The Avian Ark: Tales from a Wild-bird Hospital

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is a funny, compassionate, lively, and yet thoughtful book. Chubb
describes her home-grown hospital and convalescent home for birds,
located in Southern Ontario, and gives informative accounts of many of
the avian species she has cared for. While most people who rescue
injured, sick or orphaned birds focus on garden-variety songbirds, Chubb
is drawn to herons, bitterns, loons, hawks, owls, and ducks. Though much
of the book is devoted to tales of her experiences with these species
and their specialized needs, she also includes unforgettable chapters on
caring for a pelican, a pair of pileated woodpeckers, a raven, a
vulture, an eagle, and a moorhen chick.

Chubb has the wonderful gift of letting her readers see the humor or
sadness in a situation without slowing down her fast-paced narrative.
Her accounts are entertaining and informative. A wealth of little-known
information saturates every chapter. She writes with empathy and love,
yet is on constant guard against anthropomorphism.

The work is illustrated with Chubb’s own pen-and-ink sketches of her
patients. These, too, capture something of the character of the
individual birds and clearly convey her careful, caring approach to her
subjects. Her respect for her subjects and her passionate devotion to
their needs overflows every page, making it impossible for the reader to
resist being drawn into the soap opera of their lives.