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Jenny Brock And The Amazing Birds On Her Block

Written and Illustrated

By Jim Butler

Published by Peregrine InstitutePrinted by PageMaster Publication Services, Ltd.Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaEmail: profjbutler@aol.com ISBN 978-1-897544-45-7

©2011 by Jim Butler and its licensors. All rights reserved

Preludeby the Wise old Barred Owl

Hi Guys!I’m the old Barred OwlWho lives in the Brock Bird Hotel.I’m here to tellYou a swell tale.It’s not a tall tale Or a small taleBut a whale of a taleAbout someone like you,Who loves birds and nature, too.

You may never before have heard,Or read a written word,Of the adventures of Jenny Brock And her wonderful birds.

They tell the tale well at the Summerdale Hotel,Where Saturday and Sunday the show is freeAt three when served with tea.Sometimes it’s me who tells the tale there.Sometimes Jenny BrockWill still present the talk.And her bird friends will come, too,As is their habit to do when they choose to.

Some take the bus tour for an overviewTo preview the very avenueOn the Brock Block Where all the ballyhoo And daring-do ensued.

Now it’s not as famous as Machu Picchu.That’s in Peru.But many who have read this Have been impressed,From the well dressedTo the clinically depressed.

The characters of this book are mostly birds.The story has a rough cast of miscast outcasts,All from some rookery or puffery,Plumery, swannery, quackery.And they’ll all make you merry.

Oh, alright, ...certainly.

Jenny suggestsWe just get to the jist.So best settle in to rest,‘Cause this is it ...at its best.

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Chapter One: Summerdale: A Pretty Little City

Summerdale is a lovely sightWith all the houses painted bright.The lawns and streets are neat and just right,And the people you meetAre very polite,Except for the grumpy Mr. Lott,Who is not.

The Brock’s back yardWas nothing ordinary.It was very, very extraordinary.The Brocks loved and nurtured all of natureAnd cared for all living creatures.They would rescue salamanders

When they wandered and meanderedPast bystanders and oleanders,And strode across roadsWith loads of lost toads,Moving at random in tandemToward distant postal codes.

The Brocks would catch the flies insideAnd gently release them outside.The yard seemed neglectedSince dandelion lives were respected.The lawn was sprinkled with periwinkles,Wind chimes tinkled and twinkled.There bloomed many peony’s,Daisies and anemonesAnd lots and lots more botany.The whole Brock yard Was like a picture postcardFor its harmony of ecology.

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Biography

Jim Butler is a widely respected naturalist, ornithologist and a recently retired Professor Emeritus of Wildlife and Conservation Biology at the University of Alberta. He has a life long love for birds, a former director and the first resident-naturalist of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in South Florida for the National Audubon Society. Recent popular works include Dialog With A Frog on a Log, a collection of his deep ecology poetry, and the recent Broadway-style mu-sical play “Fairy Creek, the Musical” (see www.fairycreek.com).

Acknowledgements:

The Illustrations: The author extends his gratitude in the preparation of the illustrations to several master artist illustrators whose works were admired and studied at length and aided in the preparation of the illustrations of this work considerably. Gratitude is extended in particular to the masters: Jack Keely, Don Jardine, Ed Nofziger, Roger Armstrong, Walter Foster, Paul Johnson, Anna Milbourne, Christopher Hart, and Jack Hamm. While the author Jim Butler did all the book’s cartoon illustrations personally and took all the bird photographs, selec-tions from the Big Box of Art clip gallery and Hemera Photo Objects 50,000 Volume II were used for the educational quiz at the end of the book. Elaine Butler was editor and computer graphics designer.

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