Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds

The story of one woman's remarkable work with a trio of charismatic, endangered bird species--and her discoveries about the devastating threats that imperil them.

In Feather Trails, wildlife biologist and birder Sophie A. H. Osborn reveals how the harmful environmental choices we've made--including pesticide use, the introduction of invasive species, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction--have decimated Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors.

In the Rocky Mountains, the cloud forests of Hawai'i, and the Grand Canyon, Sophie and her colleagues work day-to-day to try to reintroduce these birds to the wild, even when it seems that the odds are steeply stacked against their survival.

With humor and suspense, Feather Trails introduces us to the fascinating behaviors and unique personalities of Sophie's avian charges and shows that what endangers them ultimately threatens all life on our planet.

More than a deeply researched environmental investigation, Feather Trails is also a personal journey and human story, in which Sophie overcomes her own obstacles--among them heat exhaustion, poachers, rattlesnakes, and chauvinism.

Ultimately, Feather Trails is an inspiring, poignant narrative about endangered birds and how our choices can help to ensure a future not only for the rarest species, but for us too.

Sophie A. H. Osborn is an award-winning environmental author and wildlife biologist whose work has included the study and conservation of more than a dozen bird species in the Americas and small mammal research in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park. She has contributed to reintroduction efforts for several endangered birds and served as the field manager for the California Condor Recovery Program in Arizona for nearly four years. Her books include Condors in Canyon Country, which won the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for Nature and the Environment. Her writings have been published in BirdWatching, Wyoming Wildlife, and Sojourns magazines.