Did you know that one of the first ways to measure bird migration was counting the silhouettes of birds as they passed in front of the full moon? Or that British radar operators during World War II were mystified by “angels” appearing on their screens that turned out to be seabirds in flight? Or that scientists today can tell roughly where a bird spent the winter by analyzing the ratios of hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur isotopes in its feathers? Nature writer Rebecca Heisman tells the amazing true story of how scientists have been slowly unraveling the mysteries of bird migration.
Rebecca Heisman is a science writer based in Walla Walla, Washington. She has contributed to publications including Audubon and Living Bird (the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine), and from 2015 to 2020 she worked for the American Ornithological Society, North America's largest professional society for bird scientists. Her first book, Flight Paths, being published by HarperCollins in March 2023, delves into the history, science, and quirky personalities behind how we know what we know about bird migration.