On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Falcon

by Alan Tennant

Book Overview

In this extraordinary journey, Alan Tennant recounts his attempt to track the transcontinental migration of the majestic peregrine falcon -- an investigation no one before him had ever taken to such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375415513
• ISBN13: 9780375415517
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

On the Wing - High Drama over the Americas

What drew me to this book was its Title. I am a keen falconer and have kept various birds of prey for many years. This book combines the authors undoubted love and fascination for the natural world with a powerful personal drama - two mens quest to answer an ornithological question in the most direct way imaginable. Beautifully written at times Alan Tennant touches upon the very essence of what fascinates mankind about the Falcons it is a great read!

Be prepared to be amazed

I loved this book! I have been following the Operation Migration program re-building the Whooping Crane population for years. This book adds a whole new dimension to the use of man made wings and bird migration. Alan Tennant writes in a way that the reader feels they also can see and hear the thousands of birds as he and George Vose fly through and with them. I learned lots about peregrine falcons, but I kept my bird book handy and learned a lot about other birds too - including those amazing hummingbirds. The sections describing the intense fear of the falcons in the bird population attested to their hunting prowess and keen vision and speed. I am in awe of the birds and of the author's dedication and sense of adventure in trying to learn where they go and what they do on the way. As he says, satellites can tell where they go but not how or transmit the incredibleness of it all.

A Romantic, Scientific Quest

_Falco Peregrinus_ is the Latin name for the peregrine falcon. The name means "wandering falcon," and the name fits. It has breeding grounds in Alaska, and swoops down as far even as Argentina to follow the sunlight, which powers the plants which after other links turn into the birds on which the falcon feeds. You wouldn't expect Alan Tennant to be to particularly interested in the travels of falcons; after all, he's a snake man, have published several field guides to snakes in different regions of America. But as is shown in his book, _On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Falcon_ (Knopf), Tennant has an unstoppable and unrestrained curiosity. He has had his share of funny occurrences, dangerous moments, and inexplicable joys in the quest for following his falcons, a quest that was of minor research significance, relentless discomfort, and intermittent life-threatening peril. His lovely account of having to do a senseless task because he simply had to will convince the reader of the emotional sense of such an effort; his book gives as well a picture of falcon life and larger ecological concerns, and it never misses a chance to describe the many eccentric humans Tennant gets to meet. The book opens in the mid-1980s when Tennant was watching falcons on the barrier islands of Texas. He wanted to go with them. He hooked up with George Vose, a World War II flight instructor who has experience in tracking birds but no particular love of it. Vose plays Tennant's Sancho Panza, an irritable septuagenarian pilot with a rickety Cessna who loves flying. Tennant hated flying (and given the scrapes and scares that Vose's plane gave him, with good reason). The two adventurers don't get much of a chance actually to see their falcons. They are following just radio blips; losing the blips is a disaster fraught with worry, and regaining them, sometimes after days or weeks of silence, is a joy. There is plenty of wildlife in Tennant's book, but it is a pleasure to read about how these two became friends. In contrast, Tennant writes just as clearly and movingly about how his obsession ruins his relationship with his smart and sensible girlfriend Jennifer. The adventures of Tennant and Vose chasing radio beacons take them back and forth across America into Canada for the summer trek and into Mexico and Belize for the winter. Every bit of bad weather the intrepid birds go through has to be endured by the pilots as well. There is plenty to learn about how evolution has shaped birds in different ways for success. In contrast to the falcons, for instance, hawks cannot feed on birds on the wing since they hunt mice, frogs, and insects. This means that they have to economize on their migrations, and stick to flying over land, where they can catch free rides on thermals, a tactic falcons do not use. Tennant and Vose have to negotiate with Canadian customs to cross into Canadian airspace, but because they would lose their falcon whi

Following a Falcon Will Take Your Breath Away

I remember as a child in the sixties poring through the Time-Life book on the animal kingdom. It had this one memorable illustration of all the major species in a big race to show how fast each of them ran, swam and flew against each other. Far ahead of anything else in nature was the peregrine falcon. From that distinct memory, I picked up this book to see why anyone would be foolish enough to try to track one. Author and naturalist Alan Tennant has taken on the challenge and come up with one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've read all year. The peregrine falcon would seem elusive. After all, when diving for prey, it can reach speeds upward of 200 mph, and they can migrate 10,000 miles in a single year, traversing from Canada to as far as Argentina. But Tennant decided to radio-tag one, whom he appropriately dubs Amelia on her migration from Texas to Canada. What ensues, as documented in this journal, is unexpected, unique and extraordinary. This is no simple Audubon Society-style study. Blend Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and Ché Guevera's "The Motorcycle Diaries", cross-breed them with "Winged Migration", and you get some sense of the spell this book casts. Of course, Tennant has a cantankerous sidekick, George Vose, a septuagenarian World War II flight instructor who trusts his instincts more than his flight instruments. Clearly he provides the yang to Tennant's yin. They have life-endangering adventures, astounding views of North America from far above and naturally, the strong pull of male bonding to make it through their journey. Tennant has obviously picked up a lot of information on falconry, which he shares generously, but he also has a true gift of describing the soaring epiphanies that he and Vose experienced flying in their aged Cessna. Just like being in the cockpit with Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, the reader gets transported to a contained world where exhilaration mixes unexpectedly with dread. The result is a breathtaking book, a needed panacea for anyone who is tiring of the political, election-timed tomes filling the shelves of your bookstore.

One of the All-Time Most Amazing Adventures

This would be an incredible work of fiction. The fact that these guys really did this stuff is just unbelievable. Best of all, Alan Tennant is a writer who knows how to weave his story into the natural world, and vice versa. It doesn't matter whether you're into birds, or airplanes, or whatever- this is just a great read. It's funny, it's poignant, it's ridiculous, it's deeply informative. Truly one of the best and most entertaining books I've read in a long, long time.