Out of the Great American West, Book 5 in THE WELLS FARGO TRAIL Set in the 1870s in the desert of northern Arizona, The Desert Hawks opens with an action-filled story guaranteed to hold the interest of any Western buff. This new book entwines mystery and suspense in the lives of villains, Indians, innocent bystanders, and Zachary Cobb. Each has made choices to survive the challenges of a harsh frontier, and each must face the consequences in a tale of intriguing paths that cross unaware. Zac Cobb, an agent for the Wells Fargo Company, is on assignment in Arizona to track down the bandits robbing army payrolls and murdering the armed escorts. The tension mounts when the habits of one of the men Zac is tracking become disturbingly familiar. The leader of the outlaw gang turns out to be Julian, his embittered brother, whom Zac hasn't seen since he disappeared during the Civil War. The two brothers face off in a confrontation between good and evil as they are thrown together in an attempt to run the rapids of the Colorado River to escape a band of marauding Indians. Innocent people become entangled in the embroiled fight for survival between Zac and Julian.

It's the story of one who helped change the course of history.

Unlike mammals, birds are not particularly well suited to desert life. Among the few types of birds that have successfully adapted to the desert ecosystem are the predators. With individual chapters devoted to each of the different species, the book explores those attributes which make this group suited to desert life, and how they have developed their abilities to cope with the prevailing harsh conditions. This readily accessible volume collates a substantial amount of the latest research on this fascinating subject.

Two young American aviators face new adventures in Africa.

My interest in the behaviour and movements of birds of arid and semi-arid ecosystems began when my wife, Sue Milton, and I were Roy Siegfried, Director, at that time, of the Percy approached by Prof. FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, to set up a project to investigate granivory in the South African Karoo. Sue and I spent some time finding a suitable study site, setting up accommodations and an automatic weather station at Tierberg, in the southern Karoo near the village of Prince Albert, and planning projects. Among our first projects was a transect where we noted plant phe nology, measured seed densities on the soil surface, counted birds, observed ant activity, measured soil surface temperatures and col lected whatever climate data we could at 40 sites along a 200-km oval route. Along the way, we became interested in the marked presence and absence of birds at certain sites - abundant birds one day, and very few birds at the same site a month later. Subsequent counts along fixed transects through shrublands confirmed that a number of bird species were highly nomadic over short and long distances, locally and regionally, leading to speculation on how widespread these movements were in the arid ecosystems of the world.

The year was 1846 – and the great American Southwest was the prize in an epic conflict. The U.S. Army and the army of Mexico met in a battle that would shape the course of history, while the legendary Apache warrior chief Mangas Coloradas looked on, determined to defend his ancestral lands and age-old tribal traditions against either of the invaders or both. On this bloody battlefield young Lieutenant Nathanial Barrington faced his first great test of manhood…as he began a career that would take him to the heart of the conflict sweeping over the West from Texas to New Mexico…and plunge him into passions that would force him to choose between two very different frontier beauties. This enthralling first novel of The Apache Wars Saga captures the drama and real history of a struggle in which no side wanted to surrender…in a series alive with all the excitement and adventures of brave men and women – white and Native American – who decided the future of America.