Customer Reviews:
 stunningly beautiful book, a bonus for bird watchers anywher April 17, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Scott Weidensaul has a knack for enchanting readers with his marvelous descriptions of bird migrations throughout the hemisphere. We follow him contentedly on his extensive travels and meetings (human and aviary), we worry with him for ecosystem loss and endangered species, and yet we are awed like him by the sheer beauty and unimaginable strength of birds flying around the world. I only wish he would write another book about the eastern hemisphere!
a fascinating,readable book on migration July 21, 1999
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
not just another dry tome, but hard to stop reading for an almost eighty birder with sixty five years of pleasure in looking. and seeing, and marveling at the wonder of migration. Scott Wiedensaul has handed a genuine nugget to birders everywhere.
eye opening account of the secret journeys of birds May 31, 1999
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Came across this by accident in a bookshop in LA and was immediately enchanted. The author knows his subject intimately and writes with a genuine depth of knowledge and passion. Next time I hear the flutter of wings passing in the night I'll have a little more respect. A revealing, absorbing and finely researched account.
personal portrait of migratory birds'long journeys May 26, 1999
As I write this there is a northern oriole singing in the woods behind my house. Yesterday, when I was reading out back, a ruby-throated hummingbird appeared seemingly out of nowhere to feed at a deep pink and purple fushia plant hanging on my patio. Where did these birds that grace our land in spring and summer come from, what journeys did they need to take to get here, and why did they travel 1000s of miles to spend time here -- these are just a few of the questions that Scott Weidensaul answers in Living on the Wind. The reader learns not only the theories of migration, why birds migrate when they do and why they go where they go, SW also describes in heartfelt detail the struggles the bird researchers endure as they track birds in our hemisphere and try to save these beautiful and ethereal creatures from rampant defoliation in our hemisphere. SW is a bird-bander and expert on raptors and he comes well-prepared to write this very personal story of the unbelievably long journeys of a variety of birds as they fly from the Arctic to the tip of S. America and beyond. He traveled to Jamaica, Mexico, Argentina, Alaska and many other birding hot spots to best tell the story of migrating birds and those who follow their flight patterns. Anyone who is fascinated by birds and nature, and who cares about our environment's affect on birds and other living beings will greatly enjoy this book.
|
