BOOKPATHS

North America; South America

The Last of the Curlews, by Fred Bodsworth (originally published 1955; various editions)

Once, immense flocks of Eskimo curlews “darkened the sky” as they followed their migration routes. Slaughtered by hunters, the bird is now believed to be extinct. Fred Bodsworth’s 1955 novel, Last of the Curlews, imagines a lone Eskimo curlew’s long migration from the Canadian Arctic to South America, his unlikely finding of a mate, and their tragic journey north with the spring. Written too late to protect the Eskimo curlew, Last of the Curlews reminds us of what we’ve already lost and of our continuing responsibility to protect endangered species.

Order Limicolae. Family Scopopacidae…. Numenius borealis, Eskimo curlew… excessive shooting on its migrations and in its winter home in South America was doubtless one of the chief causes of its destruction… I cannot believe that it was overtaken by any great catastrophe at sea which could annihilate it; it was strong of wing and could escape from or avoid severe storms; and its migration period was so extended that no one storm could wipe it out. There is no evidence of disease or failure of food supply. No, there was only one cause, slaughter by human beings, slaughter in Labrador and New England in summer and fall, slaughter in South America in winter and slaughter, worst of all, from Texas to Canada in the spring. They were so confiding, so full of sympathy for their fallen companions, that in closely packed ranks they fell, easy victims of the carnage. The gentle birds ran the gantlet all along the line and no one lifted a finger to protect them until it was too late… – from Last of the Curlews, by Fred Bodsworth

North America

"Coming back to Wild America in my middle age, I realized that this book, whose meaning for me has evolved with the decades, might serve yet another purpose -- that half a century was a pretty good benchmark from which to gauge the land Peterson and Fisher saw. I could retrace their journey and see how the continent's natural soul -- and ours -- were faring at the dawn of the twenty-first century." -- from Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul, by Scott Weidensaul

Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul, by Scott Weidensaul (New York : North Point Press, November 2005)

Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher described their 1953, 100-day, 30,000 mile, journey around North America in Wild America : the Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague. Fifty years later, Scott Weidensaul retraced their journey, sharing his adventure in the recently published Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul. Join Weidensaul on his travels to Cape St. Mary's, Monomoy Island, Shenandoah National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains, Everglades National Park, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Monterey Bay, the Rogue River, the Olympic Peninsula, the Pribilof Islands, and other North American places. Tragic loss and hope interweave throughout the book, giving readers insight into the "soul" of today's "wild America." For information and an excerpt from Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul, visit the publisher's website.

Reading Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul will inspire a reading or re-reading of the original. Wild America, by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, remains in print. Visit Mariner Books for information.

"So, yes, at times the journey was a depressing one. And yet I found, to my surprise, a far more optimistic picture emerging from my travels than I ever expected." -- from Return to Wild America : a Yearlong Search for the Continent's Soul, by Scott Weidensaul

North America

The sandhill cranes have returned to their fall and winter refuges. Seeing them, hearing their haunting calls, is surely one of the great experiences, an experience enhanced by books such as these.

Those of the Gray Wind : the Sandhill Cranes, by Paul A. Johnsgard (Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1986)

Paul A. Johnsgard won the 2004 National Conservation Achievement Award and the 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award, both sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation. In Those of the Gray Wind : the Sandhill Cranes, Johnsgard shares "the annual migration of the sandhill crames," "flight unaltered in nearly ten million years," through four fictionalized stories. The stories represent four different cultures and span the years between 1860 and 1980. The publisher's website provides additional information.

Cranes : the Noblest Flyers, by Alice Lindsay Price (Albuquerque, New Mexico : La Alameda Press, 2001)

"Cranes : the Noblest Flyers is a work crafted from scientific and cultural perspectives inter-woven with the author's own observations in field and marsh." Alice Lindsay Price takes readers across North America in search of sandhill cranes and whooping cranes, from "a Canadian lake on a summer day" to "a wintry Texas marsh." Cranes : the Noblest Flyers connects history, culture, and the sheer wonder of these "soaring spirits of wilderness." The publisher's website provides additional information.