"This is the story of a man and his owl. But what a man and what an owl! The owl is one of our planet's most beautiful and elusive beings, an enchanting spook, a feathered spirit from some ancient world. The man is Robert Nero, his name synonymous with that of the Great Gray Owl, his love affair with the species spanning twenty-five years. For me, a non-professional adrift in a sea of biologists, it is heartening to find in Dr Nero not just the able scientific mind but also a sense of wonder, undiminished by the years. Perhaps it is the mortality of all living things that makes them exquisite to him, for he writes of their brief beauty in poetry and prose. His words remind us of joys we once knew, of worlds to which we have grown blind. What a privilege it is to share a time on Earth with a man like this, and to call him friend."
– Katherine McKeever, The Owl Foundation, Vineland, 1994.
A well-known scientist and educator with numerous natural history publications to his credit, Robert W. Nero has attracted attention in recent years through published collections of his poetry. Woman By the Shore, The Mulch Pile and Spring Again firmly established Bob Nero's standing in the field of poetry.