Bird Watch

"A passport to the natural world" is how veteran wildlife photographer Bates Littlehales describes bird watching. In Bird Watch, his first book on a subject he has pursued for 15 years, Littlehales shares his enlightening perspective on the birds of North America. Littlehales began taking the photographs in Bird Watch after a National Geographic magazine assignment on John James Audubon revived his boyhood interest in birds. In the spirit of the great naturalist, Littlehales is equally fascinated by the most familiar backyard visitors and the most rare wilderness species. Whether he is focusing on endangered wood storks or common cardinals, Littlehales makes images which tell the story of how birds interact with each other and the world around them. Striving to feed its young, an Atlantic puffin alights on a rock in Maine with five capelins dangling from its beak. Courting boldly, a greater prairie-chicken on a "booming ground" in Texas advances toward a female with his tawny air sacs inflated. Poised to catch an insect on the wing, a vermilion fly catcher awaits his prey in a southeast Arizona canyon. Introducing these subtle and intriguing photographs, biologist Jerome A. Jackson recalls great scientific discoveries which had their origins in bird watching and discusses the power of this pastime to draw people into a lifelong interest in the environment. Captions by Littlehales accompany the photographs, providing details about the season, the location, and each species' habits. A foreword by Jay D. Hair, president of the National Wildlife Federation, pays tribute to the vital role of bird watching in the conservation movement. With images of rare simplicity and power, Bird Watch will delight bird watchers-and anyone else who takes pleasure in closely observing nature. BATES LITTLEHALES was a staff photographer for the National Geographic Society from 1952 to 1989, contributing to National Geographic magazine and many other Society publications. His work has also appeared in Natural History, Birder's World, and National Wildlife Federation publications. Now a freelance photographer specializing in nature images, Littlehales lives in northern Virginia. JEROME A. JACKSON, an authority on endangered birds, has taught biological sciences at Mississippi State University since 1970. Jackson has edited many ornithological journals, including Wilson Bulletin and Journal of Field Ornithology Currently he edits Bird Conservation, contributes to Birder's World, and cohosts a weekly television series, "Mississippi Outdoors." He lives in Starkville, Mississippi, with his wife Bette, also an ornithologist. JAY D. HAIR has been president of the National Wildlife Federation since 1981. The recipient of numerous awards for his contributions to environmental preservation, Hair serves on the boards of Earth Day 1990, the Global Tomorrow Coalition, and other conservation organizations.