Feather Trails

Named ABA Birding Book Club’s Best Book of the Year "Empathy matters. Individuals, and individuality, matter. For Osborn, these principles transcend species boundaries and guide conservation efforts. . . . Feather Trails is a remarkably well-rounded and well-researched book . . . [that] clearly articulates the joy that birds inspire and precisely illustrates how that inspiration can lead to a life of purposeful action."—Ornithological Applications (The Journal of the American Ornithological Society) The story of one woman’s remarkable work with a trio of charismatic, endangered bird species—and her discoveries about the devastating threats that imperil them. In Feather Trails, wildlife biologist and birder Sophie A. H. Osborn reveals how the harmful environmental choices we’ve made—including pesticide use, the introduction of invasive species, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction—have decimated Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors. In the Rocky Mountains, the cloud forests of Hawai’i, and the Grand Canyon, Sophie and her colleagues work day-to-day to try to reintroduce these birds to the wild, even when it seems that the odds are steeply stacked against their survival. With humor and suspense, Feather Trails introduces us to the fascinating behaviors and unique personalities of Sophie’s avian charges and shows that what endangers them ultimately threatens all life on our planet. More than a deeply researched environmental investigation, Feather Trails is also a personal journey and human story, in which Sophie overcomes her own obstacles—among them heat exhaustion, poachers, rattlesnakes, and chauvinism. Ultimately, Feather Trails is an inspiring, poignant narrative about endangered birds and how our choices can help to ensure a future not only for the rarest species, but for us too. “An intimate look at the wonder and effort needed for working with endangered species in the wild. [Osborn’s] matter-of-fact writing style and wry humor make the reader part of the action.”—Booklist (starred review) “[This book] deserves to be read widely, because it is only in coming to understand these animals, suggests Osborn, that we can choose to love and help them.”—New Scientist