Book Review

On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight

by Richard Ettlinger
184 pp. Abrams, New York
$40.00

All I can say after looking through this amazing book is -- "Wow"! Even if you've not been particularly interested in birds, you will most certainly be won over by the beauty and drama depicted in these photographs. If you are a birder, you'll want to own this book simply because of the dramatic flight shots, behaviors and sheer beauty captured through the lenses of the seven photographers who have contributed to its pages. No other book I've ever come across captures birds doing what comes naturally - flying - as well as this.

In the introduction, Richard Ettlinger, the author and one of the photographers talks about capturing the impossible shot - one that most bird photographers only dream of but never accomplish. This book is full of those impossible shots. From owls, eagles, hawks, falcons, gulls, waterfowl, waders, and more, you have the opportunity to "get close-up and personal" with birds in flight.

The behavioral shots are my favorites -- a Snail Kite with a bit of nesting material, the two Bald Eagles in mid-flight with a fish in free-fall between them, a gull chasing an eagle, a Harris's Hawk pouncing on a rabbit in a snow-covered field, an Alpomado Falcon eating a grasshopper on the wing as well as the bittersweet shots of birds preying on the young of other species.

The introduction discusses the genius displayed by the seven contributing photographers, each from different geographical areas throughout the world. Also included here is a discussion of the evolution and mechanics of flight. The next section covers categories of birds and flight, factors of flight behavior, migration, and hunting. The third section concludes with a short discussion of the philosophy of photographing birds. But it is for the next 163 pages that you will want this book. Here are presented one amazing shot after another, each page containing a single photo with a descriptive caption. The quality of the binding, paper, and printing are excellent.  

This is certainly a book you'll want to have in your collection or give as a gift to a friend.

Arlene Ripley (7/12/08)