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Scott Weidensaul (born 1959) [1] is a Pennsylvania-based naturalist and author. He was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere With Migratory Birds. [2]
In 2000, Weidensaul was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category for his book Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere With Migratory Birds. [3] In another of his works, Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians, Weidensaul covers the geological changes that have happened to the Appalachians. He traces the mountains' geological origins from the Ice Ages through the diversity and richness of pre-Columbian and Colonial days on up to the modern era. For his Pulitzer-finalist book Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere With Migratory Birds, the author took to longtime systematic observation, which included the ornithological technique of banding, and observing the birds, besides the author talked to various experts—as well as amateur birders and ornithologists who have made many of the important discoveries about bird biology. Weidensaul has been a nature columnist for newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and he has written more than two dozen books on natural history, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds. Weidensaul's writing has appeared in publications including Smithsonian , the New York Times , Nature Conservancy , Pennsylvania Game News , National Wildlife and Audubon .
In addition to writing about wildlife, Weidensaul is an active field researcher whose work focuses on bird migration. Weidensaul coordinates the banding and research program at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, Pennsylvania, overseeing three saw-whet owl sites in eastern and central Pennsylvania, which have been operating since 1997 called Project Owlnet. [4] He is also a team member of Project SNOWstorm, a project that began in 2013 to study the ecology of wintering snowy owls. [5] As a federally licensed hummingbird bander, Weidnesaul also bands vagrant western hummingbirds that migrate east. [6]
The true owls or typical owls are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy unites the Caprimulgiformes with the owl order; here, the typical owls are a subfamily Striginae. This is unsupported by more recent research, but the relationships of the owls in general are still unresolved. This large family comprises nearly 220 living species in 25 genera. The typical owls have a cosmopolitan distribution and are found on every continent except Antarctica. There are three accepted subfamilies of Strigidae including Striginae, Asioninae, and Surniinae.
The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author, published during the preceding calendar year, that is not eligible for consideration in another category.
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by availability of food. It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funneled on to specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea.
Cornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan is an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles revealed a secret United States Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and led to a US Supreme Court case, New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), when the United States government failed to halt publication.
The snowy owl is a large, white owl of the true owl family. It is sometimes also referred to, more infrequently, as the polar owl, white owl and the Arctic owl. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mostly on the tundra. It has a number of unique adaptations to its habitat and lifestyle, which are quite distinct from other extant owls. One of the largest species of owl, it is the only owl with largely white plumage. Males tend to be a purer white overall while females tend to more have more extensive flecks of dark brown. Juvenile male snowy owls have dark markings that may appear similar to females until maturity, at which point they typically turn whiter. The composition of brown markings about the wing, although not foolproof, is the most reliable technique to age and sex individual snowy owls.
The ruby-throated hummingbird is a species of hummingbird that generally spends the winter in Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and migrates to Canada and other parts of Eastern North America for the summer to breed. It is by far the most common hummingbird seen east of the Mississippi River in North America.
The northern saw-whet owl is a small owl native to North America. Saw-whet owls are one of the smallest owl species in North America. They can be found in dense thickets or conifers, often at eye level, although they can also be found some 20 feet up. Saw-whets are often in danger of being preyed upon by larger owls and raptors. Northern saw-whet owls are also migratory birds without any strict pattern.
The National Audubon Society (Audubon) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitat. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission. There are completely independent Audubon Societies in the United States, which were founded several years earlier, named after states of the USA, for example, Massachusetts Audubon Society and Connecticut Audubon Society.
The boreal owl is a small owl. In Europe, it is typically known as Tengmalm's owl after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm or, more rarely, Richardson's owl after Sir John Richardson. The scientific name is from Latin. The genus name Aegolius is a type of screech owl thought to be a bird of ill omen, and funereus means "funereal".
The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and eastern West Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to its east and the Appalachian Plateau to its west. The Front is closely associated with the Appalachian Mountains' Eastern Continental Divide, which in this area divides the waters of the Ohio/Mississippi river system, flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, from rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay and from there into the Atlantic Ocean.
Amherst Island is located in Lake Ontario, 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Contrary to popular perception, Amherst Island is not one of the Thousand Islands. The island is part of Loyalist Township in Lennox and Addington County. Amherst Island is located about 3 kilometres (2 mi) offshore from the rest of Loyalist Township and is serviced by an automobile and truck ferry from Millhaven. The island measures over 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length from Bluff Point in the southwest to Amherst Bar in the northeast and over 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) at its widest point across. The island is about 70 square kilometres (27 sq mi) in size and is one of the largest islands in the Great Lakes.
A flyway is a flight path used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering quarters. Flyways generally span continents and often pass over oceans. Although applying to any species of migrating bird, the concept was first conceived and applied to waterfowl and shore birds. The flyways can be thought of as wide arterial highways to which the migratory routes of different species are tributaries. An alternative definition is that a flyway is the entire range of a migratory bird, encompassing both its breeding and non-breeding grounds, and the resting and feeding locations it uses while migrating. There are four major north/south flyways in North America and six covering Eurasia, Africa and Australasia.
Diane Ackerman is an American poet, essayist, and naturalist known for her wide-ranging curiosity and poetic explorations of the natural world.
The bearded screech owl is a species of small owl in the family Strigidae. It is found in highlands of central and western Guatemala and central Chiapas, Mexico. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory (SABO) is a nonprofit membership-supported scientific and educational organization founded in 1996 in Bisbee, Arizona, USA. The mission of the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory is to promote the conservation of the birds of southeastern Arizona, their habitats, and the diversity of species that share those habitats through research, monitoring, and public education.
Timothy P. Egan is an American author, journalist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times, writing from a liberal perspective.
Appalachian Review, formerly known as Appalachian Heritage, is a literary quarterly that "showcases the work of emerging and established writers throughout Appalachia and beyond."
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is a 2014 non-fiction book written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Henry Holt and Company. The book argues that the Earth is in the midst of a modern, man-made, sixth extinction. In the book, Kolbert chronicles previous mass extinction events, and compares them to the accelerated, widespread extinctions during our present time. She also describes specific species extinguished by humans, as well as the ecologies surrounding prehistoric and near-present extinction events. The author received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the book in 2015.
The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature is a 2012 book written by David G. Haskell.
Hawk Ridge is a nature reserve and bird observatory renowned for its autumnal raptor migrations. The Audubon Society describes Hawk Ridge as "one of the premier sites in North America". P. B. Hofslund, one of the first ornithologists to conduct research there, pronounced it "one of the great hawk flyways of the world". Twenty-thousand birdwatchers visit Hawk Ridge each year to view the migration. It is an important site for ornithological research.
