This is a truly monumental work, and I do not use that term lightly. It surpasses anything that has gone before it. By an order of magnitude, too!
The range of miniaturized devices now available to track migration is staggering, especially when compared to the situation that existed just a few years ago, when rare and sporadic bird band recoveries were still the main source of data. Advances in technology have enabled more precision than was ever dreamed possible. Lightweight trackers of various kinds are installed on birds, from the tiniest songbirds to swans, geese and raptors, so that we are able to follow the bird in precise detail, knowing at any time where it is - and even what it is doing. Specialized instruments enable researchers to know the depths to which pelagic species dive, their food, changes to their anatomy in response to changing pressure and light, in addition to their movements across the oceans.
Internet platforms such as eBird and iNaturalist have amassed huge quantities of data and images, empowered by legions of dedicated citizen scientists around the world.
The information age has revolutionized and expanded our knowledge of migration, a subject that has captured the imagination of humankind for centuries.
The concept of connectivity looms large in this work. Over the last fifty years bird populations have declined by three billion, but in many instances there is insufficient information to fully understand the reasons for decline. Some species have discrete populations in both breeding and nonbreeding seasons, and different groups of the same species may never meet. The conditions faced in their habitat and on their migratory journeys may be radically different.
The individual species accounts are incredibly well done, reflecting the current state of knowledge right up till the book went to print!
There is a generalized connectivity map, and other maps as appropriate, showing different migratory pathways and and both breeding and nonbreeding areas.
A quick guide is provided, detailing the species' distribution and abundance, and showing the current status of the bird as ranked by various organizations.
The maps reveal so much!
The water-colours by John C. Anderton are charming, and complement the text with accuracy and aesthetic sensibility.
I have been using this book since the moment I received it, and I am impressed each time I turn to it. Hopefully the data may be put to good use to put the brake to the alarming decline in birds throughout the world.
If I had one very minor complaint - not a complaint actually, more of an observation - the book is huge and very heavy. It is fine when seated at a desk, but nestled in an easy chair it is cumbersome to handle. It might have better to have split it into two volumes.
Thanks to everyone involved for a job very well done.
The Atlas of North America's Migratory Birds: Tracking Movements Across Seasons and Continents - Princeton University Press
Peter P. Marra and Amy L. Scarpignato
Hardcover - US$90.00 - ISBN 9780691163185
816 pages - 8.5 x 11 inches (21.25 x 27.5 cm)
972 colour illustrations - 1,092 maps
Publishing date: 03 November, 2026
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