United States
£ GBP
They soar and glide, flap, flutter, hover, swoop, plummet. Solo or en masse, in formation, or pas de deux, birds are in their element, their airborne behaviour as varied and distinctive as their plumage.
A twenty-year veteran of bird-watching, Carrol Henderson offers his expertise and analysis of birds in flight from around the world. With 150 of Henderson's exquisite close-up photographs of airborne birds, as well as diagrams illustrating the principles of flight and detailed information based on firsthand research, this book is as informative as it is delightful to look at. From the singular beauty of a hummingbird hovering and pollinating a flower, the majestic Condor soaring above the Andes, black storks in Kenya, migrating geese in Minnesota, or Swainson's hawks in Bolivia, this book lets you enjoy the beauty of birds taking wing while learning the fascinating science of how, precisely, birds fly.
Carrol Henderson is a nature photographer, writer, and wildlife biologist. His bird photography has appeared in the New York Times, Audubon, Birder's World.
"[...] Birds in Flight takes a very complicated subject, which includes elements of anatomy, ecology, and physics, and presents it in a way that non-professionals can understand. This is the best general treatment of avian flight that I have seen. Moreover, there is an abundance of interesting information, such as the aforementioned explanation of tail shapes, and a possible reason why Turkey Vultures fly with their wings in a dihedral position and rock back and forth. Anyone who wants to learn more about this fundamental aspect of birds’ lives would be well advised to start here."
- Grant McCreary (28-01-2009), read the full review at The Birder's Library
"Birds in Flight: The Art and Science of How Birds Fly [...] by Minnesotan Carrol Henderson is a book of beauty, adventure and technology made clear. Henderson, a wildlife biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, gives a detailed analysis of how birds fly. He does it with personal stories punctuated with a clear explanation of the physics of flight. Wonderful photographs of birds on the wing help us understand the complexities of the amazing feat that birds perform so effortlessly – flight. Henderson is author and photographer of several other fine books. This one moves to the top of that list."
- Star Tribune, and www.startribune.com, January 13, 2009
