“Pete Dunne’s wisdom, wit, and storytelling shine through this inviting compendium entwined with urgent calls to care for our fraying planet. He skillfully renders cold facts—like three billion birds lost since 1970—into warm-blooded, feathered, and miraculous beings we care about—Wood Thrush. Bobolink. Bank Swallow. In the spirit of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Dunne speaks for the birds and for our common future.”
—Marina Richie, author of Halcyon Journey and Feathered Forest
“Endowed with an encyclopedic knowledge of avian history melded with years of experience in field observation, Pete Dunne brings the relationships between birds and humans full circle. From early religions graced with a mystical fascination with birds, he moves smoothly on to our modern society that vacillates between causing their decline and saving species on the brink of extinction. The book educates us about the myriad ways birds influence our lives, and vice versa. With the turning of each page, a diversity of topics, species, organizations, and ornithologists are uncovered, giving us new awareness of birdlife previously taken for granted. Whether the reader is an experienced birder or a novice delving into this subject for the first time, Dunne weaves a captivating web that draws us into his world. An essential addition to the annals of bird literature.”
—Tina Morris, author of Return to the Sky
“Pete Dunne is a grandmaster of birding! His wisdom lights up this book. I absorbed all kinds of fascinating tidbits and found myself searching for collectible bird cards on eBay. Dunne’s observations about changing bird populations are especially eye-opening. All birders should be familiar with Pete Dunne’s writing as part of our literary canon—and this book is a worthy, timely addition to his oeuvre.”
—Noah Strycker, associate editor, Birding magazine; author of Birding Without Borders
“Pete Dunne is a giant in the birding world and one of my ornithological heroes. His plea to act on conservation before it is too late is irrefutable. Our relationship with birds is still unfolding. Without birds in our world, there is no world.”
—David Lindo, a.k.a. The Urban Birder; vice president, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
“Dunne is a master at telling a good story…interesting [and] optimistic.”
—Booklist (Starred review)