Postman Brian normally has a letter or two to force through the letterbox. Today he had no choice but looked perplexed as he walked from his van to hand me a huge and hefty parcel containing a book from Princeton. The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds had landed. On the kitchen scales the book weighed in over 9 pounds, 4.2 kilos in metric. Wow - that is some book!
That number is not the only telling statistic because when I opened the package for an initial look I discovered therein 816 pages, 902 colour illustration and 1,092 maps. And excuse the unfunny pun, but as an extraordinarily serious and important bird book it is not one to be taken lightly, but simply a book for ornithologists, scientists, conservationists and birders alike.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
I use the word “important” because for the first time in a hundred and more years the understanding of where specific populations of birds move throughout the regions of the American continent is now brought together in this fantastic piece of work. Here is a century of banding/ringing, observational and scientific records from over a thousand contributors, linked with data from modern tracking technologies like light-level geo-locators and satellite tags, stable isotope analysis, genetic tools, and high-resolution eBird range maps.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds was conceived in 2009 by Peter P Marra who co-led the project with Amy L Scarpignato. With the help of many others plus the Smithsonian Institute and Conoco/Phillips they brought the project to recent fruition.
Marra and Scarpignato are named as the authors while modestly describing themselves in a full page of Acknowledgments as “compilers” of information from countless, perhaps thousands of dedicated people and organisations committed to the study and preservation of birds. Almost twenty years of dedication, perseverance and tenacity to produce this single book is no mean feat from many contributors at many levels.
Upon opening, the pages follow a completely logical and expected sequence. Four pages of Contents followed by what are the essential aims and objectives of the book, Discovering Unknown Migrations, pp 1 to 7, A New Age of Animal Tracking pp 8 to 22, followed by Atlas Methods pp 23 to 32. The Species Accounts are at pages 33 to 731 where 700 pages indicate the phenomenal range and diverse scope of this book.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
A major contribution of the book is from artist John Anderton who manages to capture not only the bird(s) but also the relevant environments applicable to each. He nails behaviour and the nuances of the place and time of year. He pictures the journey, the band, the wing tag or the transmitter on individuals while showing readers the nuts and bolts of the close study of birds.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
This book will appeal to birders from many parts of the Globe, not least in the UK where birders will know that more than 70 percent of North American bird species are migratory. A number of those find their way to the UK in both spring or autumn, and times in between, but the timing is never totally predictable.
Fortunate indeed is the UK birder who stumbles across a transatlantic vagrant whilst working their local UK patch, speculating the circumstances whilst worrying how their bird’s journey might end.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
My own luck occurred on three wader occasions over many years of birding via Pectoral Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. A glance at The Atlas proved that information around such species is now more comprehensive than ever.
Likewise, I looked up pages of just some of the many species encountered during my two springtime stays at Long Point Observatory Canada. Warblers, flycatchers, buntings,
kinglets, thrushes, orioles, catbirds and many another.
Long Point, Canada
Short-billed Dowitcher
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
Times have moved on since the early eighties, a Peter Pyle Guide, slide transparencies from a Pentax ME Super where much was known but oceans of information to fill by those of an enquiring mind and a desire to learn about birds.
Despite the fact that the dreaded apps seem to have replaced books as a source of birders’ knowledge I thoroughly recommend The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds as a precursory read to a birding visit to America and its regions. For a serious birder who likes seeing transatlantic species on this side of the pond I think it’s a “must buy” to understand how, why, when and how that day at the coast might turn up a precious jewel like a Hooded Warbler?
Hooded Warbler
At £75 or $120 The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds is not pocket money. It’s an investment in education and knowledge. Buy it.
The Atlas of North American Migratory Birds - Princeton
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