While it’s not yet winter here in the northern hemisphere, Mother Nature is certainly beginning to offer a range of reminders that it is indeed coming. What leaves remain on the trees are turning from vivid reds and oranges to more subdued yellows and browns just prior to joining their fellows on the forest floor. Insects are becoming scarce. And the local bird populations are rearranging their respective species memberships.
It’s this last change that piques the interest of most bird watchers, as well as generally observant naturalists. Just how do the birds who remain in the more northerly latitudes during winter survive? Where exactly do they go? What do they eat? And how did they evolve to do all these things in the first place?
In his new book Birds in Winter: Surviving the Most Challenging Season, Roger F. Pasquier takes up these and a number of other questions that tickle the minds of so many of us as the days grow shorter. It also looks to be very interesting reading as we ourselves respectively begin to enter our “humans in winter” phase, involving hot cups of tea, cosy blankets, and a comfey chair in which to sit and read.
