“Scott Weidensaul ranks among an elite group of writer-naturalists—Bruce Chatwin, John McPhee and David Quammen come to mind—whose straightforward eloquence elevates ecology to the level of philosophy.”
                                                —Los Angeles Times Book Review

©Chris DeSorboOrnithologist and author Scott Weidensaul celebrates the natural world—particularly birds and bird migration—in his research, his writing and his public speaking.

Weidensaul spearheads a number of major research projects focusing on bird migration. He has written more than 30 books on natural history, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; The Ghost with Trembling Wings, about the search for species that may or may not be extinct; Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians; Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding; The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America; and the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls.

Listen to Weidensaul's latest interview on NPR's "Fresh Air." (And here is a previous "Fresh Air" appearance with Terry Gross.)

Watch Weidensaul's TEDx talk on migration, and listen to his interview with BirdNote's "Threatened" podcast.

Weidensaul lectures widely on wildlife and environmental topics, and is an active field researcher, specializing in the study of migration in owls, hummingbirds and passerines.  A native of the Appalachians of eastern Pennsylvania, he now lives in New Hampshire.

Scott Weidensaul leads tours to such exotic destinations as Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Alaska, the Amazon and other exciting locales - check out the details here.

A Warbler's Journey

An NPR "Book We Love" for 2022

Winner of the 2023 Riverby Award

"An awesome account of an awe-inspiring feat." --Booklist (starred review)

“A Warbler's Journey is masterfully woven words of wonder written with hope as a warm tailwind. It is art and science about a tiny bird that will make a big difference.” -- J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature

“Weidensaul’s poetic and inspirational language gracefully draws the reader into the warbler’s amazing journey. Nancy Lane’s vivid oil paintings joyfully illuminate the text.” -- Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird 

NOW IN PAPERBACK

A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds

W.W. Norton (U.S.), Picador (U.K.)

An epic reflection on what we're learning about the greatest natural phenomenon on the planet—and what we must do to preserve it.

A New York Times Bestseller and Editor's Pick

Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist

A Library Journal Best Science and Technology Book of the Year

Amazon Editor's Pick: Best Nonfiction

Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation

In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable migratory birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, forgo sleep for days or weeks, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch, has exploded. Migrant birds continually exceed what we think are the limits of physical endurance, like a six-inch sandpiper weighing less than an ounce flying 3,300 miles nonstop for six days from the Canadian subarctic to northern South America -- the equivalent of 126 consecutive marathons with no food, water or a moment's rest, using the earth’s magnetic field to navigate through a form of quantum entanglement that made Einstein queasy.

 Yet for all the strength and tenacity of migrant birds, the phenomenon of migration is increasingly fragile on this ever-more altered planet. A World on the Wing, the newest book from acclaimed nature writer Scott Weidensaul, is at once a celebration of global bird migration, an exploration of our rapidly evolving understanding of the science that underpins it, and a cautionary tale of the challenges humans have placed in the way of migrating birds. It conveys both the wonder of bird migration and its global sweep, from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the wilderness of central Alaska, the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus.

 A World on the Wing is also the story of Weidensaul's own journey over the past two decades from a deeply interested amateur to someone immersed in migration research, using cutting-edge technology to answer questions that have fascinated him all his life--and, with fellow scientists, researchers, and bird lovers, trying to preserve global migratory patterns in the face of climate change and other looming challenges. 

Order here from bookshop.org and support independent bookstores.

 Shorebirds swarm the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China, one of the most endangered migratory hotspots on the globe. (©Scott Weidensaul)

Praise for A World on the Wing

Starred/lead reviews: Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist

"Scott Weidensaul's gripping journey alongside the world's feathered wanderers and the people who study them. ...Littered with such wonders...[it] rivals the astonishing feats of the birds he chronicles. ... As the birds flit through these pages, but with ever less frequency through our lives, we can only hope that birders and non-birders alike take inspiration and a call to action from "A World on the Wing." This is the kind of book we've been waiting for." 

--Christian Cooper, The New York Times

"A vaulting triumph of a book. Scott Weidensaul unravels the miracles and mysteries of bird migration like an ace detective. Compelling and often deeply moving, this is a summons for international co-operation and global conservation like no other."

—Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

 "A superb globe-trotting survey of avian restlessness that reaches one core conclusion. Migrants may seem like here-today-gone-tomorrow nomads but they are really inhabitants of a single place and one living system, on which they and humans depend equally: the entire Earth."

—Mark Cocker, The Spectator

"There is no one better at dressing the natural-history stage. A bracing tonic ... Mr. Weidensaul offers the astonishment of birds’ travels, deep concern for their populations and hope for their future in well-measured, beautifully realized doses." 

—Wall Street Journal

 “In vivid prose that conjures up the rich spell of each landscape, Scott Weidensaul takes us on exhilarating expeditions that crisscross the globe and travel deep into the heart of nature. For lifelong experts and backyard birders alike, he’s a superb guide to the winged marvels that share our planet and our lives.” 

—Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper’s Wife

"The miracle of birds meets the miracle of technology in Scott Weidensaul's wondrous new book A World on the Wing. While there are huge gaps in our knowledge of migration, and despair in our race to save species, advances in technology from microscopic transmitters to agile drones are changing the equation and making the future look hopeful. This is a book you won't want to put down."

—Jane Alexander, actress, writer and wildlife conservationist

“Scott Weidensaul, one of our finest nature writers, has produced another instant classic. In A World on the Wing he takes a pair of highly complex subjects—global patterns of bird migration, and the research into those patterns—and brings them to life with his own amazing adventures. . . . Highly recommended for anyone curious about the natural world.”

—Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guides

“Weidensaul’s dispatches are fascinating. Chapter by chapter, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. The science of bird migration has reached a golden age, and we're lucky to have such a graceful guide. This book is instantly among my all-time favorites, and one I'll keep to re-read.”

—Noah Strycker, author of Birding Without Borders

Tens of thousands of Amur falcons lift off from their nighttime roost in Nagaland, India, a few of the millions that crowd these remote mountains each autumn en route to Africa. (©Scott Weidensaul)

Praise for for some of Scott Weidensaul's earlier books

Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds

Pulitzer Prize Finalist

 “A fascinating book, unusually well written, about a truly astonishing phenomenon. ”

—Peter Matthiessen

“Stands out among bird books . . . Thought-provoking, provocative, informative, it’s not only an outstanding book on bird migration, it's also one of the best bird books I have read for a long time.”

—David Tomlinson, New Scientist

 "What Rachel Carson did for the sea—opening the public's eyes to the fragile richness of whole ecosystems—Scott Weidensaul has now done for bird migration."

—Outside

The Ghost with Trembling Wings:

Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species

“By turns harrowing and elegiac, thrilling and informative. Weidensaul demonstrates his ability to both communicate the startling marvels of nature he has observed firsthand and to regale us with tales of scientific derring-do plucked from the annals of natural history.”

—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"At the core of Weidensaul's book are fundamental questions about who we are, the state of the planet, and the faltering health of our ecosystems."

—Boston Globe