New York Times Bestseller Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize A Library Journal Best Science and Technology Book of the Year An exhilarating exploration of the science and wonder of global bird migration. In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch has exploded. What we’ve learned of these key migrations—how billions of birds circumnavigate the globe, flying tens of thousands of miles between hemispheres on an annual basis—is nothing short of extraordinary. Bird migration entails almost unfathomable endurance, like a sparrow-sized sandpiper that will fly nonstop from Canada to Venezuela—the equivalent of running 126 consecutive marathons without food, water, or rest—avoiding dehydration by "drinking" moisture from its own muscles and organs, while orienting itself using the earth’s magnetic field through a form of quantum entanglement that made Einstein queasy. Crossing the Pacific Ocean in nine days of nonstop flight, as some birds do, leaves little time for sleep, but migrants can put half their brains to sleep for a few seconds at a time, alternating sides—and their reaction time actually improves. These and other revelations convey both the wonder of bird migration and its global sweep, from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus. This breathtaking work of nature writing from Pulitzer Prize finalist Scott Weidensaul also introduces readers to those scientists, researchers, and bird lovers trying to preserve global migratory patterns in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges. Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork, in A World on the Wing Weidensaul unveils with dazzling prose the miracle of nature taking place over our heads.
But wind farms--popular as green energy sources--can be disastrous for birds if built in the wrong places. This is a fascinating and urgent study of the complex issues that affect bird migration.
The naturalist author of Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds shares stories of the rediscovery of species previously believed extinct, discussing such topics as the Indian forest owlet, the thylacine of Tasmania, ...
Information on migratory flight patterns, flight speed and distance, travel seasons, calls of migrating birds, and more.
Discusses how birds migrate and provides information on migrations in each region of the world and on the migrating habits of hundreds of species of birds.
This collection includes Old Orchard Buck, Deep Wooks Drummer, A Little Bit Cautious, Waiting for Dusk, and much more.
This new paperback edition includes a foreword by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet W.S. Merwin and an afterword by Nobel Prize–winning physicist Murray Gell–Mann.
In this beautifully illustrated volume, Faaborg’s approachable writing style will engage students and birders alike while introducing them to the study of the evolution, taxonomy, anatomy, physiology, diversity, and behavior of birds.
The Rarest Bird in the World is a celebration of a certain way of seeing the world, and will bring out the explorer in in everyone who reads it.
Traveling the full length of the hummingbirds' range, from the cusp of the Arctic Circle to near-Antarctic islands, acclaimed nature writer Jon Dunn encounters birders, scientists, and storytellers in his quest to find these beguiling ...
A lavishly illustrated companion to The Bedside Book of Birds explores the relationships between predators and prey, drawing on mythology, nature writings, and other sources to provide coverage of both real and fictional creatures.