num_pages: 136
description: Dubbed the Bard of America's Bird-Watchers by the Wall Street Journal Pete Dunne knows birders and birdinginstinctively 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 perspectivetotally engrossed in birding yet still aware of the odd birdness of some birdersmakes reading his essays a pure pleasure whether you pursue the feather quest or not. This 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 New York Times Birder's World 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.
language: English
title: Golden Wings, and Other Stories About Birders and Birding
publisher: University of Texas Press