Customer Reviews

On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America (Natural History)

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At once a coffee table photo celebration and a natural history, any avid birder should consider photographer Michael Forsberg's On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes Of North America to be essential reading. The photos alone - full-page color spreads which are gorgeous in their all-season crane portraits - are worth repeated looks, covering cranes in environments from Alaska to Cuba. Then, there's the discourse surveying the natural history and lives of cranes, revealing their interactions with people and their attempts to adapt to a changing natural world. A fine tribute marries natural history and visual display, inviting audiences from natural history students to casual readers to partake.

A geo-photographic tribute to America's elusive but elegant cranes, along with their widely diverse habitats. Part journal and part photography book, the author takes the reader on journeys to Alaska (including a breathtaking view of cranes flying past Mt. McKinley) to Florida, from the Central Valley of California to the agricultural plains of Wisconsin. Between, readers are treated to wildlife vistas in the Teton and Yellowstone National Park region, Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the desert of New Mexico, and the Platte River, which flows through the High Plains of Central Nebraska. Not just a travel documentary, this is the first book of a remarkable young artist, who will dazzle and delight readers with a poetry of cranes as observed through the lens of his camera.

Michael Forsberg has put together an amazing collection of photos and is a good writer as well. On Ancient Wings shows that it doesn't matter if you've been a pro photographer for 35 years or ten, all that matters is the emotional impact of the photography. There's certain well-known wildlife photographers out there who talk talk talk about how good they think they are and then there's photographers who just are. Forsberg falls in the latter category.

Michael Forsberg has not only produced a wonderful collection of photographs documenting the lives of North America's crane families, he also writes eloquently and passionately about the subject. Here in central California's San Joaquin Valley, tens of thousands of lesser sandhill cranes spend the winter foraging and fattening until the spring migration back to their breeding grounds in Alaska, Canada and Siberia. On Ancient Wings gives excellent and visually striking insight into the rest of their life cycle: migration and breeding, hatching and fledging their young, and migration again. The book also discusses their known social organizing patterns and vocalizations, and illustrates problems encountered by these incredible, adaptable birds as development and changing agricultural practices encroach on their habitat. The sandhill cranes of North America were traveling their flyways long before the first Americans entered and peopled the continent. This stunning book encourages us to see to it that they are still here at least as long as we are.

This is the wonderful result of one person's five-year dedication to the life of this fascinating bird. Not only is the photography superb, the text is heartfelt and poetic. The organization by region provides a coherent structure for traveling with cranes through their various habitats. A generous gift to all of us who otherwise would not be able to make this journey.

This is a beautifully illustrated and informative book. Looks lovely and inviting on a coffee table. Nice gift for bird lovers, if you can give it away.