{"product_id":"golden-wings-and-other-stories-about-birders-and-birding-9780292716230","title":"Golden Wings: And Other Stories about Birders and Birding","description":"\u003cp\u003eDubbed the \"Bard of America's Bird-Watchers\" by the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal, \u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis 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 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times, Birder's World, \u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePete Dunne is Director of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory in Cape May Point, New Jersey, and a consultant to the Peterson birding field guide series.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318827684114,"sku":"9780292716230","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bf51a4aa-23d9-44be-b4ff-d8c37c0a0505.jpg?v=1727561416","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/golden-wings-and-other-stories-about-birders-and-birding-9780292716230","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}