Publishers Weekly
01/18/2021
“In the past two decades we’ve realized how badly we have underestimated the simple physical abilities of birds,” suggests naturalist Weidensaul (Living on the Wind) in this remarkable look at global bird migration. “The world is changing around us,” he writes, and migrating birds are “our best and most compelling window” into those changes. To understand the “complexity of migratory ecology,” Weidensaul takes readers to Alaska’s Denali National Park, where he catches and tags thrushes; coastal Jiangsu Province in China, a critical way station for migratory shorebirds; and Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean “at the nexus of great migratory flyways connecting central Europe to Africa and the Middle East” that’s notorious for illegal bird trapping. Along the way, Weidensaul describes tracking technology, such as outdated radiotelemetry, and geolocators that weigh “barely half a gram.” He notes with urgency the consequences of climate change and urban development on migration patterns (brightly lit skyscrapers disorient migrating birds) while maintaining a sense of wonder about the birds’ efforts and abilities: “a migratory bird’s ability to traverse thousands of miles is perhaps the greatest physiological feat of all.” Bird enthusiasts and fans of nature writing shouldn’t miss this. Photos. (Mar.)
Kenn Kaufman
"Scott Weidensaul, one of our finest nature writers, has produced another instant classic. In A World on the Wing he takes a pair of highly complex subjects—global patterns of bird migration, and the research into those patterns—and brings them to life with his own amazing adventures around the world. Here is proof that a book of solid science can also be a page-turner. Highly recommended for anyone curious about the natural world."
New York Times - Christian Cooper
"[A] gripping journey alongside the world’s feathered wanderers and the people who study them.... Brims with spectacle.... As the birds flit through these pages, but with ever less frequency through our lives, we can only hope that birders and non-birders alike take inspiration and a call to action from A World on the Wing. This is the kind of book we’ve been waiting for."
The Guardian - Ashish Ghadiali
"I’m not a birder, but Weidensaul persuades me that I could be, and that a greater appreciation of the movement and behaviour of migratory birds might bring me into closer contact with what it means to be a living thing on Earth.... [Weidensaul is] a master storyteller.... What emerges is an emphatic statement of confidence in nature’s resilience—a vision of nature as a force that we and our science are irrefutably a part of."
Noah Strycker
"Weidensaul’s dispatches are fascinating. Chapter by chapter, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. The science of bird migration has reached a golden age, and we’re lucky to have such a graceful guide. This book is instantly among my all-time favorites, and one I’ll keep to reread."
starred review BookPage
"Weidensaul addresses migratory birds’ changing reality and the scientists who work tirelessly to learn more about them and advocate on their behalf.... The plight and toughness of both birds and their human defenders will move you in lasting ways."
starred review Booklist
"Many mysteries of bird life and migration are revealed in this compelling and illuminating in-the-field narrative complete with maps and photographs."
Diane Ackerman
"In vivid prose that conjures up the rich spell of each landscape, Scott Weidensaul takes us on exhilarating expeditions that crisscross the globe and travel deep into the heart of nature. For lifelong experts and backyard birders alike, he’s a superb guide to the winged marvels that share our planet and our lives."
Jane Alexander
"The miracle of birds meets the miracle of technology in Scott Weidensaul’s wondrous new book, A World on the Wing. While there are huge gaps in our knowledge of migration and there is despair in our race to save species, advances in technology from microscopic transmitters to agile drones are changing the equation and making the future look hopeful. This is a book you won’t want to put down."
Wall Street Journal - Julie Zickefoose
"A World on the Wing is a paean to the beauty of data, viewed in masses, and to citizen science taking ornithology by storm.... Mr. Weidensaul offers the astonishment of birds’ travels, deep concern for their populations and hope for their future in well-measured, beautifully realized doses."
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2020
Award-winning author and natural historian Weidensaul (Living on the Wind) professes and demonstrates reverence for migratory birds in this book. Impelled by genetics and sent on by the changing seasons, migratory birds tenaciously endure migrations of thousands, even tens of thousands, of miles, the author explains. Weidensaul participated in some of the most advanced research and observation of species of these birds across the globe. He describes the incredible migrations and physiological changes of swifts, thrushes, warblers, whimbrels, owls, and other birds, many in obscure and unusual places. In the last two decades, technological advances in avian tracking equipment, Big Data, and the explosion of average citizens' observation/recording of bird movements have led to significant advances in our knowledge of bird migration. Based on recent scientific research and his own research and bird observations, Weidensaul vividly explains how humans, through destruction of habitat and global warming, are threatening many bird species populations. VERDICT Each chapter on the different bird species and migration experiences will vibrantly inform readers about the habits of migratory birds—or at least what we know about them so far. Besides appealing to birders, this book will also engage those interested in natural or environmental history.—Mark Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati
JUNE 2021 - AudioFile
Migrating birds navigate from one end of the earth to the other, somehow knowing exactly where and when to stop for critical food sources. Narrator Mike Lenz captures the author’s wonder and inquisitiveness as he follows godwits, hummingbirds, snowy owls, great knots, and many others on their journeys. The recovery of Swainson’s hawks after the reduction of pesticide use in Argentina is a high point; the popularity of songbirds eaten as a delicacy in Costa Rica is a low point. And, of course, climate change is the biggest threat to these finely calibrated journeys. Although there are a few regrettable mispronunciations, Lenz is an enthusiastic and engaging guide who is as impressed by the avian feats and the advances in teeny transmitters as we are. A.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-12-31
Bird researcher and writer Weidensaul unpacks the state of bird migration research and conservation efforts.
Bird migration is a wonder, a natural force that pushes small, fragile creatures to fly immense distances with both speed and tenacity. In his latest contribution to the subject, the Pulitzer Prize finalist provides a wide-ranging investigation into migration, including the success stories as well as current problems and those on the horizon: climate change, which “is reshaping every single thing about migration”; habitat loss and forest fragmentation, “a serious danger to…migrant songbirds”; rat infestation; and hunting—especially after “wild meat became a status symbol rather than a mere source of protein.” As in many of his previous books, Weidensaul is a peerless guide, sharing his intoxicating passion and decadeslong experience with countless bird species all over the world. Another pleasing aspect of the narrative is the author’s fine-line descriptions of the often remote landscapes through which he has traveled and the vest-pocket character portraits of his birding comrades. Each of the chapters covers one or more species and locales—e.g., frigatebirds in the Galápagos, Amur falcons in China and Mongolia, whimbrels on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, more than 160 species of birds in Denali National Park—but the author also ventures into other areas, such as a bird’s “magnetic orientation” ability and the “genetic road map” that allows them to embark on a successful migration. Of course, significant problems abound: the disappearance of birds’ habitat preferences and favored diets; the traditional trapping of songbirds in the Mediterranean for consumption (according to one estimate in 2016, “trappers were killing between 1.3 million and 3.2 million birds annually in Cyprus, making this small island one of the worst places…for this slaughter”); and the disorientation of urban lights. As the author notes, because of the variety and number of routes, habitats, and species, their protection will require a vigorous global approach.
Another winner from Weidensaul that belongs in every birder’s library.
