A Year of Birds: Writings on Birds from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau

A work of art as well as a work of literature, A YEAR OF BIRDS will be welcomed by nature lovers, art lovers, and birders. With 150 color illustrations by renowned bird artist Barry Van Dusen and a foreword by celebrated naturalist Peter Alden, the author of numerous Audubon Field Guides, Henry David Thoreau’s writings on birds are arranged by the day of the year, emphasizing the relationship of birds with their environment and the spiritual significance of the seasons. On any given day, curious readers might step into their yards and compare the birds they observe with those that Thoreau saw and heard. With a focus on the town of Concord, Massachusetts, where Thoreau spent most of his life, A YEAR OF BIRDS includes the best of Thoreau’s unparalleled descriptions of birds, from the red-tailed hawk to the Blackburnian warbler. Special sections are devoted to the now-vanished passenger pigeon and to Thoreau’s mysterious ＂night warbler.＂

Geoff Wisner is a board member of the Thoreau Society and the editor of THOREAU’S WILDFLOWERS (Yale) and THOREAU’S ANIMALS. (Yale). He earned a degree in English and American Literature from Harvard University, and has written for the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and The Wall Street Journal. Massachusetts artist Barry Van Dusen is the author and illustrator FINDING SACTUARY, based on visits to sixty-one of Mass Audubon’s wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers, and museums. He is a strong proponent of working directly from life, even with difficult subjects such as wild birds. Peter Alden followed Thoreau’s trails and bird notes growing up in Concord, where he still lives. He has authored fifteen bird/nature/travel books and has led wildlife tours to more than 100 countries. His Great Walden Bioblitzes have found 3,600 species within five miles of Walden Pond.