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Soaring with Fidel
One September, after writing about ospreys on Cape Cod for years, David Gessner impulsively decided to follow the birds on their annual migration. Each fall these graceful raptors, with wingspans of up to six feet, cruise over the eastern United States, then soar over Cuba and winter in South America, returning north with the spring. In 2004, Gessner went along for the ride, traveling illegally into the mountains of Cuba and deep into Venezuela as he competed with the crew of a BBC documentary to be the first to follow the full migration, trailing the birds by car, boat, foot, and plane. He called his favorite osprey Fidel.
Soaring with Fidel is about the exhilaration of migration, but it is also a deeper meditation on the nature of human happiness. In describing the thrill of travel, the antics of these swashbuckling birds, and the cast of characters he meets (and drinks with) along the way—including scientists, students, tour guides, and an online group of birders—Gessner gives us a profound lesson in the importance of following what you love.
From the Hardcover edition.
Soaring with Fidel is about the exhilaration of migration, but it is also a deeper meditation on the nature of human happiness. In describing the thrill of travel, the antics of these swashbuckling birds, and the cast of characters he meets (and drinks with) along the way—including scientists, students, tour guides, and an online group of birders—Gessner gives us a profound lesson in the importance of following what you love.
From the Hardcover edition.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2007
4 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
David Gessner
39 books121 followersDavid Gessner is the author of fourteen books that blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism, including the New York Times bestselling, All the Wild That Remains, Return of the Osprey, Sick of Nature and Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt’s American Wilderness.
Gessner is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine, Ecotone. His own magazine publications include pieces in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, Audubon, Orion, and many other magazines, and his prizes include a Pushcart Prize and the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay for his essay “Learning to Surf.” He has also won the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment’s award for best book of creative writing, and the Reed Award for Best Book on the Southern Environment. In 2017 he hosted the National Geographic Explorer show, "The Call of the Wild."
He is married to the novelist Nina de Gramont, whose latest book is The Christie Affair.
“A master essayist.” –Booklist
“For nature-writing enthusiasts, Gessner needs no introduction. His books and essays have in many ways redefined what it means to write about the natural world, coaxing the genre from a staid, sometimes wonky practice to one that is lively and often raucous.”—Washington Post.
“David Gessner has been a font of creativity ever since the 1980s, when he published provocative political cartoons in that famous campus magazine, the Harvard Crimson. These days he’s a naturalist, a professor and a master of the art of telling humorous and thought-provoking narratives about unusual people in out-of-the way-places."
--The San Francisco Chronicle
Gessner is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine, Ecotone. His own magazine publications include pieces in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, Audubon, Orion, and many other magazines, and his prizes include a Pushcart Prize and the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay for his essay “Learning to Surf.” He has also won the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment’s award for best book of creative writing, and the Reed Award for Best Book on the Southern Environment. In 2017 he hosted the National Geographic Explorer show, "The Call of the Wild."
He is married to the novelist Nina de Gramont, whose latest book is The Christie Affair.
“A master essayist.” –Booklist
“For nature-writing enthusiasts, Gessner needs no introduction. His books and essays have in many ways redefined what it means to write about the natural world, coaxing the genre from a staid, sometimes wonky practice to one that is lively and often raucous.”—Washington Post.
“David Gessner has been a font of creativity ever since the 1980s, when he published provocative political cartoons in that famous campus magazine, the Harvard Crimson. These days he’s a naturalist, a professor and a master of the art of telling humorous and thought-provoking narratives about unusual people in out-of-the way-places."
--The San Francisco Chronicle
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 5, 2011
I enjoyed this account, though am troubled to learn that some birders still shoot their subjects -- and not just with cameras. I find that horrifying and will write to the author to ask what else he's learned about it. But ospreys are amazing and I'm glad they have humans speaking for them!
September 28, 2009
I am a big fan of ospreys and of David Gessner the writer who also loves ospreys.A well written nature book with a human side.
August 7, 2011
A must for anyone with an iota of interest in ospreys or bird migration and a compelling read for everyone else
June 27, 2018
The good part - about the migration of Ospreys. The tedious part - mental process of the author while pursuing his interest.
July 27, 2018
Thank you Mr Gessner for that enlightening journey. You can’t beat the written word compared to video documentary. Ive been attached to a couple of Osprey nest webcams this summer observing the daily routines of of raising a family from hatch to fledge. Soaring with Fidel opened up the other side of the journey. The magnificence of nature.
August 11, 2023
Great book! So many times I've read a book about bird-related journeys, or other types of journeys, and ended up pleased but slightly deflated. A little too much bare fact, or a little too much serious travelogue....
Not this one! The cover blurb described it as 'irreverent' and that's right one. He's clearly a devoted follower of Osprey, and yeah, it's full of facts and observations and depictions of birds, but even more than that, it's full of people! People who like birds, especially the Osprey! It's a bit of a magical bird in some countries.
He keeps the obvious downers (guns, power lines, and hurricanes) to a mere factual mention, so you can read a book about such a perilous journey--the Osprey's migration from Cape Cod to Argentina--and marvel that they ever make it at all. And yet, oftentimes, they do.
And that's a bit of magic badly needed in life. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Gessner!
Not this one! The cover blurb described it as 'irreverent' and that's right one. He's clearly a devoted follower of Osprey, and yeah, it's full of facts and observations and depictions of birds, but even more than that, it's full of people! People who like birds, especially the Osprey! It's a bit of a magical bird in some countries.
He keeps the obvious downers (guns, power lines, and hurricanes) to a mere factual mention, so you can read a book about such a perilous journey--the Osprey's migration from Cape Cod to Argentina--and marvel that they ever make it at all. And yet, oftentimes, they do.
And that's a bit of magic badly needed in life. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Gessner!
November 11, 2014
Reading this was so timely for me as I have been following the migration of my local Osprey, outfitted with a transmitter, and he landed in Cuba just as Gessner did in this book a few years prior. The writer is an adventurer who takes the reader along on his trek to discover just where the Osprey travel on the currents of air along the east coast to Florida, take the daring flight across open ocean, and rest in Cuba till they are ready to continue to their winter home. Along the way we meet devoted birders and ornithologists who share their understanding of osprey migration and behavior. You can't help but enjoy the ride!
August 22, 2015
Thanks to Fay for lending me her copy. This is an enjoyable and informative read about the author's adventures as he follows the Ospreys on their migration south for the winter. Gessner meets a lot of interesting characters along the way and learns a great deal about his favorite avian species. I'm pretty fond of Ospreys myself having encountered quite a few of them while kayaking over the last few years here on the mid-Atlantic Coast. I have often wondered what their lives are like for the rest of the year when they're not nesting and raising their fledglings. This book does a good job of satisfying some of that curiosity.
May 5, 2009
A great book for anyone fascinated by ospreys or bird migration. The book centers on Gessner's attempt to trace the flight of an osprey he names Fidel. His misadventures include a trip into Cuba that was not exactly sanctioned by U.S. officials. His observations of birders he meets along the way make this book stand out.
April 22, 2011
Interesting both about the birds and the relationships and people story. I liked his goal of following the migration of the birds--I didn't even think that would be possible. and I liked that he didn't make up some fancy breakthrough. It was just the things that happened on the way, the glimpses and the people he met. Travel, nature,people. I liked it all.
August 23, 2015
David Gessner is sort of an osprey expert, or maybe osprey addict is a better description. Having studied the birds in Cape Cod, he decides to follow their migration from Cape Cod, down the East Coast, through Cuba, and on to Venezuela (Fidel is the name he gives to one particular osprey). A very engaging memoir.
February 13, 2022
What a trip! I work with a nonreleasable osprey ("Zorro") at a rehab facility and am enthralled by the wild birds when they return for the winter. Gessner's trips to follow a few tagged osprey down the Atlantic seaboard to Cuba and Venezuela reveals so much about their natural history and the work that so many researchers perform to learn more about the threats facing them today.
November 30, 2015
nice introduction to serious birding and the mania anyone can get involved with.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews