Vol. 31, No. 1 - North American Bluebird Society

Birds in Flight: The Art and Science of How Birds
Fly, by Carrol L. Henderson. Voyageur Press,
Minneapolis, MN; 2008; 160 pages.
Given humans’ longtime fascination with birds
and their ability to fly, surprisingly little has been
written about the mechanics and physics of bird
flight. Most of the books available are decades old
and were published before the advent of highquality,
high-speed photography. Carrol Henderson’s
book addresses this information gap by presenting
a technical, but very understandable, explanation
of bird flight. His explanations are illustrated by
diagrams and photographs, and take readers through
such topics as wing loading, thrust, drag, and stalling.
But this is no dry technical treatise. Henderson, a
wildlife biologist, photographer, and bird tour leader,
sprinkles in personal anecdotes and the stories behind
the pictures. Most of the photos in the book are his,
having been selected from his collection of more
than 70,000 images to show the form, function, and
beauty of flight. The photos are big and colorful and
on virtually every page, making this book as much
a coffee-table picture book as a basic primer on bird
flight.
Henderson has taken care to make the science of flight
accessible to the average bird enthusiast, and presents
it in a form that is as beautiful as it is educational.
After reading this book, you will never look at a flying
bird the same way again.
—Scott W. Gillihan
Owls of North America, by Frances Backhouse.
Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY; 215 pages.
Frances Backhouse’s book on owls is a
fascinating treatment of a fascinating topic. The
first half of the book presents information on
owl classification, vision, behavior, migration,
hunting, communication, breeding, folklore—
there’s hardly a stone left unturned. Each
page—in fact, each paragraph—is packed with
information. Backhouse, an established science
writer, has done an outstanding job of gleaning
information from scientific papers and other
sources and presenting it in an easily read
format.
The second half of the book is made up of
profiles of the 23 species of owl found in North
America and northern Mexico. Each profile
includes a large photograph, a range map, and
detailed information on the species’ appearance,
voice, behavior, distribution, habitat, feeding
habits, migration, and conservation.
Backhouse’s crisp writing is a pleasure to read;
for example, she describes the Barn Owl’s call as
“a prolonged gargling scream.” Facts that would
be dry and dull in a scientific paper are made
colorful and intriguing by the author’s skilled
writing.
Beautiful photographs and a mountain of
information make this book a wise choice for
anyone who loves owls or birds in general.
—Scott W. Gillihan
Winter 2008-09 23 Bluebird