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Down to the River and Up to the Trees
- Discover the hidden nature on your doorstep
- Narrated by: Sue Belfrage
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
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Down to the River and Up to the Trees
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Publisher's summary
In a stressful, chaotic world, many of us are turning to nature for a sense of serenity and happiness.
While the idea of the wild outdoors is enticing, though, our busy lives and our location can cause us to become detached from nature. Down to the River and Up to the Trees will show you how to connect with the natural world around you, whether you live in the city or the countryside.
From getting to know the local wildlife to foraging and creating naturally sourced masterpieces, Down to the River is brimming with practical information, intriguing quotes and inspirational ideas. Discover how to carve your own spoon or to be able to tell if the moon is waxing or waning, or try forest bathing (surrounding yourself with trees). Learn how to make yourself at home amongst the animals and plants on your doorstep, in harmony with your surroundings.
Critic reviews
‘The message from Sue Belfrage is clear – get up, get dressed and get out. And take the kids to reconnect with nature!’ – Chris Packham
‘A generous, open-hearted book for our times, full of the sheer joy of discovery’ – Paul Evans, Guardian Country Diarist
‘A lovely book, engaging all of your senses like a walk through the woods. There is so much here to enjoy, whether you live in a town house or country cottage.’ – Kevin Parr, author of Rivers Run
‘If you don’t have a generous, enthusiastic, artist friend to accompany you as you explore the natural world in your neighbourhood be of good heart. Author and artist Sue Belfrage just fits that description as does her beautiful little illustrated book-cum-journal’ – Living Woods magazine
‘A heartening book about how to reconnect with nature for one’s own well-being… written with a warm, light touch, and decorated with attractive illustrations.’ – Woodland Awards 2017
‘This guide to rediscovering nature in an overly complex world is a real thing of beauty.’ – Country Walking Magazine
‘This charming little book contains top tips for getting out into wild nature […] a great gift for those hunting for natural inspiration.’ – Countryfile Magazine
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5 out of 5 stars
-
This is an unexpected wonder. The quiet virtues of the snail reflect the quiet voyage of the author.
- By Frances on 08-03-15
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The Backyard Parables
- Lessons on Gardening, and Life
- By: Margaret Roach
- Narrated by: Margaret Roach
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Margaret Roach has been harvesting 30 years of backyard parables - deceptively simple, instructive stories from a life spent digging ever deeper - and has distilled them in this memoir along with her best tips for garden making, discouraging all manner of animal and insect opponents, at-home pickling, and more. After ruminating on the bigger picture in her memoir And I Shall Have Some Peace There, Margaret Roach has returned to the garden, insisting as ever that we must garden with both our head and heart, or as she expresses it, with "horticultural how-to and woo-woo."
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great Writing Distracting Reading
- By Amazon Customer on 02-11-13
By: Margaret Roach
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How to Read Nature
- An Expert's Guide to Discovering the Outdoors You've Never Noticed
- By: Tristan Gooley
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to shut down their senses and stumble through each day in an oblivious bubble, and yet some people end up having much richer experiences than others. In this guidebook, natural navigator Tristan Gooley strives to reawaken our senses to help us understand and deepen our personal experience of nature. His message is to connect - however we can and to whatever draws us in.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A fool sees not the same tree a wise man sees
- By Mark A Bleakley on 08-07-18
By: Tristan Gooley
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A Naturalist at Large
- The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of elephants in Botswana bruising mopane trees.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Listen and See the World Anew!
- By Thoughtful Learner on 06-03-18
By: Bernd Heinrich
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The Wild Places
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story5 out of 5 stars 76
Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? Or have we tarmacked, farmed and built ourselves out of wildness? In his vital, bewitching, inspiring classic, Robert Macfarlane sets out in search of the wildness that remains.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Magical
- By Jennifer on 01-27-22
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My First Summer in the Sierra
- By: John Muir
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 464
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 404
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 403
It was June of 1869 when John Muir reluctantly accepted a job herding sheep from the central valley of California to the headwaters of the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers, high into the Sierra Nevadas and deep into the Yosemite region. He felt ill equipped for the work, and yet the opportunity thrilled his adventurous spirit. With a notebook tied to his belt, he set out for a summer he would never forget. My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir’s classic account of that extraordinary journey.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Almost every line is quotable
- By Kacy on 08-30-13
By: John Muir
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The Old Ways
- A Journey on Foot
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 721
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 634
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 638
In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane’s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology, and literature.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A perfect pairing of prose and narrator
- By chris on 11-05-12
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The Turquoise Ledge
- By: Leslie Marmon Silko
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
Leslie Marmon Silko established herself as “the finest prose writer of her generation” (Larry McMurtry) with her debut novel Ceremony, one of the most acclaimed works of the 20th century. Of mixed Laguna Pueblo, Cherokee, Mexican, and white heritage, Silko brings a unique perspective to her powerful works. In this deeply personal and spiritual book, she combines memoirs, traditional storytelling, and ruminations on the natural world.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Crazy lady talks about aliens, snakes and rocks
- By Justice Campbell on 10-21-17
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The Armchair Birder
- Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds
- By: John Yow
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4 out of 5 stars 91
While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives.
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4 out of 5 stars
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If You Love Birds . . . Grab It!
- By Kathy in CA on 02-23-17
By: John Yow
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The Cabaret of Plants
- Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination
- By: Richard Mabey
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4 out of 5 stars 87
A rich, sweeping, and compelling work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Richard Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Can't wait to listen to again!
- By hyacinthgirl on 12-27-16
By: Richard Mabey
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One Wild Bird at a Time
- Portraits of Individual Lives
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 535
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 465
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Story4 out of 5 stars 466
In One Wild Bird at a Time, Heinrich returns to his great love: close, day-to-day observations of individual wild birds. Heinrich's observations lead to fascinating questions - and sometimes startling discoveries. A great crested flycatcher bringing food to the young acts surreptitiously and is attacked by the mate. Why? A pair of northern flickers hammering their nest-hole into the side of Heinrich's cabin delivers the opportunity to observe the feeding competition between siblings.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Adventure In Nature
- By Sara on 12-21-16
By: Bernd Heinrich
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Rascal
- By: Sterling North
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 225
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 185
In 1918 Wisconsin, 11-year-old Sterling North has an almost perfect life. He keeps skunks in the backyard, goes everywhere with his enormous Saint Bernard, and is building a canoe in the living room. The only trouble is life gets a little lonely for him and his father since his mother died. While scouting around the woods one afternoon, he discovers an abandoned, month-old raccoon. Afraid the kit will die on its own, he takes it home to join his menagerie.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very Enjoyable
- By Tad on 02-13-10
By: Sterling North
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Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
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Ring of Bright Water
- By: Gavin Maxwell
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
'Ring of Bright Water' represents Gavin Maxwell's account of his life at Camusfearna, a remote cottage in the western Highlands, and in particular the two otters, Mijbil and Edal, who became his constant and much-loved companions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Kindness to Creatures Great and Small
- By Sariah on 01-19-18
By: Gavin Maxwell
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The Habit of Rivers
- Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing
- By: Ted Leeson, John Gierach - foreword
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 169
Originally published in 1994, this book was a fly-fishing phenomenon in the way Howell Raines' Fly Fishing Through the Mid-Life Crisis was. Taking his fishing hobby to near metaphysical levels, Ted Leeson tells about his passions: rivers, trout, and fly fishing. With wry humor and rare insight, he explores questions that engage most fishermen: What is it about rivers that draws us so irresistibly, and why does fly fishing seem such an aptly suited response?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Greatest Book I've Ever Listened To.
- By Travis on 03-17-18
By: Ted Leeson, and others
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Poemcrazy
- Freeing Your Life with Words
- By: Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Following the success of several recent inspirational and practical books for would-be writers, Poemcrazy is a perfect guide for everyone who ever wanted to write a poem but was afraid to try. Writing workshop leader Susan Wooldridge shows how to think, use one's senses, and practice exercises that will make poems more likely to happen.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Her Words, Her Voice...
- By S. Schultz on 11-21-14
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The Summer Book
- By: Tove Jansson, Thomas Teal - translator
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
In The Summer Book Tove Jansson distills the essence of the summer - its sunlight and storms - into 22 crystalline vignettes. This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia's grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland. The grandmother is unsentimental and wise, if a little cranky; Sophia is impetuous and volatile, but she tends to her grandmother with the care of a new parent.
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5 out of 5 stars
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GORGEOUS. FULL OF GRACE. NEEDED THIS.
- By Annie Armstrong on 04-14-22
By: Tove Jansson, and others
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A Most Remarkable Creature
- The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey
- By: Jonathan Meiburg
- Narrated by: Jonathan Meiburg
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 645
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 552
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 549
An enthralling account of a modern voyage of discovery as we meet the clever, social birds of prey called caracaras, which puzzled Darwin, fascinate modern-day falconers, and carry secrets of our planet's deep past in their family history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I don't leave reviews often, but . . .
- By Steven L Peck on 06-24-21
By: Jonathan Meiburg