The Hawk's Way
Encounters with Fierce Beauty
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A splendid and luminous celebration of one of nature’s most perfect and mysterious creatures—the hawk—from the New York Times bestselling author of the “astoundingly beautiful” (NPR) The Soul of an Octopus.
When Sy Montgomery went to spend a day at falconer Nancy Cowan’s farm, home to a dozen magnificent birds of prey, it was the start of a deep love affair. Nancy allowed her to work with Jazz, a feisty, four-year-old, female Harris’s hawk with a wingspan of more than four feet. Not a pet, Jazz was a fierce predator with talons that could pierce skin and bone and yet, she was willing to work with a human to hunt. From the first moment Jazz swept down from a tree and landed on Sy’s leather gloved fist, Sy fell under the hawk’s magnetic spell.
Over the next few years, Sy spent more time with these magnificent creatures, getting to know their extraordinary abilities and instincts. They are deeply emotional animals, quick to show anger and frustration, and can hold a grudge for years. But they are also loyal and intensely aware of their surroundings. In this mesmerizing account, featuring sixteen pages of gorgeous color photographs, Sy passionately and vividly reveals the wonderous world of hawks and what they can teach us about nature, life, and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Naturalist Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus) explores what can be learned from birds of prey in this impassioned introduction to falconry. Blending memoir and research, Montgomery shares stories from her own experiences with raptors while weaving in thoughts from other naturalists, wildlife conservationists, friends, and her falconry instructor, the late Nancy Cowan. Montgomery began taking courses in falconry because of her love of birds, and she soon realized she'd entered "a strange new world" when she watched Cowan get bitten. With flowing, intimate, occasionally humorous prose—"A bird of prey, in fact, is so rarefied that it doesn't even shit like the rest of us"—Montgomery reveals the uniqueness of falconry and the birds it involves. As she travels from upstate New York to parks in New Hampshire to visit raptors, she reveals them to be enigmatic, sensitive animals that are prone to outbursts of violence. She also finds them alluring creatures, and conveys vividly their hold on her: "My whole soul feels like a yawning hole that only this bird can fill." The result is a heartfelt and informative primer, just right for adventure- and animal-loving readers. Photos.
