BIRDS ARE IMPOSSIBLE
The Supernatural Ways of the Fliers
This book provides a close-up look at the true nature of birds and how many of their abilities far transcend ours. Indeed, to traditional science birds are impossible, for it can offer no explanation for them.
Here, the lives and actions of many individual birds, of a wide variety of species, bring the supernatural ways of the fliers to light. Plenty of supplementary information and the findings of other researchers is included to provide a wide view of how these extraordinary descendants of the dinosaurs live.
In the end you will see that birds are not less than we are. They are more—an intense, brilliant focus of life beyond the human experience, analogous to the way a diamond is a concentrated form of the earth.
And when one follows that realization to its end, one has to stand back in awe at the refinement and glory of the universe that produced them.
Reviews
We hear stories about individual friendships between humans and birds, but never before have I read anything like what Ila France Porcher has written in Birds are Impossible about friendships with birds of so many different species. She takes us into the supernatural world of night fliers over a sea sparkling with light reflected from stars, explains how senses way beyond our own are relied upon for navigation, and how mind-to-mind communication between her and her avian companions develops. I, as a reader, was so drawn in to these stories that I found myself often filled with awe and at times tearing up with the sorrow of loss. This is a must read for anyone who finds birds fascinating but doesn’t exactly know why.
Lynn Kirk
Animal Health Technician, Canada
Ila France Porcher’s Birds are Impossible is another fascinating look at sentience in living creatures. Following on her earlier works — The Shark Sessions ~ My Sunset Rendezvous; The True Nature of Sharks; Outwitted by Chickens; Merlin: The Mind of a Sea Turtle, and The Spirit of Wild Ducks — Porcher’s writing provides incredible detail relating to the actions and decisions of the various birds in their island home.
Once again, her intense and precise observations demonstrate a level of awareness and feeling in wild creatures that has been largely underestimated in our general world view. She explores a range of emotions including love and fear, but also more nuanced emotions such as jealousy as drivers of specific actions. She also documents diverse responses to similar circumstances from individual to individual, as well as from the same individual at different stages of development and wellness.
Like her earlier works, Birds are Impossible is richly illustrated with photos and with Porcher’s exquisite artwork.
Dr. Bob Abell Ph.D.
Science Education, Author, Filmmaker, Canada
A sweet read - I couldn’t put it down. Darwinian logic applied to in-depth observations of birds as individuals combines to produce a powerful and insightful work. Beautifully written and illustrated, there is surprise and beauty on every page.
Claire Lavine,
Naturalist, United Kingdom
I recommend Birds are Impossible because it is unique to literature. It is outstanding and scientifically correct and yet is a story about affection between species.
This engaging, one-of-a-kind account is about individual birds - seabirds and land birds - as they struggle to regain their health and their freedom. It keeps the reader entranced. The details included about each sentient bird that comes into the author’s care are spellbinding. The reader is held hypnotically during each rescue until the end of the story, be it happy or heart-wrenching.
Each and every one of these creatures is treasured even if all seems hopeless. As a wildlife rehabilitator working alone, the author has even devised her own testing methods. Just catching the fish needed for feeding the seabirds is heroic, and we are emotionally involved in the whole process. At the end, our attitude about life takes on a whole new character. Soon we realize that birds - each and every one - are precious and contribute in some way to all life.
Rayne Jacobson
Wildlife Advocate, Canada
Ms. Ila France Porcher is back with more insights into the minds of wildlife, wild birds this time. She takes us on a journey, not on the wings of wild birds, but rather one into understanding their minds and how we should relate to them, rather than wait for them to decide how to relate to us. Once again, Ms. Porcher deploys her ability to understand and even communicate with living entities that we consider separate and insignificant to life systems. She adds to the conviction that other living entities around us need to be endowed with personhood.
This book will undoubtedly prompt us to change our attitudes.
Dr. R. Venkatasamy
EnviroSolutions Ltd, Mauritius
To readers who already know the writings of Ila France Porcher, the initial experience will seem familiar: her narratives, built out of an exceptional depth of experience with a wide variety of creatures, makes its impression cumulatively. One is drawn into a series of experiences, minutiae of daily interactions with and observations of the birds or other animals in her care. Humans retain a severely peripheral role, only appearing as they impinge on the fates of these central protagonists.
It may at first seem just an anecdotal presentation, with an individual rescued seabird or other creature forming the central character of each chapter. But it is the minutiae which make this book so valuable. The author is a keen observer of details, and her many years of experience, especially but not only with injured and sick birds, make her observations particularly valuable. Add to this a finely-tuned empathy and a willingness to accept the possibilities for inter-species communication which most of us would probably consider unlikely, and the sum total of all the interactions, set-backs, healings and demises, successes and failures with her efforts to help the stranded, injured, ill or otherwise often seemingly hopeless cases in her care amounts to a formidable record of invaluable information on their individual characteristics and needs, both physical and psychological.
For those of us interested in birds it is particularly fascinating to become gradually apprised of the major differences between seabirds in general and the land-based birds with whom most of us have a better acquaintance. A life lived mostly in the air, on and over the vastness of ocean - the mere physicality of it is utterly remote from our experience. How many of us know for instance that simply handling a seabird with our bare hands can transfer our skin oils/chemicals to its feathers and compromise its natural waterproofing? And who knows the difficulties a body built for cruising on the wind may have with landing or walking on the ground? Or how specialised their dietary needs can be? Or, on the other hand, what incredible powers of recovery from injury they may have, given the right treatment and care.
We can learn a lot from this book, not just on the specifica of animal and environmental vulnerability - the fates of some of these unique and fragile creatures and also of their equally fragile and threatened environment will haunt us long after the book is finished. For me, it is a story of courage. The courage and determination of injured and ill creatures to survive against the odds, and the equally remarkable courage and determination of the author, who takes on many taxing and sometimes near-hopeless tasks of rescue and resuscitation. Above and beyond all this it is impressive as a documentation of the will to communicate, as we see how far an open and attentive mind - whether human or avian - can serve to break down barriers of understanding between wildly differing species.
Ila France Porcher demands a certain patience of her reader. But to those whose interest in her subject goes beyond mere entertainment, that patience will be more than amply rewarded.
An Soegijo
New Zealand
Birds are delightful! I love birds and you will too as you read the many stories in this wonderful and unique book written by Ila France Porcher. This gifted author outlines in perfect detail the lives of the various species of injured birds that she rescued and cared for. Some were brought to her for treatment. Her skills in treating each injured bird were amazing! The author actually lived with the injured bird until it could be released fully healed. You will enjoy reading how she saved the lives of these wise little creatures. It was so heart-warming to read that the author's LOVE and TOUCH of KINDNESS were sensed by the bird that was being treated and it responded and expressed affection with a touch on her face with its beak and even a cuddle. What a beautiful connection between the author, Ila France Porcher, and her "patients"!
Birds do express and feel emotions and know body language. Also, you will see that birds communicate with each other and are highly intelligent and demonstrate many abilities. No two birds sing the same song! I am still thinking of Flicker, a cute and sweet little bird who was able to understand, learn and think things out quickly and he loved to play!
This inspiring book includes scientific information as well as photos and illustrations done by the author.
There are happy moments in this book and sad ones too.
Yes, indeed, this renowned author, Ila France Porcher, has delivered a most interesting and exciting book! How fortunate we are to have a 'glimpse' into the life of birds.
This remarkable book, Birds are Impossible: The Supernatural Ways of the Fliers opened the world of birds to me and will to you too. I was left with a closer "bond" to Nature and a deeper appreciation of all LIFE.
I highly recommend this outstanding book.
Joan H. Gale
Wildlife Advocate, Canada
A rare modern artist-scientist presents an in-depth look at the capabilities of birds. This timely book integrates scientific findings with everyday observations of the lives and choices of individuals of a wide variety of species, to describe a bird dimension that is indeed supernatural. This book is a valuable addition to our understanding of these modern-day descendants of the dinosaurs, and leaves no doubt about their consciousness.
Dr. Homère Valanski,
Field Ethologist, France