This is the rousing and reverent story of the billions of birds that, despite the numerous obstacles we have placed in their path, continue to head with hope to the far horizon. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gate winds 7,000 miles nonstop. His own voyage of discovery sees him sail through the storm-wracked waters of the Bering Sea encounter gunners and trappers in the Mediterranean and visit a forgotten corner of northeast India, where former headhunters have turned one of the grimmest stories of migratory crisis into an unprecedented conservation success.Īs our world comes increasingly under threat from the effects of climate change, these ecological miracles may provide an invaluable guide to a more sustainable future for ourselves. Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted writer and ornithologist Scott Weidensaul is at the forefront of this cutting-edge research, and he will talk about some of the most remarkable flights undertaken by birds around the world. The past two decades have seen an explosion in our understanding of the almost unfathomable feats of endurance and complexity involved in bird migration – yet the science that informs these majestic journeys is still relatively in its infancy. Scott Weidensaul follows the awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, the bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 6000 miles. Table of contents Preface Part One: Southbound 1: Beringia 2: A Far-flung Tapestry 3: The Way South 4: Riding the Sea Wind 5: Rivers of Hawks Part Two.

Nothing else combines its global sweep with its inherent ability to engender wonder and excitement. Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux ISBN: 0-86547-543-1 Hardcover: April 1999 Paperback: April 2000 420 pages. Bird migration remains perhaps the most singularly compelling natural phenomenon in the world.

Living on the Wind by Scott Weidensaul