Hoose, Phillip. Moonbird.

Hoose, Phillip.    Moonbird.            Macmillan/Farrar Strauss            148p      $21.99   978-0-374-30468-3         2012  ms/hs         E-BN   Nonfiction                                                

This superb book offers an in-depth look at the life of one of the long-distance flyers of the bird world.  B95, nicknamed Moonbird because the distance he has flown would have taken him to the moon and halfway back, is a rufa red knot, a member of a rapidly diminishing species.  Written in an engaging manner and beautifully presented, the author offers a scientific travelogue of the yearlong expedition following the migration route of these small shore birds from the tip of Tierra del Fuego to Delaware Bay to the Canadian Arctic.  The book is filled with unique descriptions of these amazing athletes and their natural world and is greatly enhanced by exceptional color photographs that show the birds and the environmental aspects of each region.  Hoose discusses the life of B95 from his hatching twenty years ago and focuses on the bird’s physical characteristics, behavior, social interaction, survival in the wild, and contact with other animals and man.  He continues by describing B95’s continued existence today in chapters that feature the important landmarks of his flight patterns and the anatomical changes these birds undergo during migration.  He describes each region and its importance to the birds and highlights specific researchers working there.  This incredible book is utterly fascinating and compelling and will lead the readers on to more research and, perhaps, conservation efforts.  It ends with an appendix of further activities and conservation groups, copious sources notes, a large bibliography, and an index.                 

Bird migrations                                                                                                                                                                         --Susan Ogintz