Another New Book and Neighbor Blogs

I recently found out that my friend Trevor Herriot will have his latest book Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds published this month. I am really looking forward to reading it. Trevor came to visit a few years ago and we toured around the prairie of Valley County looking at the landscapes and talking about birds as part of a radio program, Pastures Unsung, that Trevor was working on then. I believe that this book is an outgrowth of that program. Trevor also recently started his own blog and you can find it on my sidebar. I found out about Trevor's new blog through Craig Larson at Native Shores who contacted me about some of my photos. Trevor had both of us listed on his sidebar and Craig wandered over to Prairie Ice. I have added Native Shores to my sidebar as well and I am looking forward to reading more about Manitoba from him (and I thought the winter has been cold and nasty here!).
I also recently added Saskatchewan Birds, Nature and Scenery by Nick Saunders in Saskatoon as well. I have been following his blog for a while and finally realized I hadn't linked to it and so I got that fixed.

New Books

Today I received two new books for my Father's Day gift. Both are books I have been looking forward to reading and after glancing through them I am even more excited to get some reading in.





The first book is Return to Warden's Grove by Christopher Norment. This book came with high expectations on a recommendation from the author's brother-in-law; my good friend, and fellow co-author on the Birds of Montana project, Paul Hendricks. The book is ostensibly about 3 field seasons in the arctic studying Harris Sparrows but it appears that there is much more in there than just descriptions of study sites and findings. I am looking forward to reading this through and I will give a complete review when I am done. I already found one quote from Christopher I really like and describes my feelings for the Antarctic (and Arctic):


"In the dream I understand where I am, what keeps me rooted in the world, and why this arctic ache, this desire born out of emptiness and space and living things, will be with me always."








The other book is the latest edition of what was already a great book, now made even better. It is the new edition of The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife: Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean by Hadoram Shirihai. Again, I will review this edition when I have some time to delve into it a bit more but it certainly looks great and just thumbing through the pages this evening has me feeling an Antarctic ache and wishing for the logistics to work out for me to be able to venture south again this year and experience the emptiness and space and living things.

Birds of Montana

A while back I mentioned that I had some exciting news concerning Montana birds and a project I am working on. I can now let you know that the project is a book on the Birds of Montana. Jeff Marks, senior author of the project, invited Paul Hendricks, Dan Casey and myself to co-author this work he has been trying to get underway for a while. We are currently seeking funds to help support research and writing time, pay for illustrations and travel to museums and libraries, and defray printing costs to reduce the retail price of the book. All royalties from book sales will go to Montana Audubon.
In addition to soliciting foundations, businesses, and government agencies, we are requesting support from individuals who have an interest in birds and conservation in Montana. One way individuals can participate is through sponsorship of species accounts. Individuals can sponsor one or more accounts, with the sponsor's name appearing at the end of each account and in the acknowledgments (see Barn Owl and Mountain Plover accounts). The donation amount for sponsoring an account ranges from $100-300, depending on the conservation status of the species. The rate for agencies and corporations is $1,000 per species independent of conservation priority. Donations are fully tax deductible.
I am really excited to be part of this project and I am looking forward to letting you know more about it as it grows.