If you wash dishes with binoculars around your neck, own more spotting scopes than shoes, and read the Bird Chat listerv before and after your first cup of coffee, then you can only be one thing: an ardent birder. Biology professor and lifelong devotee of our fine feathered friends Todd Newberry has written 50 short essays that range from meditations on bird-watchers' daily events to philosophies of why they do what they so ardently love to do. THE ARDENT BIRDER is the first book in the vast field of popular birding literature to focus on the birder, not just the bird. A thoughtful gift for the bird-watcher who has everything, THE ARDENT BIRDER includes 75 delightful drawings and includes suggestions for how intermediate-level birders can hone and share their skills in the field.