Golden Wings and Other Stories about Birders and Birding

<p>Dubbed the Bard of America's Bird-Watchers by the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> Pete Dunne knows birders and birding-instinctively and completely. He understands the compulsion that drives other birders to go out at first light whatever the weather for a chance to maybe just maybe glimpse that rare migrant that someone might have spotted in a patch of woods the day before yesterday. And yet he also knows how . . . well . . . strange the birding obsession becomes when viewed through the eyes of a nonbirder. His dual perspective-totally engrossed in birding yet still aware of the odd birdness of some birders-makes reading his essays a pure pleasure whether you pursue the feather quest or not.</p> <p>This book collects forty-one of Dunne's recent essays drawn from his columns in Living Bird Wild Bird News the New Jersey Sunday section of the <i>New York Times Birder's World</i> and other publications. Written with his signature wit and insight they cover everything from a moment of awed communion with a Wandering Albatross (the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen) to Dunne's imagined perfect bird (The Perfect Bird is the size of a turkey has the wingspan of an eagle the legs of a crane the feet of a moorhen and the talons of a great horned owl. It eats kudzu surplus zucchini feral cats and has been known to predate upon homeowners who fire up their lawn mowers before 7:00 A.M. on the weekend.). The title essay pays whimsical yet heartfelt tribute to Dunne's mentor the late birding legend Roger Tory Peterson.</p>