Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season [Hardcover]

Pete Dunne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2009

A portrait of spring in the heartland of North America In this first of four seasonal narratives, Pete Dunne sends a postcard from the prairie in his characteristically puckish style.The prairie is an exciting place to explore an unfolding drama—man versus the environment—and as Dunne and his wife travel through the heartland, the fleeting nature of the season comes to symbolize the precarious balance between the two. At the Sandhill Crane Festival in Nebraska,Dunne observes the struggle between maintaining the cranes’ habitat and meeting farmers’ needs for water. As in other habitats, human encroachment is only one of the challenges facing the preservation of the Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado.
Climate change, invasive plants and animals, and mineral exploitation are just a few of the others. Conflicts over the grassland habitat continue between ranchers and prairie dogs and between oil companies and prairie chickens. Yet Dunne finds affirmation on the prairie: people putting their lives back in place after a tornado; volunteers giving their time to conservation efforts; the drive of all species to move their genes to the next generation, which manifests itself so abundantly on the prairie in spring.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Dunne (Golden Wings) presents an intimate account of a two-month trek—accompanied by photographer wife Linda—following the coming of spring across Americas prairie grasslands. Theirs is an odyssey into the time of beginning that weaves together spiritual insight, plant biology, geology lessons and American history—and a plethora of bird sightings, from the mating trysts of the increasingly rare lesser prairie chicken to the plight of the threatened mountain plover. Their journey begins in New Jersey and continues to Nebraska, their arrival timed to witness the annual migration of half a million northbound sandhill cranes. Next come Colorado and a primer on how homesteading sodbusters transformed an ocean of vibrant prairie grasses into a devastating dustbowl; New Mexico and the Sixth Annual High Plains Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival; back through Colorado and the Pawnee National Grasslands for a glimpse of the threatened prairie dog, once (along with bison) among the environmental engineers of the 19th century Western plains; and into South Dakota, home to between 800 and 1,400 free-ranging bison. Dunnes melodic prose and rhapsodic connection with the natural world brilliantly entice an estranged audience to explore a... now alien environment. Photos. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Dunne, birder extraordinaire and author of numerous books (including Tales of a Low Rent Birder, 1987, and Pete Dunne on Bird Watching, 2003), now turns his pen to spring. In this first of four projected narratives on the seasons, Dunne begins the journey on Groundhog Day, the day halfway between the official first day of winter (the winter solstice) and of spring (the vernal equinox). With his signature mischievous writing style, Dunne tells of the travels he and his wife, Linda, took through the prairie regions in 2007. Although a theme of humanity’s effects on the prairie runs as an undercurrent throughout the narrative, it never overwhelms the sense of awe and wonder at the natural beauty of the grasslands and their inhabitants. Whether writing of the dance–cum–gladiatorial contest of the male lesser prairie chickens, or of racing a prairie storm to shelter, or of meeting a man he dubs “Johnny Earth Day” (whose goal is to pick up trash wherever he goes), Dunne brings the reader into his affirmation of nature and its wonders. --Nancy Bent

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; None edition (March 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618822208
• ISBN-13: 978-0618822201
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

PETE DUNNE is the author of many books, including Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion, Pete Dunne on Bird Watching, and most recently Prairie Spring, the first in a four-book series on the seasons. He is the vice president of the New Jersey Audubon Society and director of its Cape May Bird Observatory.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another great one from Pete Dunne, February 25, 2009

By 

Grant McCreary "birderslibrary dot com" (GA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season (Hardcover)

This is the first of four books that Dunne plans to write, each one focusing on a specific ecosystem during one of the four seasons.

In this narrative, Dunne chronicles a spring that he and his wife spent on America's grasslands. The journey starts on Groundhog Day at the Pawnee National Grasslands in northeast Colorado. As spring unfolds, the Dunnes move about America's heartland, stopping in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

Birds, of course, figure prominently into the account, as many of the characteristic species of this region are encountered. However, unlike Dunne's previous Feather Quest, it does not focus exclusively on birds. It encompasses the entire ecology, and even history, of the American prairie. Topics range from birds to buffalo, farms to fire, wildflowers to weather.

If you've read anything by Dunne, then you know what to expect here (and if you haven't, you don't know what you've been missing). Humorous, insightful, educational, and just plain fun to read, his prose is amazing. I particularly enjoyed his analogy of a prairie-chicken lek and a baseball game. It seems a little weird, but it really worked. However, he stretches a bit too far at times, such as the conversation he had with a painted horse. It was just a little wide of the mark for me. But in most everything else, he was right on target.

But especially so in his description of watching Sandhill Cranes by the thousands descend upon the Platte River to roost. I was as completely enthralled by those birds, a thousand miles and many months distant, as Dunne and his companions obviously were.

This is nature writing at its best.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another treasure from a master nature writer, January 7, 2010

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season (Hardcover)

As a life member of the New Jersey Audubon Society, it's a great pleasure to receive regular reports from the Society, always with one or more communications from Mr. Dunne. He is the current director of the Cape May Bird Observatory, Vice President of Natural History for the New Jersey Audubon Society, and publisher of New Jersey Audubon magazine. As a result, lots of his writings flow into our house, and we always enjoy them.

This little book is well described in the other reviews here on Amazon. I'm happy to encourage any nature lover to pick up a copy and enjoy learning from a master. He will lead you to other authors who describe the praries in much greater depth, especially William Least Heat-Moon in PrairyErth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country.

Robert C. Ross 2010

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Romp, November 28, 2009

By 

R. Hole "Natural History Educator" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season (Hardcover)

An excellent short introduction to both the North American central prairies and spring season. The author seems to spend most of his time not actually on the prairie but in the islands of non-prairie habitat within the greater geographical area. He still manages to give an overview of the ecology and history of area interspersed with lots of personal reflection.

Apparently this is the first of four books, eventually to cover all four seasons and four major ecosystems. I'm looking forward to the coming volumes.