Overview

Inspired by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher's book Wild America, recent high school graduate M. Ralph Browning embarked on a tightly budgeted, year-long trip in the US looking for birds. The year was 1962. His 1955 VW Beetle broke after nine months, which forced a premature end to the journey. In 2005, after matters of military duty, college, a family, and a career in birds at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the author resumed the interrupted trip. This time, he was with the girl he'd left behind in 1962, and they birded Texas, the Southwest, and California. The author chronicles the trip with observations on birds while touching on history, geology, and conservation. The cost of keeping alive includes periodic notes on the price of gasoline (about $0.33/gallon in 1962) and food. The author had earlier written to numerous birders for information about birding particular locations, and many of those individuals across the country showed him birds and invited him into their homes for a gratefully appreciated warm bed and home cooking. The 2005 leg of the journey was assisted by bird finding guides and the help of the legendary Jon Dunn and numerous motels.

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9798385202454

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"""Unlike standard birding tales, M. Ralph Browning's colorful orioles-to-alligators adventure finishes forty-three years after he started. Ralph's knowledge of American history, his depth of understanding of science, and his joy in simply seeing birds is unmatched in any birding story."" --Alan Contreras, senior editor of A History of Oregon Ornithology ""M. Ralph Browning's new book provides a personal look at the rich birdlife inhabiting our many beautiful green spaces scattered across America. He does this through narratives of two cross-country journeys, one in 1962-1963, the other in 2005, which detail his personal quest to see all the bird species found in the Lower 48. Readers encounter rich stories of birds, naturalists, special places, unexpected discoveries, and a story of inexorable environmental change across nearly five decades."" --Bruce M. Beehler, research associate, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Birds ""A birder's journal of a journey across the US before Google Maps and eBird, this book is a delightful look back in time and a reminder to us to never give up on dreams even if they take decades to complete."" --Carla J. Dove, program manager, Feather Identification Lab, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History"

Author Information

M. Ralph Browning is retired from the Biological Survey at the Division of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. He is the author and coauthor of numerous papers on the taxonomy and nomenclature of birds and the author of the books Rogue Birder and Morgan Spring.

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