On the Wing, Alan Tennant
On the Wing, Alan Tennant
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On the Wing
To the Edge of the Earth With the Peregrine Falcon

Author: Alan Tennant

Narrator: Alan Tennant

Abridged: 5 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2004


Synopsis

In this extraordinary narrative, Alan Tennant recounts his all-out effort to radio-track the transcontinental migration of the peregrine falcon -- an investigation no one before him had ever taken to such lengths.
On the Wing transports us from the windswept flats of the Texas barrier islands -- where the tundra falcons pause during their springtime journey north -- to the Arctic, and then south, through Mexico, Belize, and into the Caribbean, in a hilariously picaresque and bumpy flight. At the helm is Tennant's partner in falcon-chasing, George Vose, a septuagenarian World War II vet who trusts his instincts as much as his instruments. As the two men nearly lose their lives and run afoul of the law in the race to keep their birds in view and their rattletrap Cessna gassed up and running, Tennant renders with gorgeous precision and skill the landscape and wildlife they pass on the way and the falcons that direct their course.
On the Wing is a breathtaking encounter with these majestic birds -- the icons of pharaohs, Oriental emperors, and European nobility -- whose fierce mien, power, and swiftness have fired the human imagination for centuries. This is an unforgettable tale that speaks to all our dreams of flight.

About Alan Tennant

Alan Tennant is the author of numerous books on wildlife and nature, including The Guadalupe Mountains of Texas, which won the Southern Book Award, Western Books Award, and Best Nonfiction Honors from the Texas Institute of Letters. He currently lives in West Texas and conducts natural history trips around the world.


Reviews

Goodreads review by J.L.

On the Wing drew me in. I was intrigued by the author following peregrine falcons from his Cessna and investigating their migration patterns (from Texas to the Arctic to the Caribbean...). On the Wing is an incredible adventure. I can appreciate Tennant's obsession with tracking the peregrine; howev......more

The author says it best in an interview: "This is not a science book. It's not even really a bird book. This is a romance -- in the broadest sense -- about how I became obsessed with a femme fatale. A falcon. My pilot, George Vose, and I were on a quest, like following the Grail. Our peregrine just......more

Goodreads review by Clare

This memoir features flying, falcons, geography and a look at human-caused destruction of nature. During the 1980s Alan was studying falcons. They had been known as flying from Alaska to winter in Texas, but nobody knew where. Creatures of trees and cliffs, they seemed to vanish in Texas. Then one t......more

Goodreads review by John

In some cases there are no obvious economic reasons for the conservation of a species, but an author such as Alan Tennant, in his book, the national bestseller, On The Wing (or, To The Edge Of The Earth With The Peregrine Falcon, Anchor Books, Random House, 2005), does such a thorough job of describ......more

Goodreads review by Troy

The one-phrase rundown: a well-written hell of a ride. This, like Sunk Without a Sound, was a book I picked up in a VC at a national park, this time Big Bend. Alan Tennant is a Texas-based writer whose numerous otherworks include a field guide to snakes. Someone from my old stomping ground who likes......more