Golden Wings and Other Stories About Birders and Birding

Dubbed the "Bard of America's Bird-Watchers" by the Wall Street Journal, 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. 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 "New York Times", "Birder's World", 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.