On the surface, “Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe“ is about a Long Island couple’s experiences trying to help an abandoned baby screech owl during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s really an exhaustively researched book about the myriad ways philosophers and religious folks have looked at humans’ relationships with the rest of nature over millennia.
Author Carl Safina and his wife Patricia named the abandoned owlet Alfie. They guessed Alfie was a she, but only time and behavior would tell. They expected to care for her only briefly. But complications such as failing to develop crucial flight feathers kept Alfie around longer than anticipated. She grew attached to her human family. Even when she could fly and live a normal owl life, she continued hanging around the Safinas’ three-quarter-acre property. This allowed Carl Safina to view her behavior — including courting, mating, and mothering — much more closely than most owl-loving humans could ever dream of.
The text alternates between Alfie updates and ponderous looks at humans. Carl Safina obviously spent a lot of time researching and thinking about how humans view nature. Some of the conclusions aren’t surprising. The book discusses Indigenous people considering themselves part of nature. Meanwhile, Christianity brings in ideas of a division between the spiritual and corporeal, disgust with the body, and a belief in having rightful dominion over the earth. This is a great read for people who like to contemplate these topics. Those with shorter attention spans may find themselves skipping ahead to see what happens with the owl.
Carl Safina is a very accomplished writer. Readers can picture tiny Alfie through descriptions like, “From where Alfie’s feet rested on a perch, she stood only about five inches tall. Adding perhaps three inches for her tail, she was roughly the length and color of a sweet potato, but in shape so oval as to be almost cylindrical, a bit like a beverage can.”
Like the pandemic, the book moves slowly. Spliced between philosophical passages, readers get the story of how Alfie begins to explore the world. She meets a male owl, whom Carl Safina dubs Plus One. The author is such a close observer of nature that the book can occasionally veer into owl porn, with a dose of critiquing how Alfie should be having sex. “Alfie was not moving her tail aside to accomplish the good, firm touch that’s necessary,” he writes. But like many of us, Alfie improves with practice. She becomes a mother.
“Alfie & Me” continues in the same vein. Deep dives into spirituality and philosophy supplement updates about Alfie and her family. Fans of Carl Safina’s books (“Becoming Wild” and “Beyond Words“) and his articles in Time, the Guardian, and the New York Times will savor this new 300+ page work.
Writer received a free copy of the book for review.