The San Luis Valley: Sand Dunes And Sandhill Cranes (Desert Places)

By Glenn Oakley and Susan J. Tweit

It is a high valley edged by serrated peaks , a remote expanse the size of Connecticut lying, as if forgotten, between two mountain ranges. Here, North America's tallest sand dunes blow against glacier-gouged summits, the Rio Grande begins its long journey from snowflake to saltwater, and vast reaches of desert scrub hide verdant pocket wetlands. Colorado's San Luis Valley is not a place for the timid. Sizzling hot in summer, frigid cold in winter, this huge landscape is humbling in its openness, a place defined by the rhythms of nature--and by the thrust and parry of male courting female in the ritual dance of sandhill cranes. These majestic birds arrive by the thousands twice a year to feed, rest, and socialize in the valley's wetlands--invisible except from the air--and their cries temper the constant wind. Susan Tweit lives in the high desert of southern Colorado not far from the valley's dunes and wetlands. With the precision of a scientist and the passion of a poet, she guides readers through this land of sand dunes and sandhill cranes, describing its natural features and tracing its human history from buffalo hunters and conquistadors to Hispanic farming communities and UFO observatories. And in stunning images, photographer Glenn Oakley brings his intimate feel for light and landscape to portraying not only the subtle beauty of this high-desert sanctuary but also the grandeur of the cranes in flight. As an intimate look at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the San Luis Valley, this book reveals a desert place as seductive and sobering as existence itself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816524246
• ISBN13: 9780816524242
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Walking home with nature

The San Luis Valley: Sand Dunes and Sandhill Cranes (Desert Places) Susan is the consummate naturalist: her writing is authoritative, grounded in science and lofted by artistry. This book is informative, entertaining and just plain beautiful. She lives what she writes, and she writes what she believes.

A Stunning Tapestry

"The cranes called to me one windy autumn night. I lay on the couch, absorbed in a novel when a distant sound--compelling, familiar--propelled me upright to listen. There it was again, faint but unmistakable: 'khrrrrr, khrrrrr,' the throaty cry of sandhill cranes." In "The San Luis Valley: Sand Dunes and Sandhill Cranes," as in her earlier books, Tweit is a poet. Her opening paragraph, quoted above, compels the reader to listen and read on. Luminous reflective passages occur throughout the book, passages in which Tweit explores such subjects as the meaning of "home" (25) or where our "profound and courageous" visions may come from (43). These exquisitely wrought personal responses to some of the mysteries we share with our fellow creatures, as well as with one another, are woven into beautiful descriptions of the birds and the landscapes they inhabit, along with a lively and detailed history of the San Luis Valley--a stunning tapestry.