千只虹雉、40万只蜂鸟”。1875年的美国某份期刊中曾提到，“一位巴黎女帽匠每季要用掉4万只蜂鸟”。
据说蜂鸟羽毛制成的帽饰价格低廉，贫民阶层的女孩都买得起。除了女帽，蜂鸟羽毛还用来装饰扇子、制作假花。直到1921年，英国才通过了禁止羽毛贸易的法令。
“收割”蜂鸟的不仅有欧洲人，拉美人自己也没放过这些生灵。
秘鲁雨林中的一小块区域生活着所有蜂鸟中最有仙气的一种——叉扇尾蜂鸟（ Loddigesia mirabilis ）。当地人称之为colibrí mariposa，“蝴蝶蜂鸟”。雄鸟有四根细长的尾羽，其中两根的末端缀有蓝紫色圆盘。
这种蜂鸟的心脏和尾羽被视为一种强效春药。一位美国观鸟者1999年参观当地小镇时得知 “将羽毛和心脏晒干，磨成粉末，猎艳者将之偷偷地放入想要得到的年轻女子的饮料中。人们相信，一旦喝下去，女人就会爱上此人。”
附近城市有一座专门贩卖巫术药品的市场，“提供巫医练习黑暗技艺所需的一切——无数草药、鲸骨、蛇皮、致幻仙人掌和蜂鸟心脏。在那里，他询问几位摊主有没有‘蝴蝶蜂鸟的心脏’。他们都知道他在问什么，其中一个人给了他一个小玻璃瓶，里面有一颗指甲盖大小的风干心脏。”
无独有偶，在墨西哥的文化传统中，蜂鸟也被用于爱情巫术。
十几年前，美国鱼类及野生动物管理局（FWS）截获了一批从墨西哥邮寄到美国的包裹，其中有几十只死掉的蜂鸟。它们的残尸缀有流苏或其他装饰，并被商品化包装。每个包装袋里都有一张纸条，上面印着密密麻麻的西班牙语。
这种咒符叫作chuparosa，字面意思是“玫瑰吮吸者”，即蜂鸟。Chuparosa的使用方法是随身佩戴，并且经常诵念祷文（或者说咒语），也就是纸条上的文字。其中第一段祷文如下：
¡Oh, chuparosa divina!,
哦，神圣的玫瑰吮吸者！
tú que das y quitas el néctar de las flores,
你赐予并吸取花蜜
tú que das e inculcas a la mujer el amor,
你把爱灌注给女人
yo me acojo a tí como a tus poderes fluidos
我拥抱你和你流淌的力量
para que me protejas y me des las facultades
你便要保护我并让我能够
de querer cuanta mujer(hombre) yo quiera,
得到任何我想要得到的女人/男人
ya sea doncella(o), casada(o) o viuda(o).
无论她/他是处子、已婚还是守寡
有趣的是，chuparosa并不单纯是中美洲原住民的巫术，而是传统巫术与西方天主教融合之后的产物。因为祷文最后还写着应当在耶稣圣像前诵念、万福玛利亚云云。即便如此，chuparosa仍被视为墨西哥文化的一部分。
著名画家弗里达·卡罗就曾在一幅自画像中描绘了自己佩戴chuparosa的样子。
这幅画绘制于1940年，弗里达当时与画家迭戈·利弗拉离婚不久，而且也结束了与一位美国摄影师的恋情，正处于情场失意的阶段。几个月后，她又与迭戈·利弗拉复婚，或许是她画中那只蜂鸟的法力显现了吧。
《绿丛中的闪光》中不止有蜂鸟的血泪史，同时也介绍了世界各地鸟类爱好者及相关机构为保护生物多样性而做出的努力。篇幅有限，我就不多介绍了。感兴趣的朋友可以找这本书来看看。
saltypiratewench's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Interesting book but hard to keep focused on with all the whiplash going from tangentially related history, political, and geography lessons and back to hummingbird obsession over and over. There was a lot of really cool deep dive into hummingbird lore and what it meant to indigenous people and what white naturalists did with them. But then we get lost in the weeds talking about Robison Crusoe and how the first captain of the HMS Beagle shot himself when he stared at these same depressing cliffs or whatever.
Felt like 4 hours too long.
I read this for the Onboarding Challenge so definitely outside my normal comfort zone. I love science writers and animals though, but just an enthusiast obsessed with SEEING hummingbirds was not my jam.
Felt like 4 hours too long.
I read this for the Onboarding Challenge so definitely outside my normal comfort zone. I love science writers and animals though, but just an enthusiast obsessed with SEEING hummingbirds was not my jam.
sevenlefts's review
4.0
I'd been putting off reading this book for a while. I couldn't tell you why. It appeared on many "best bird books of 2021" lists -- and deservedly so.
Dunn, who lives in the Shetland Islands, describes several trips made over several years to the Americas to see hummingbirds. The book is arranged geographically, viewing Rufous Hummingbirds at the northern edge of their range in Alaska, Green-backed Firecrowns in Tierra del Fuego, and many species and places in between. The focus is on the tropics, where the widest variety can be seen.
His journeys seem (to me) quite arduous, and while he does comment on the occasional frightening drive or tense political situation, his focus is always on the birds. I found myself stopping to look up the many species he mentions -- I didn't realize that many of them were included in "plates" that were at the back of the ebook version I read. The variety is way more stunning than I imagined. And hummingbirds have some of the most creatively descriptive names in ornithology -- Marvelous Spatuletail, Fiery Topaz, Sparkling Violetear, Velvet-purple Coronet, Little Woodstar, Gilded Sapphire -- and hundreds more.
As with any recent books on the natural world (and specifically, birds), the increasing pressures we put on the planet and it's many species has to be addressed. Dunn's fears are palpable, and there is a feeling of needing to see these beautiful creatures before they disappear. Yet there is also much to celebrated in conservation efforts by local people wanting to preserve "their" birds. It's not all gloom and doom, but it's serious.
A beautifully written book about some of the world's most beautiful creatures.
Dunn, who lives in the Shetland Islands, describes several trips made over several years to the Americas to see hummingbirds. The book is arranged geographically, viewing Rufous Hummingbirds at the northern edge of their range in Alaska, Green-backed Firecrowns in Tierra del Fuego, and many species and places in between. The focus is on the tropics, where the widest variety can be seen.
His journeys seem (to me) quite arduous, and while he does comment on the occasional frightening drive or tense political situation, his focus is always on the birds. I found myself stopping to look up the many species he mentions -- I didn't realize that many of them were included in "plates" that were at the back of the ebook version I read. The variety is way more stunning than I imagined. And hummingbirds have some of the most creatively descriptive names in ornithology -- Marvelous Spatuletail, Fiery Topaz, Sparkling Violetear, Velvet-purple Coronet, Little Woodstar, Gilded Sapphire -- and hundreds more.
As with any recent books on the natural world (and specifically, birds), the increasing pressures we put on the planet and it's many species has to be addressed. Dunn's fears are palpable, and there is a feeling of needing to see these beautiful creatures before they disappear. Yet there is also much to celebrated in conservation efforts by local people wanting to preserve "their" birds. It's not all gloom and doom, but it's serious.
A beautifully written book about some of the world's most beautiful creatures.
miap09's review
3.75
I shouldn't have been surprised that a white British guy would be judgemental about indigenous practices in the America's...but information about hummingbirds was great, I just wanted more of that versus the ramblings of this white dude.
rei_reads's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death