I didn't know what to expect when I opened this book, but it turns out to be a mix between the trivial and the grim to begin with as author Kyo Maclear faces up to mortality. Her father is seriously ill and if she didn't have a stable marriage, I could have seen her going downhill as in H Is For Hawk. Instead in BIRDS ART LIFE she dabbles with taking art lessons to give her creativity room, writes down her musings as to why her life has changed so that she can't relax, and she starts looking at birds.

Kyo was born in London but moved to Canada, spending time alternately in Canada and Tokyo. She reflects on the movements of her early life and how they drove her mother to distraction so that the little family nearly broke apart. In her trusting marriage, she yet starts looking at other men. Somewhat oddly she asks a musician if she can follow him for a year; he agrees and shows her his apartment full of finches. A disconnect is present for the reader as we do not get this musician's name. (It's in the notes at the end.) But his hobby of watching birds, especially accidental birds, those blown off course from their usual territory, proves catching. Maybe because it involves Kyo doing a lot of sitting around being quiet and looking at not very much but nature.

Kyo tells us that she remembers feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London. I've done that! But in Tokyo she was besieged by large, aggressive jungle crows. Toronto's birds turned out to be much more friendly. And Kyo even took her sons out birding, finding a balance between instruction and just letting them have fun. The pages are interspersed with a few of the musician's bird photos, plus occasional sketches of birds, flowers or anything that seemed interesting as Kyo developed her creative talents. As she recounts the newsworthy events of that year, and monitors her father's health, she also learns more about birds, their migrations and plight.

Bird enthusiasts probably won't find anything they didn't know in this personal account, so I would recommend it more to those who enjoy reading women's literature or creative writing, or who want to see if they too could find meaning in studying the nature around them in a city. Kyo Maclear learns some lessons about herself and what is meaningful in life in BIRDS ART LIFE.