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.

Thomas Dunlap shows how bird guides have changed with science and popular interest and how birding's twin activities, conservation and recreation, have over the last 120 years shaped our understanding of nature and supported its preservation as part of the nation and our lives.

From Foreward: Lovers of the great out-of-doors, as well as those scientifically inclined, are to be felicitated upon the publication of The Birds of Oregon by Gabrielson and Jewett. For forty years these men patiently and painstakingly assembled the material for this imposing and delightful book. They brought to the task a wealth of experience and of scientific knowledge. They covered the state from the Columbia to Goose Lake and from the Pacific Ocean to the Snake River. By personal contact they know Oregon from sea level to the summit of Mt. Hood. They transferred from nature's book to the printed page some of nature's most interesting and beautiful expressions.