Book description
In this extraordinary naturalist adventure saga, Alan Tennant, a
passionate student of wildlife and of the peregrine falcon in
particular, endeavours to radio-track the bird's transcontinental
migration - something no one before him had ever attempted. At the
time of his flight, in the mid-1980s, researchers were still unsure of
the peregrine's transcontinental path: chicks hatched in the Arctic
have hardly been taught how to fly and kill their food when they make
their first migration, alone, following some mysterious internal call
to go south.
On The Wing, which begins on the windswept flats of the Texas
barrier islands, ferries us across multiple continents, and is loaded
with historical and scientific lore and rich characters. Chief among
them is George Vose, the septugenarian Second World War vet and former
stunt pilot who becomes Tennant's partner in falcon-chasing when they
borrow some US Army radio-tracking equipment and set off after a bird
Alan has managed to trap and tag with a feather-mounted transmitter.
George, who trusts his instincts more than his instruments, is as
obsessed with the mystery of flight as Tennant is and the book charts
the story of their friendship. As they journey to the Arctic,
following their first bird, and then way down South, through Mexico
and into Belize, nearly losing their lives, running foul of the law
(and, at times, at each other's throats) in the race to keep their
birds in view and their rattletrap Cessna gassed up and running.
But the falcons dominate this odyssey, these majestic birds - the
icons of pharaohs, oriental emperors, and European nobility - whose
fierce mien, speed at the kill and solitary habits have fired the
human imagination for centuries. In this mesmerising narrative Alan
Tennant offers us an unforgettable and moving tale that speaks to all
our dreams of flight.
Alan Tennant grew up in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean. He has
taught film and literary criticism at the University of Texas and
lectured on ecology in more than twenty countries. He is the author of
several prize-winning books on wildlife and nature. He lives in west
Texas and conducts natural history seminars and trips around the world.
