Synopses & Reviews
This comprehensive work covering all the owls of North America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, is the newest addition to the trusted Peterson Reference Guide series. Owls are perhaps the most intriguing of all birds andmdash; instantly recognizable and endlessly fascinating. Whether viewed as symbols of wisdom or bad omens, these unusual birds have had a hold on human imagination for millennia.and#160;and#160;Heard more often than seen, many owls are best identified by vocalizations; this is the only owl guide to include access to a collection of recordings. It is also the only North American owl book to include the Caribbean, covering 39 species of owls, including many little-known tropical species.and#160;and#160;With detailed information about identification, calls, habitat, nesting, and behavior, this Reference Guide has the most up-to-date information about natural history, biology, ecology, migration, and conservation status. It is heavily illustrated with hundreds of color photos, and includes the most accurate color range maps ever presented, showing breeding, wintering, and migration routes.and#160;and#160;This is a definitive work, useful for serious birders and ornithologists but accessible for the non-exempt.
Review
Praise for Living on the Windand#160;"[Weidensaul] has combined scientific sureness and literary style to produce a book that deserves to become a classic of natural history."--Herbert Kupferberg, Paradeand#160;"What Rachel Carson did for the sea-opening the public's eyes to the fragile richness of whole ecosystems-Scott Weidensaul has now done for bird migration."--Caroline Fraser, Outsideand#160;
Review
PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHERand#160;"At once gossipy and scholarly, Of aand#160;Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."and#151;The Washington Post Book World and#160;"Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies."and#151;The Arizona Republicand#160;
Synopsis
This comprehensive work covering all the owls of North America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, is the newest addition to the trusted Peterson Reference Guide series.
Synopsis
From the moment Europeans arrived in North America, they were awestruck by a continent awash with birdsand#8212;great flocks of wild pigeons, prairies teeming with grouse, woodlands alive with brilliantly colored songbirds. Of a Feather traces the colorful origins of American birding: the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes; the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; and the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as Alexander Wilson (a convicted blackmailer) and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon. Scott Weidensaul also recounts the explosive growth of modern birding that began when an awkward schoolteacher named Roger Tory Peterson published A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. Today birding counts iPod-wearing teens and obsessive "listers" among its tens of millions of participants, making what was once an eccentric hobby into something so completely mainstream itand#8217;s now (almost) cool. This compulsively readable popular history will surely find a roost on every birderand#8217;s shelf.
Synopsis
Arriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by a continent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americans birders have made a once eccentric hobby into something so mainstream itand#8217;s (almost) cool.
Scott Weidensaul traces the colorful evolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; from the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailer Alexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose A Field Guide to the Birds prompted the explosive growth of modern birding. Spirited and compulsively readable, Of a Feather celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughout Americcan history.and#160;
About the Author
Author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul, who grew up in the heart of the old Eastern frontier, has written more than two dozen books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds.
Table of Contents
Contents1and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; and#147;Birds . . . more beautiful than in Europeand#8221;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 1
2and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; and#147;Except three or four, I do not know themand#8221;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 41
3and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Pushing Westand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 79
4and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Shotgun Ornithologyand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 107
5and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Angry Ladiesand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 145
6and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Becoming a Nounand#160;and#160;and#160; 187
7and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Death to Miss Hathawayand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 227
8and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Beyond the Listand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 273
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Acknowledgmentsand#160; 315
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Notes and Bibliographyand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 317
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Indexand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 339