Bringing Back The Birds

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) works across the Americas with a goal to have birds routinely prioritized in all land-use and policy decision-making. Bringing Back the Birds showcases these efforts, alongside the stunning photography of Owen Deutsch and eloquent essays from renowned experts in the field: Peter P. Marra, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center; researchers Kimberly and Kenn Kaufman; John W. Fitzpatrick, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and Mike Parr, EJ Williams, and Clare Nielsen of ABC.--

Foreword by Jonathan Franzen Original poem by Margaret Atwood With species ranging from tiny iridescent-green hummingbirds to giant, gangly flightless rheas, the Americas feature an astonishing array of birds that rely upon the region's tremendous diversity of habitats. That reliance may be very localized or it may reach across continents: Swainson's Thrushes travel from South America all the way to Alaska, while certain grebes spend their entire lives on a single lake. Treasured songbirds feed at northern backyard feeders yet often arrive from points far to the south. The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) works across the Americas with a goal to have birds routinely prioritized in all land-use and policy decision-making. Bringing Back the Birds showcases these efforts, alongside the stunning photography of Owen Deutsch and eloquent essays from renowned experts in the field: Peter P. Marra, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center; researchers Kimberly and Kenn Kaufman; John W. Fitzpatrick, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and Mike Parr, EJ Williams, and Clare Nielsenof ABC.

The inspiring story of David Wingate, a living legend among birders, who brought the Bermuda petrel back from presumed extinction Rare Birds is a tale of obsession, of hope, of fighting for redemption against incredible odds. It is the story of how Bermuda’s David Wingate changed the world—or at least a little slice of it—despite the many voices telling him he was crazy to try. This tiny island in the middle of the North Atlantic was once the breeding ground for millions of Bermuda petrels. Also known as cahows, the graceful and acrobatic birds fly almost nonstop most of their lives, drinking seawater and sleeping on the wing. But shortly after humans arrived here, more than three centuries ago, the cahows had vanished, eaten into extinction by the country’s first settlers. Then, in the early 1900s, tantalizing hints of the cahows’ continued existence began to emerge. In 1951, an American ornithologist and a Bermudian naturalist mounted a last-ditch effort to find the birds that had come to seem little more than a legend, bringing a teenage Wingate—already a noted birder—along for the ride. When the stunned scientists pulled a blinking, docile cahow from deep within a rocky cliffside, it made headlines around the world—and told Wingate what he was put on this earth to do. Starting with just seven nesting pairs of the birds, Wingate would devote his life to giving the cahows the chance they needed in their centuries-long struggle for survival — battling hurricanes, invasive species, DDT, the American military, and personal tragedy along the way. It took six decades of obsessive dedication, but the cahow, still among the rarest of seabirds, has reached the hundred-pair mark and continues its nail-biting climb to repopulation. And Wingate has seen his dream fulfilled as the birds returned to Nonsuch, an island habitat he hand-restored for them plant-by-plant in anticipation of this day. His passion for resuscitating this “Lazarus species” has made him an icon among birders, and his story is an inspiring celebration of the resilience of nature, the power of persistence, and the value of going your own way.

‘Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.’—The Guardian ‘Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him.’—BBC Wildlife magazine Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of farmer-turned-rewilder Derek Gow, who is saving Britain’s much-loved but dangerously threatened species, from the water vole to beaver, wildcat to white stork, and tree frog to glow worm. Derek tells us all about the realities of rewilding; how he reared delicate roe deer and a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, moved a raging bison bull across the country, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat, returned honking skeins of graylag geese to the land and water that was once theirs, and restored the white stork to the Knepp Estate with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree. Derek’s first book, Bringing Back the Beaver, was a riotously funny and subversive account of his single-handed reintroduction of the beaver in Britain. Birds, Beasts and Bedlam, a natural successor to Gerald Durrell’s A Zoo in My Luggage, tells the story of Derek’s rewilding journey and his work to save many more species by transforming his Devon farm into a wildlife breeding center. He now houses beavers, white storks, water voles, lynx, wildcats, and harvest mice, with the aim of releasing them into the wild one day. Tearing down fences literally and metaphorically, Derek Gow is the one person with the character and strength of will to defy authority, bend the rules—and save our wildlife. ‘The radical rewilder.’—The Times ‘Derek Gow wants his farm to be a breeding colony, a seedbed for a denuded island.’—The New Yorker

Different types of birds eat different things to live. Some birds eat worms. Some eat fish. Find out what different birds need to eat to live. Paired to the fiction title Hungry For Worms.

Prowl for owls by ear, discover the science of feathers, and become familiar with the birds in your neighborhood and beyond—52 activities for kids ages 4 to 8 Calling all birders! It’s time to share the joy of birds with the kids in your life. I Love Birds! is chock-full of activities, information, and rich resources that will fuel discovery and inspire families. Through sensory, hands-on, and creative explorations that involve birding basics and the hows and whys of bird behavior, the activities here will engage children’s imagination and sense of wonder as they observe birds in the wild, become citizen scientists, and forge a deeper understanding, appreciation, and stewardship toward nature, our planet, and all things feathery.

Paleontologists Alice and Juan experience life-changing events after discovering a Bird of Paradise fossil. Will it be possible to clone the extinct bird? If successful, the Wintun Indians could once again worship the sacred bird that transports their souls to paradise. Would a greedy Arab Prince upset their plans? The ancient spirit of the Wintun High Priestess Lianaka begins to appear to her grandson, many generations removed, with strange riddles that only he can solve. Alice never could have imagined the life and death struggles that awaited them when the secrets are revealed.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SILVER MEDALIST for the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature From the bestselling author of H is for Hawk, a brilliant and insightful work about our relationship to the natural world Our world is a fascinating place, teeming not only with natural wonders that defy description, but complex interactions that create layers of meaning. Helen Macdonald is gifted with a special lens that seems to peer right through it all, and she shares her insights--at times startling, nostalgic, weighty, or simply entertaining--in this masterful collection of essays. From reflections on science fiction to the true story of an Iranian refugee's flight to the UK, Macdonald has a truly omnivorous taste when it comes to observations of both the banal and sublime. Peppered throughout are reminisces of her own life, from her strange childhood in an estate owned by the Theosophical Society to watching total eclipses of the sun, visits to Uzbek solar power plants, eccentric English country shows, and desert hunting camps in the Gulf States. These essays move from personal experiences into wider meditations about love and loss and how we build the world around us. Whether more journalistic in tone, or literary--even formally experimental--each piece is generous, lyrical, and speaks to one another. Macdonald creates a strong thematic undertow that quietly takes the reader along piece to piece and sets them down, finally, at a place they've never been before.