"Chasing Wings: Birding Exploits and Encounters"

by Richard Modlin

FINALIST for the ForeWord Magazine 2008 Book of the Year Award in nature writing. Birds remind us that we share the planet with other creatures. They are colorful, energetic and fascinating, and they bring joy, contentment and wonder to those who follow them. Bird watching has become a pastime enjoyed by over 50 million people in our country. Chasing Wings is an account of one person s passion. In twenty-four chapters Richard Modlin vividly relates his humorous encounters with birds and lucidly describes his travels to exotic and routine birding locations. The book begins with a his account as a child of picking up a baby blue jay, then quickly being aggressively confronted by its parents. A few years later the author attempts to make a pet of a juvenile American kestrel, only to learn that raptors like freedom. Modlin writes of other novel avian interactions he has had in his life. For instance, on an island off Belize, Central America, a magnificent frigatebird became a common visitor to collect handouts and relax on arms and shoulder of visiting researchers. On a boat ramp in Connecticut, an adult mute swam got revenge. Then there was the cold evening when Modlin found that a trio of starling had invaded his attic apartment. Years later and in another state, he found that excited starling were easier to handle than the three wild turkeys that tried to beat their way into his sunroom. The author's account of saving a pied-billed grebe chick from the jaws of a northern pike, then spending the summer raising it and returning it to the wild, is heartwarming. A trip to West Sister Island, Lake Erie, the author realized what the impact a 200-fold increase of double-crested cormorants in eleven years can have on a fragile habitat. Travel with the author to view widowbirds, ostriches, sunbirds, parrots, toucans, blue pigeons, paradise flycatchers, hummingbirds and other exotic birds as he describes his visits to Kenya, Seychelle Islands, Grand Cayman Island and the rain forests of Belize. In France he visited a raptor aviary and searched the forests of Sweden for black woodpeckers. Follow him as he describes his birding journeys to southeastern Arizona, the coast of Maine, swamps and marshes of Florida and Ohio, and the beach communities on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Not only are lists of birds sighted included with the travelogues, but also easy to follow details on the sites he visited. Chasing Wings is a delightful read for all birdwatchers and lovers of nature.

About the Author
Richard Modlin, an enthusiastic birdwatcher, is an Emeritus Professor of Zoology and former Director of the Honors Program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. A Fulbright research award recipient to Sweden and former Research Fellow with the Smithsonian Institute, Modlin's articles and essays have appeared in Bird Watcher s Digest, Sea Frontiers, Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues, Birmingham Arts Journal and Muscadine Lines. His previous book, Malachite Lion, describes his travel adventures to Kenya and the Seychelle Islands.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 2, 2008

Reviews

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

**2.5 stars**

This book is clearly a labor of love, so I'm not going to bust on it. This is a collection of some of the author's birding anecdotes, as he travels from Alabama to Maine, the Seychelles to Belize, Ohio to Arizona, etc. I wasn't surprised to learn that he's a researcher/academic, because the book has a kind of absent-minded professor vibe to it. There are some fascinating facts and really fun anecdotes (like being startled by a brown pelican falling off its perch and rescuing a baby pied-billed grebe), but man, was it disorganized and unpolished. I did enjoy some of the vicarious birding, though. Recommended to hard core birders who like to read about others of their flock.