The New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk explores the human relationship to the natural world in this “dazzling” essay collection (Wall Street Journal). In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing the massive migration of songbirds from the top of the Empire State Building, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife.

How Birds Fly is a captivating, non-technical introduction to bird flight. The book reveals the mysteries of flapping flight with sequences of high-speed photographs that lead step-by-step through fine points of take-off, level flight and slow flight.

John K. Terres is a former editor of Audubon Magazine. This book, based on observations of a field naturalist and the research of an ornithologist, is a detailed account of birds in flight, pointing out their beauty and natural grace as well as the technical and engineering aspects of flight. --Amazon.com.