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Support AWE and order Scott's book!

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Weidensaul spearheads a number of major research projects focusing on bird migration. He has written more than 30 books on natural history, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; The Ghost with Trembling Wings, about the search for species that may or may not be extinct; Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians; Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding; The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America; and the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls.

His latest book, which he will discuss on our FREE webinar, on April 13th at 5:30pm is An epic reflection on what we're learning about the greatest natural phenomenon on the planetand what we must do to preserve it.

In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable migratory birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, forgo sleep for days or weeks, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch, has exploded. Migrant birds continually exceed what we think are the limits of physical endurance, like a six-inch sandpiper weighing less than an ounce flying 3,300 miles nonstop for six days from the Canadian subarctic to northern South America -- the equivalent of 126 consecutive marathons with no food, water or a moment's rest, using the earth’s magnetic field to navigate through a form of quantum entanglement that made Einstein queasy.

Yet for all the strength and tenacity of migrant birds, the phenomenon of migration is increasingly fragile on this ever-more altered planet. A World on the Wing, the newest book from acclaimed nature writer Scott Weidensaul, is at once a celebration of global bird migration, an exploration of our rapidly evolving understanding of the science that underpins it, and a cautionary tale of the challenges humans have placed in the way of migrating birds. It conveys both the wonder of bird migration and its global sweep, from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the wilderness of central Alaska, the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus.

A World on the Wing is also the story of Weidensaul's own journey over the past two decades from a deeply interested amateur to someone immersed in migration research, using cutting-edge technology to answer questions that have fascinated him all his life--and, with fellow scientists, researchers, and bird lovers, trying to preserve global migratory patterns in the face of climate change and other looming challenges.