Wings for my flight: The peregrine falcons of Chimney Rock

Wings for my flight: The peregrine falcons of Chimney Rock

Marcy Cottrell Houle spent four and a half months atop a mountian peak watching a family of highly endangered wild peregrine falcons. Their survival in the face of an unforgiving Mother Nature, an ever expanding human sprawl, and the local townspeople's hostility makes dramatic and moving reading--certain to become a classic of fine nature writing. A college-trained biologist, Houle spent four summers living on a beautiful Colorado mountain--an Anasazi Indian site-- and studying a family of endangered peregrine falcons. While her notes on the family life of these magnificent birds are authoritative and interesting, Houle also recounts the human story of the hostility, danger, sexism, misunderstanding, acceptance, and, ultimately, love that she encountered from the local people. Because commercial development of the nest area had been halted due to the Endangered Species Act, there had been acute tension between Houle, living alone in primitive conditions, and most of the townspeople. In the end she won many converts. Her book is well crafted and compelling, a dramatization of the classic conflict between the legitimate interests of conservationists and developers. Highly recommended on several levels, as science, sociology, or a story. - Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson Univ. Lib., Philadelphia Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.