Migration mysteries : adventures, disasters, and epiphanies in a life with birds / John H. Rappole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rappole, John H., author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

W.L. Moody Jr. natural history series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rappole, John H.

Ornithologists--United States--Biography.

Ornithologists.

Birds--Migration.

Birds.

Ornithology--Fieldwork.

Ornithology.

United States.

Genre:

autobiographies (literary works)

Autobiographies

Biographies

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xxii, 335 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Cast as the author's "swan song" on the topic of bird migration, this lively account of the life's work of distinguished ornithologist John H. Rappole will delight birders, researchers, and general readers alike. The developer and chief proponent of the "dispersal theory" of bird migration, Rappole takes readers on a tour of the decades-long process by which he developed the conclusions that led him to propose a counter to the still-widely accepted "northern home," or weather-based theory of migration. Along the way, Migration Mysteries : Adventures, Disasters, and Epiphanies in a Life with Birds delivers for readers, both specialist and general, everything promised in the subtitle. In a delightfully non-technical style, Rappole introduces readers to the people, the places, the quandaries, and even the dangers encountered during the years he spent in Mexico, Central America, and the United States, studying the migration patterns of birds. His account is also a wake-up call for conservation in Latin America he watches the habitats for migratory birds disappear year by year"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Return from the Wars

Backstory

Initiation

The Great Adventure Begins

Preparations, Departure, and Early Texas Epiphanies

Playa Escondida

Spring and Early Summer 1974

On the Road to Damascus in the North Woods

Fall 1974 in Texas

Game Change

The Rosetta Stone

A Working Hypothesis

Hiatus

Mrs. Fisk

Scrabbling on the Shoulders of Giants

Kingsville

The La Peninsula Gambit

The Santa Marta Expedition

Mistakes Were Made

Wood Thrush Lives

Tepēyōllōtl Stirs

Parsing the "Wanderer" Enigma

Rocket Science

Working the War Zone in Belize

The Shuar

Kiss My Golden Cheeks

Shazam!

Newton, Apples, and the New Paradigm

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Rappole, John H. Migration mysteries

ISBN:

9781648431838

1648431836

OCLC:

1407215295