In April I posted photos of a pair of Tree Swallows building a nest at my favorite birding site. The nest boxes they use are maintained and monitored by the local bird club. I was at the park last weekend for a bird walk and the box monitor mentioned that the eggs had hatched the night before. Excitement! Could we see them? Yes, of course. We all took a quick look and he allowed me to take a few shots. And here they are, one day old Tree Swallows.
This box is at the edge of a small marshy area near a hiking trail. These birds are accustomed to people and were not upset by our presence. Normally they will defend the nest and swoop down at your head.
The photo below is from last year’s nest. These nestlings were about a week old. They grow fast.
To the right is a picture of dad. He sat somewhat patiently in a tree while we took a quick peek at his family. After a few minutes he started flying around us in circles and it was time to move on.
Interesting Facts:
- Tree Swallow prefer to nest in open areas near water.
- They build their nests in dead trees but will happily use nest boxes.
- The nest is an open cup of grass, plant stems or pine needles and is lined with feathers of other birds, usually of waterfowl.
- A nest has 4 to 6 eggs and is primarily built by the female.
- Only the female incubates the eggs but both parents feed the young.
- Eggs hatch in about 13 to 16 days.
- Young leave the nest in about 3 weeks.
Click here to see a live streaming video inside a Tree Swallow nestbox. The video is provided by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Read by: Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin
Genre: Non-Fiction, Science
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publish Date: February 2010
Format: Audio CD | 12 Hours and 30 min
Rating: 5 of 5
In 1951 Henrietta Lacks died from cervical cancer. She had been treated at Johns Hopkins hospital and during one of her visits a tissue sample of the tumor was taken for research without her consent. Normally cancer cells quickly die off, but not these cells. They continued to divide producing hundreds, thousands and eventually billions of cells. These cells were instrumental in allowing scientists to create the polio vaccine, cloning and eventually in mapping the human genome. The cells had become virtually immortal and indispensable in scientific research.
But what was known about Henrietta Lacks? Henrietta’s family were mostly poor and uneducated and knew little about how she died and how her cells were used for research. They had been lied to by many people over the years and were hesitant to even speak with the author who eventually gains some trust from Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter.
The cells were referred to as HeLa cells, the name created by taking the first two letters of the donors first and last name. In the early years scientists had the wrong name and called her Helen Lane. As a result of that confusion her own family did not even know that their relative had contributed these cells for research. Science writer Rebecca Skloot had known about HeLa cells from a biology class she had taken years earlier and wanted to unearth the story and the person behind those cells. This book is the result of a decade of her research and writing.
This is a superbly written work of narrative non-fiction. I have a background in science but it was not necessary at all to enjoy this book. The portions that dealt with the biology, research and medical issues were written in an easy to understand manner. The story of the Lacks family was told with sensitivity and understanding as we met the members of the family and Deborah’s story unfolded.
I listened to the audio version. Non-fiction is often easier to follow than a novel with multiple characters so I chose to listen rather than read and I was thrilled that I did. The use of multiple narrators enhanced the story and there was never any confusion over who was speaking. Cassandra Campbell’s narration was a pleasure to listen to.
By now most people have probably heard about this book. If not, you don’t want to miss it. Interesting, educational and entertaining, it’s highly recommended.
Current/most recent audiobook: I recently finished Heresy, book one in a new historical thriller series. I’m currently listening to Doc by Mary Doria Russell, a fictionalized story based on the life of John Henry Holliday.
Impressions: My review of Heresy was posted yesterday. I’m half-way through Doc and am absolutely loving it. The old west comes alive through Mary Doria Russell’s storytelling and Mark Bramhall’s narration.
Current favorite audiobook: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, for many reasons. I’ll be posting that review soon.
One narrator who always makes you choose audio over print: If I see any of these names: Cassandra Campbell, Orlagh Cassidy, John Lee, Phil Gigante it would make me consider the audio version but it would also depend on the book.
Genre you most often choose to listen to: I’ll listen to anything in audio. I try to avoid fiction with a lot of different characters or changes in point of view; in those types I do better with print.
If given the choice, you will always choose audio when: Often but not always I’ll choose audio for narrative non-fiction.
If given the choice, you will always choose print when: Science fiction. I’ve tried a few in audio but they just don’t work as well for me. Maybe it was the books I choose, two of them did not have great narrators and that can make or break an audio book.
Heresy
by S.J. Parris
Read by: John Lee
Genre: Historical Thriller
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publish Date: February 2010
Format: Audio CD | 13 Hours and 30 min
Rating: 3½ of 5
“Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic.”
It is the sixteenth-century and Giordano Bruno has traveled to Oxford University to participate in a debate about the Copernican theory of the universe. The prevailing thought at the time had the earth at the center of the universe; Copernicus’ model put the sun at the center with the earth just another planet, a heretical notion. In reality he has been sent to gather information about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. Soon after Bruno arrives the first of a series of ghastly murders is discovered. He begins to investigate in an attempt to solve the crimes.
I especially enjoy historical fiction if it is based on a real person and maintains its historical accuracy. I had never heard of Giordano Bruno before but I have read a lot about astronomy and when I saw the words “Copernican theory” my interest ignited. I looked up Bruno in Wikipedia before I started listening and got a little background. I’m like that with historical fiction but you don’t need to do that to read this book.
The author did a nice job blending history and fiction. In fact, she may have done too good a job with the history. If you enjoy English Literature and have a background in this period you’ll love this book. It got a bit slow at time as the characters engaged in philosophical debate about religion, theology and arguments of the time period. I enjoyed the murder mystery with all its requisite twists and turns but the story as a whole could have been a little faster-paced for me.
The audio production was well done. John Lee’s cultured British voice was a pleasure to listen to. He used a wide variety of accents and I was able to easily identify the characters. However, I think I would have enjoyed this more if I was reading rather than listening, but this has nothing to do with the skill of the narrator. I tend to speed up and slow down my reading (doesn’t everyone?) and would have flown more quickly through the cerebral discussions that did not affect the outcome of the mystery.
I like Bruno and the cast of characters enough to join him again in the next book in this series, Prophecy. I’ll be “reading” rather than listening this time. I will also be hosting a giveaway of two finished copies of Prophecy in the next few weeks.
June is Audiobook Month and today begins Audiobook Week hosted by Jen at Devourer of Books. There will be discussions, daily reviews and other activities including prizes for participants and commenters.
I discovered audiobooks a few years ago and would listen to a book in the car if I was taking a long trip but it wasn’t until last year that I really got into listening regularly. I kept reading about all these wonderful narrations so I decided to give a few audiobooks a try and I’ve been hooked ever since.
At first I found that with a complex novel and a lot of characters my mind would wander and I would lose the story line. So I tried short stories, non-fiction and even foreign language lessons. Once I got accustomed to listening instead of reading I moved on to longer novels with no problem. I listen while walking to work every morning, while working around the house, in the car and while gardening. It does become addicting!
Audiobook Challenge
This year I signed up for the Audiobook Challenge at Teresa’s Reading Corner to keep track of my reading and encourage myself to continue choosing audiobooks. Well, no problem there. As my goal I chose to read six books this year and already I’ve completed ten. I’m officially raising that to twenty books.
Audiobooks I’ve Read This Year:
• The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
• The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
• Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock by Sammy Hagar
• Once a Spy by Keith Thomson
• Darkship Thieves by Sarah Hoyt
• The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [review coming soon]
• Lost In Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff [review coming soon]
• Heresy by S.J. Parris [review coming soon]
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. This month’s host is Bluestocking at The Bluestocking Guide.
This was a busy week for me. I received four books for review and one win.
From Simon & Schuster for review:
The Dovekeepers
by Alice Hoffman
In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic historical event, Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinary, bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.
From HarperCollins for review:
Sanctus
by Simon Toyne
The certainties of the modern world are about to be blown apart by a three thousand year-old conspiracy nurtured by blood and lies …A man throws himself to his death from the oldest inhabited place on the face of the earth, a mountainous citadel in the historic Turkish city of Ruin. This is no ordinary suicide but a symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is witnessed by the entire world.But few understand it.
From Doubleday for review and giveaway:
Prophecy
by S.J. Parris
S. J. Parris returns with the next Giordano Bruno mystery, set inside Queen Elizabeth’s palace and steeped in period atmospherics and the strange workings of the occult.
It is the year of the Great Conjunction, when the two most powerful planets, Jupiter and Saturn, align—an astrological phenomenon that occurs once every thousand years and heralds the death of one age and the dawn of another. The streets of London are abuzz with predictions of horrific events to come, possibly even the death of Queen Elizabeth.
From Doubleday for review:
The Devil All The Time
by Donald Ray Pollack
In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic overtones of Flannery O’Connor at her most haunting.
Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s.
A win from Kay at My Random Acts of Reading. This is the first book in the Death on Demand series.
Death on Demand
by Carolyn Hart
The prime suspect in the murder of author Elliot Morgan, Annie Laurance Darling, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, embarks on an investigation in an attempt to clear her name.
Last week I posted photos of robin nestlings, baby birds still in the nest and being cared for by their parents. Once they have grown enough feathers to fly out of they nest they are called fledglings. At this point their wing and tail feathers are still short and they do not have their adult plumage yet but they are no longer fully dependent on their parents and are capable of some flight.
This little bird probably left the nest earlier in the day. He still had all his downy feathers, short wings and no tail. My husband had called to me and said that there was a little bird stuck to the fence peeping. Sure enough there he was, peep, peep, peep, looking terrified.
I took a few shots, told him his parents would be right back, and then hid in the garage to observe. I knew the parents had to be nearby but they will not return if they think there is danger. The little guy kept peeping and eventually an adult bird showed up with a worm. I was too far away to get a decent shot of the parents. After he ate it was time for a nap.
He stayed on the fence until dusk and probably would have stayed there all night but I relocated him to the shrubs for safety.
This is a dangerous time for baby birds. They don’t know enough to fear predators and sitting on the fence all night would have made him a meal for some night time animal. The next morning I heard him peeping again calling his parents who resumed teaching him to be a bird.
I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
Under My Apple Tree 