Informazioni su questo prodotto

Product Identifiers

PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

ISBN-100156033550

ISBN-139780156033558

eBay Product ID (ePID)65895525

Product Key Features

Book TitleOf a Feather : a Brief History of American Birding

Number of Pages368 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2008

TopicLife Sciences / Zoology / Ornithology, Birdwatching Guides

IllustratorYes

GenreNature, Science

AuthorScott Weidensaul

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight10.9 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

ReviewsWeidensaul, author of four other works of natural history, chronicles the origins of American birding. We meet Alexander Wilson, who came to the U.S. from Scotland in 1794 and published a book illustrating all the birds to be found in this country; John James Audubon, famous author of Birds of America; Spencer Fullerton Baird, who created the National Museum of Natural History; Florence Merriam, the author of Birds through an Opera Glass (1889); George Grinnell, who created the first Audubon Society in 1886; Mabel Osgood Wright, the author of best-selling books on birds and the founder of the Connecticut Audubon chapter; and David Sibley, who has written the most successful field guide since Roger Tory Peterson's. With 24 black-and-white photographs, this book will delight birdwatchers and encourage others to start watching., PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER"At once gossipy and scholarly, Of aFeather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies."The Arizona Republic, Weidensaul ( Return to Wild America ) traces bird watching in America from colonial times to the present, when powerful binoculars and other sophisticated technologies have revolutionized the sport. He entertainingly describes many early naturalists who shot and collected birds, including Mark Catesby, John and William Bartram, some military men and an intrepid woman named Martha Maxwell. By the late 19th century, when entire bird populations had been decimated for sport, food and the millinery trade, formidable society ladies began demanding avian protection, the Audubon Society was created and recreational birding, featuring binoculars instead of guns, was born, aided by the emergence of field guides like Roger Tory Peterson's. Today, says Weidensaul, there are millions of birders in the United States, and the sport has entered a new phase, emphasizing competitive birding, lists, rarity chasing and Big Year records. For Weidensaul, this is not a good thing. He finds that people who concentrate on competition and listing often forget the enjoyment of mere observation and the importance of conservation. A naturalist and federally licensed bird bander, he is passionate about birding. His vivid descriptions of his own experiences should send many a reader out of doors to look for the small, contained miracle that is a bird. Photos., PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."— The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." —The Arizona Republic , PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." -The Arizona Republic, PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."-- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." --The Arizona Republic, PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." -The Arizona Republic , PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of aFeather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies.", PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."-- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." --The Arizona Republic , At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating'¦, Weidensaul (Return to Wild America) traces bird watching in America from colonial times to the present, when powerful binoculars and other sophisticated technologies have revolutionized the sport. He entertainingly describes many early naturalists who shot and collected birds, including Mark Catesby, John and William Bartram, some military men and an intrepid woman named Martha Maxwell. By the late 19th century, when entire bird populations had been decimated for sport, food and the millinery trade, formidable society ladies began demanding avian protection, the Audubon Society was created and recreational birding, featuring binoculars instead of guns, was born, aided by the emergence of field guides like Roger Tory Peterson's. Today, says Weidensaul, there are millions of birders in the United States, and the sport has entered a new phase, emphasizing competitive birding, lists, rarity chasing and Big Year records. For Weidensaul, this is not a good thing. He finds that people who concentrate on competition and listing often forget the enjoyment of mere observation and the importance of conservation. A naturalist and federally licensed bird bander, he is passionate about birding. His vivid descriptions of his own experiences should send many a reader out of doors to look for the small, contained miracle that is a bird. Photos., PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."-- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." --The Arizona Republic , At once gossipy and scholarly, Of a Feather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminatingâ€¦, Praise for Living on the Wind "[Weidensaul] has combined scientific sureness and literary style to produce a book that deserves to become a classic of natural history."--Herbert Kupferberg, Parade "What Rachel Carson did for the sea-opening the public's eyes to the fragile richness of whole ecosystems-Scott Weidensaul has now done for bird migration."--Caroline Fraser, Outside , PRAISE FOR OF A FEATHER "At once gossipy and scholarly, Of aFeather recounts rivalries, controversies, bad behavior and other key episodes in the making of modern birding. Lively and illuminating, it has surprises, too."-- The Washington Post Book World "Weidensaul is a charming guide . . . You don't have to be a birder to enjoy this look at one of today's fastest-growing (and increasingly competitive) hobbies." --The Arizona Republic

Dewey Edition22

Dewey Decimal598

Table Of ContentContents 1 "Birds . . . more beautiful than in Europe" 1 2 "Except three or four, I do not know them" 41 3 Pushing West 79 4 Shotgun Ornithology 107 5 Angry Ladies 145 6 Becoming a Noun 187 7 Death to Miss Hathaway 227 8 Beyond the List 273 Acknowledgments 315 Notes and Bibliography 317 Index 339

SynopsisArriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by a continent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americans birders have made a once eccentric hobby into something so mainstream it's (almost) cool.Scott Weidensaul traces the colorful evolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; from the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailer Alexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose A Field Guide to the Birds prompted the explosive growth of modern birding. Spirited and compulsively readable, Of a Feather celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughout Americcan history., Arriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by a continent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americans birders have made a once eccentric hobby into something so mainstream it's (almost) cool. Scott Weidensaul traces the colorful evolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; from the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailer Alexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose A Field Guide to the Birds prompted the explosive growth of modern birding. Spirited and compulsively readable, Of a Feather celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughout Americcan history.