The surprising, rich life of tree swallows in nesting season—with Heinrich’s beautiful illustrations and photographs—by the acclaimed naturalist. Heinrich is sparked one early spring day by a Why does a pair of swallows in a nest-box close to his Maine cabin show an unvarying preference for white feathers—not easily available nearby—as nest lining? He notices, too, the extreme aggressiveness of “his” swallows toward some other swallows of their own kind. And he wonders, given swallows’ reputation for feistiness, at the extraordinary tameness and close contact he experiences with his nesting birds. From the author of the beloved books Ravens in Winter and A Naturalist at Large, this richly engaging view of the lives of wild birds, as always with Heinrich, yields “marvelous, mind-altering” insight and discoveries. — Los Angeles Times
Author
Bernd Heinrich was born in Germany (April 19, 1940) and moved to Wilton, Maine as a child. He studied at the University of Maine and UCLA and is Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Vermont. He is the author of many books including Winter World, Ravens in Winter, Mind of the Raven, and Why We Run. Many of his books focus on the natural world just outside the cabin door. Heinrich has won numerous awards for his writing and is a world class ultra-marathon runner. He spends much of the year at a rustic cabin that he built himself in the woods near Weld, Maine.
