Of a Feather

A Brief History of American Birding

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, Animals, Birds & Birdwatching, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Of a Feather by Scott Weidensaul, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Author: Scott Weidensaul ISBN: 9780156035187
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publication: September 15, 2008
Imprint: Mariner Books Language: English
Author: Scott Weidensaul
ISBN: 9780156035187
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication: September 15, 2008
Imprint: Mariner Books
Language: English

Beyond Audubon: A quirky, “lively and illuminating” account of bird-watching’s history, including “rivalries, controversies, [and] bad behavior” (The Washington Post Book World).

From the moment Europeans arrived in North America, they were awestruck by a continent awash with birds—great flocks of wild pigeons, prairies teeming with grouse, woodlands alive with brilliantly colored songbirds. Of a Feather traces the colorful origins of American birding: the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes; the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; and the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as Alexander Wilson (a convicted blackmailer) and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon.

Naturalist Scott Weidensaul also recounts the explosive growth of modern birding that began when an awkward schoolteacher named Roger Tory Peterson published A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. Today, birding counts iPod-wearing teens and obsessive “listers” among its tens of millions of participants, making what was once an eccentric hobby into something so completely mainstream it’s now (almost) cool. This compulsively readable popular history will surely find a roost on every birder’s shelf.

“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

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Beyond Audubon: A quirky, “lively and illuminating” account of bird-watching’s history, including “rivalries, controversies, [and] bad behavior” (The Washington Post Book World).

From the moment Europeans arrived in North America, they were awestruck by a continent awash with birds—great flocks of wild pigeons, prairies teeming with grouse, woodlands alive with brilliantly colored songbirds. Of a Feather traces the colorful origins of American birding: the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes; the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; and the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as Alexander Wilson (a convicted blackmailer) and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon.

Naturalist Scott Weidensaul also recounts the explosive growth of modern birding that began when an awkward schoolteacher named Roger Tory Peterson published A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. Today, birding counts iPod-wearing teens and obsessive “listers” among its tens of millions of participants, making what was once an eccentric hobby into something so completely mainstream it’s now (almost) cool. This compulsively readable popular history will surely find a roost on every birder’s shelf.

“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

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