Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration

I'm sad it ended. Fascinating read about all the very cool technology used to track bird migration and the very dedicated people that follow them. Especially cool as it is currently fall migration and there are birds dropping in my yard that weren't there all summer (examples: Nashville Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler) and in some cases have already moved on (Nashville Warbler).

I discovered the book Flight Paths by Rebecca Heisman when she was interviewed for the American Birding Association’s podcast and was intrigued by the discussion. The book has proven to be entertaining, accessible, and informative. It makes me want to participate even more in bird-related community science (the new term, I am informed, for citizen science) such as the Christmas Bird Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count. The book also gave me a better appreciation for submitting my birding checklists to eBird. After reading Heisman’s book I am encouraged to do more for birds, habitat, and the environment. I highly recommend Flight Paths to anyone interested in science, birds, and birdwatching.

disappointingly boring, and I got really tired of the author describing her reliance on twitter, which feels very dated today

Excerpt from a longer article:

Timely Take-aways for Life-Long Learning: Birds and Birders

Several new and upcoming books explore the world of birds and birders. From naturalists and scientists to backyard birders, these books explore the wide range of ways people connect with birds.

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Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration
Rebecca Heisman, 2023, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins
Themes: Nature, Birds

From bird banding to DNA markers, explore the little-known story of the scientists who pieced together the puzzle of bird migration. Crossing generations and disciplines, this fascinating discovery was made possible through the synergy of collaboration to address a complex show more problem.

Take-aways: Use this story as an example of the power of collaboration to tackle scientific challenges. Also, use it to share how scientific discoveries build on one another.

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Whether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb show less

Travelling thousands of miles in difficult conditions, bird migration is a long-distance test of endurance. Tracking birds in all stages of their life cycle is essential if we want to help protect essential habitat.

https://ecofriendlywest.ca/a-test-of-endurance-bird-migration/