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

by Rebecca Heisman Narrated by Allyson Ryan

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A comprehensive look into the mysteries of avian flight paths from one of the premier authorities on the subject. Rebecca Heisman knows the world of birds and her enthusiasm comes through in her prose, making this both immensely educational and just plain fun to read.

The captivating, little-known true story of a group of scientists and the methods and technology they developed to uncover the secrets of avian migration.

For the past century, scientists and naturalists have been steadily unravelling the secrets of bird migration. How and why birds navigate the skies, traveling from continent to continent-flying thousands of miles across the earth each fall and spring-has continually fascinated the human imagination, but only recently have we been able to fully understand these amazing journeys. Although we know much more than ever before, even the most enthusiastic birdwatcher may not know how we got here, the ways that the full breadth of scientific disciplines have come together to reveal these annual avian travels.

Flight Paths is the never-before-told story of how a group of migration-obsessed scientists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries engaged nearly every branch of science to understand bird migration-from where and when they take off to their flight paths and behaviors, their destinations and the challenges they encounter getting there. Uniting curious minds from across generations, continents, and disciplines, bird enthusiast and science writer Rebecca Heisman traces the development of each technique used for tracking migratory birds, from the first attempts to mark individual birds to the cutting-edge technology that lets ornithologists trace where a bird has been, based on unique DNA markers. Along the way, she touches on the biggest technological breakthroughs of modern science and reveals the almost-forgotten stories of the scientists who harnessed these inventions in service of furthering our understanding of nature (and their personal obsession with birds).

The compelling and fascinating story of how scientists solved the great mystery of bird migration, Flight Paths is an unprecedented look into exciting, behind-the-scenes moments of groundbreaking discovery. Heisman demonstrates that the real power of science happens when people work together, focusing their minds and knowledge on a common goal. While the world looks to tackle massive challenges involving conservation and climate, the story of migration research offers a beacon of hope that we can find solutions to difficult and complex problems.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2023 - AudioFile

This audiobook explores the mysteries of bird migration--how they do it and why. The author, an ornithology writer, takes a journalist's approach to the topic, focusing on the people who over the past century have unraveled the secrets of birds' travel. This format adapts well to audio. The largely declarative sentence structure makes the text easy to follow and the concepts easy to understand. Allyson Ryan offers an able narration. Her pleasant, even tone makes the author's vignettes at times sound more like conversations than text. Ryan captures the author's awe at the dedication of the researchers. And whimsical asides--such as the one in which a group of researchers travel in an old station wagon with a locator antenna protruding from the roof--spice up the technical passages. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 01/30/2023

Science writer Heisman debuts with a winning examination of the seasonal movements of birds, tracing how scientific understanding of bird migration has evolved and detailing the technologies that ornithologists employ to study them today. Highlighting improbable theories proposed throughout history, she notes that Aristotle believed some “winter and summer residents were in fact the same birds in different plumages,” a 16th-century Swedish priest thought swallows hibernated at the bottom of lakes, and an English minister postulated that birds wintered on the moon. Contemporary scientists, the author notes, track flocks via radar and search for clues about where a bird traveled from by analyzing deuterium (“a very special type of hydrogen atom”) isotopes in feathers and matching them to regional variations in deuterium levels. She profiles the ornithologists behind these advances and tells how, for instance, evolutionary biologist Thomas Smith built on genome-sequencing technology to map genetic variation in warblers, finding that distinct genetic groups follow different migratory routes. Heisman pulls off the impressive feat of making technical discussions of genome sequencing and isotope analysis accessible, and the profiles offer revealing glimpses into the process and production of scientific knowledge. Admirers of Scott Weidensaul’s A World on the Wing will find this a treat. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

It’s amazing how much effort it has taken to understand that birds migrate and where to. The super-dedicated men and women who conduct these studies are celebrated here by Rebecca Heisman in a fascinating account of discovery.” — Frans de Waal, author of Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist

"Illuminating...Flight Paths does what only the best science books do: It adds to our knowledge of the world without diminishing its wonder." — Wall Street Journal

“Science writer Rebecca Heisman's contribution to this literature, however, focuses not on globe-girdling avians, but on the scientists who advanced our understanding of their wondrous behavior... Heisman animates technical details with lively interviews and visits to search labs. A birder herself, she tries spotting silhouettes against the Moon, visits banding stations, and rises early to take part in nationwide bird counts. With many species in steep decline, the task of tracing migration patterns takes on a renewed importance.” — Natural History magazine

"Flight Paths is a delight, and the ground-breaking bird migration scientists whom Rebecca Heisman profiles in this fascinating book are a wonderfully unconventional lot. Heisman is the ideal guide to their world—curious, chatty, and adept at making sometimes complex research easily understandable. I can’t recommend it highly enough." — Scott Weidensaul Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Living on the Wind and A World on the Wing

"Heisman...creates a skillful and accessible narrative about how we research and understand bird migration, from the first birds ever to be banded to current methodologies...A fascinating treat for avid bird-watchers." — Kirkus Reviews

 "Flight Paths reads like a cross between a great detective story and riveting science fiction, except that the science here is all fact. Migratory birds span the globe through incredible feats of navigation and endurance, and the researchers who have uncovered their secrets are just as fascinating as the birds themselves."   — Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide series, Kingbird Highway, and A Season on the Wind

“Science writer Heisman debuts with a winning examination of the seasonal movements of birds, tracing how scientific understanding of bird migration has evolved and detailing the technologies that ornithologists employ to study them today…Heisman pulls off the impressive feat of making technical discussions of genome sequencing and isotope analysis accessible, and the profiles offer revealing glimpses into the process and production of scientific knowledge. Admirers of Scott Weidensaul’s A World on the Wing will find this a treat.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Flight Paths is a vital wake-up call to birders, ornithological societies and governments" — New Scientist

"This is a must-have book for bird nerds. Heisman sends you aloft on warbler wings for an unforgettable journey through the world of avian migration. You'll meet beguiling birds and the people who study them, and you'll learn how bird-tracking technology has improved so that once-hazy maps now click into focus. It's an enthralling trip that'll leave you feeling inspired and connected." — Rosemary Mosco, award-winning nature cartoonist, bird artist, and science book author

Scott Weidensaul Pulitzer Prize finalist

Flight Paths is a delight...I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

APRIL 2023 - AudioFile

This audiobook explores the mysteries of bird migration--how they do it and why. The author, an ornithology writer, takes a journalist's approach to the topic, focusing on the people who over the past century have unraveled the secrets of birds' travel. This format adapts well to audio. The largely declarative sentence structure makes the text easy to follow and the concepts easy to understand. Allyson Ryan offers an able narration. Her pleasant, even tone makes the author's vignettes at times sound more like conversations than text. Ryan captures the author's awe at the dedication of the researchers. And whimsical asides--such as the one in which a group of researchers travel in an old station wagon with a locator antenna protruding from the roof--spice up the technical passages. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2023-01-12
An in-depth look at how scientists track bird migration.

Modern technology for tracking migratory birds can sound like something out of science fiction—e.g., analyzing the hydrogen isotopes of a single feather can indicate the breeding range of a particular species. Weather data can show their migration patterns on radar, and minuscule devices can be implanted under feathers, using the movement of the sun to determine their location. Earlier techniques, on the other hand, bordered on the mystical: moon-watching parties, for example, where ornithologists would spend hours with a telescope, waiting for a bird to fly across the full moon. In her debut book, Heisman, who studied zoology in college and has worked with a variety of bird-related groups, including the American Ornithological Society, “the world’s largest professional organization for scientists who study birds,” creates a skillful and accessible narrative about how we research and understand bird migration, from the first birds ever to be banded to current methodologies. As the author shows, community science, where people who track birds as a hobby contribute essential data, is more important than ever in the current era of dramatic climate change. “Although tiny transmitters, mass spectrometers, and Doppler radar stations are great,” notes Heisman, “if you have a smartphone in your pocket, you already have all the equipment you need to join the cause of studying and conserving migratory birds.” With apps like eBird, it’s easy to track bird species and locations, providing valuable insight into migration patterns and disruption. In North America, bird populations have declined by nearly 30% since 1970, so initiatives for better understanding migration patterns are more important than ever. As Heisman asserts, “in the Anthropocene, even birds capable of the most extreme physiological feats will need human help to survive into the future.” Understanding and tracking bird migration is the first step.

A fascinating treat for avid bird-watchers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175068413
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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