Fantastic, well-illustrated book on all things crane

books:


	• The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes Peter Matthiessen, Robert Bateman North Point Press, 2001 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A wonderful book for everyone who loves the outdoors

The Birds of Heaven is an unusual mix of natural history, travel, personal reflections, and tough lessons in the realities of international cooperation (or lack thereof) in conservation. It is thoroughly engaging, and also has beautiful illustrations and photographs. Everyone who loves the outdoors--not just crane fanatics--should own a copy of this book.

Gorgeous illustrations; interesting text

The most striking feature of this book is the color plates, which might make the book a nice gift for a birdlover. This ornithological study works on at least 2 levels:1)it is a detailed study of the current knowledge of 15 species of cranes, most of which are endangered (The Sandhill crane of the US is an exception), efforts for preservation of the species, and ornithological details. To give the briefest example, some of the cranes are migratory,while others are not. Some migrate long distances, as does the crane that nests in Northern Asia and winters in India. The Sandhill crane, of North America, has the longest migration. Most produce only one egg per season, take more than one year to mature (unlike geese), and are subject to predation;the book enumerates the numerous efforts at preservation worldwide, which include using an airplane as an imprinted mother-figure, just like in the film "Fly Away Home." Also there are preservation societies in many countries, including Cornell U. and in Wisconsin in America. 2) It also works as an historical and geographical travel guide to many remote areas of the world, including China, Mongolia, Siberia, Southern and Southeast Asia,Japan, Korea (where cranes inhabit the demilitarized zone) , Australia, England, Africa, and America-- all continents except South America. These cultures are alien in terms of religion, culture,politics and geography at least to me so reading about them presents a formidable challenge. The book is lavishly illustrated with pictures of these beautiful and diverse birds.

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Heaven is a Matthiessen book

I first read Peter Matthiessen in the 1970s: "The Snow Leopard", and was so moved by his writing that I began to read everything I could find that he authored. I have never been disappointed. "The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes" is, like his other books scholarly and absolutely sings with his love of the subject. And the included art is breathtaking. With International Crane Foundation as well as other authorities on wildlife conservation, Matthiessen has written another book that will transport the reader to numerous countries, under numerous skies to see and hear the ancient bugling of the birds of heaven.

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Fantastic, well-illustrated book on all things crane

_The Birds of Heaven_ by Peter Matthiessen is a well-written and informative account of the fifteen living species of crane. Matthiessen chronicled in the book his years of experience with these birds, traveling to Russia, China, Mongolia (where six species have been recorded), India, Bhutan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Africa, England (where the Eurasian or common crane, extinct there since 1653, is at last a breeding species once more), Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Florida to study and write about the various species. Matthiessen's superb writing is accompanied by truly excellent artwork by artist Robert Bateman, who produced a number of black and white drawings and color paintings for the book.

Matthiessen did an excellent job of covering the biology of cranes in general and of each species individually. The crane family (Gruidae) we learn is found on every continent except South America and Antarctica and is comprised of three genera, _Grus_ (to which all but five of the living species belong to and a group primarily found in Eurasia), _Anthropoides_ (which includes the demoiselle crane as well as the blue crane of South Africa, which may be descended from it; Matthiessen discussed many theories of crane evolution), and _Balearica_ (which includes two African species, the black crowned and gray crowned). Though sometimes called herons in some parts of the world (or more often herons are referred to as cranes), cranes differ from herons in that cranes fly with neck outstretched rather than curved back over the shoulder (they differ from storks in that storks display broad tails, which the cranes lack).

The several species of crane have subtly different breeding habitat and food preferences; for instance in the Amur Basin the white-naped crane probes for tubers while the red crowned crane hunts small animals and picks at vegetation. Not all cranes are restricted to wetlands; while for example all three of the rare white cranes are found only in marshes, the more widespread and abundant demoiselle, Eurasian, and sandhill cranes are generalized feeders able to succeed in a variety of terrains, with the demoiselle primarily an upland feeder.

Some cranes have rather unusual adaptations. Several species are "diggers" - feeding primarily on mud-buried tubers - and these species (the white-naped, sarus, brolga, Siberian, and wattled cranes) have naked, non-feathered skin on their head down to the bill, which is an adaptation analogous to the naked head and neck of vultures. The brolga crane, which is more often found in salt marshes than other species, has evolved specialized salt glands near the eyes through which it can secrete concentrated salts. Feather painting is also covered; some species daub their feathers with wet vegetation or mud during nesting season for camouflage.

The role of cranes in myth and history is also discussed. The word crane comes from the old German word "Cranuh," which like the genus name _Grus_ is a rendition of the bird's cry. The Yakuts people of Siberia revered the Siberian crane as a symbol of their various clans, a uniting symbol for their people. The sarus crane of India (at nearly six feet tall the tallest flying bird on earth) has been for centuries revered as a holy messenger of Vishnu, a Hindu deity, a reverence that has protected this crane from hunting (similarly a Buddhist reverence for life in general and often cranes in particular has helped kept cranes safe in such places as Bhutan). The red-crowned crane (or in Japanese "tancho;" the heaviest flying bird on earth) was revered as a messenger of death and symbol of eternal life to the Ainu and portrayed in Japanese robes, wedding kimonos, screens, scrolls, and other items for centuries. Revered also in Korea as "turumi," a companion to sages, scholars, and musicians, in both nations it was also regrettably hunted and eaten. More recently the peace symbol of the 1960s was originally a Hopi Indian sign derived from the footprint of a crane.

One thing that surprised me was that some crane discoveries were made fairly recently. The whooping crane's breeding ground was found after nine years of searching in 1954. A large, breeding, unknown (though known to Aborigines) population of sarus cranes was discovered in 1961 in Australia. A non-migratory population of red-crowned cranes on Hokkaido wasn't confirmed until 1972. The breeding ground of the central Siberian population of the Siberian crane wasn't found until 1978. The black-necked or Tibetan crane was as late as 1987 thought to be rapidly vanishing, the second most endangered crane on earth, but surveys in the early 1990s in Tibet and Bhutan pegged the species at a much healthier count of 5,500 birds, showing that early estimates were way off.

Issues of crane conservation are well covered, with Matthiessen chronicling the dire straits faced by many of the species, the heroic efforts made by some to save them, and even their role as "umbrella species;" that when their habitats are preserved many other plants and animals benefit. The Amur Basin of Russia for instance - a vital crane habitat - is being threatened by massive deforestation, agricultural runoff, pollution from mining, and proposed dams. Attempts by such agencies as the International Crane Foundation to broker deals between those nations that share the Amur and its products - Russia, South Korea, China, and Japan - has been stymied by mutual mistrust (extending to ridiculous extremes; Chinese officials refusing for instance to refer to the red-crowned crane as the Japanese or Manchurian crane, both frequently used common names). Some successes exist; the Keoladeo Ghana Bird Reserve near Bharatpur, India, established to preserve wintering Siberian cranes is now also home to 364 bird species as well as pythons, nilgai antelope, and sambar deer (though the park is still threatened by the crush of humanity in crowded India).

In addition to being an excellent book on the history and natural history of cranes it is also a wonderful travel book, the author doing a great job of describing what it is like to travel in such exotic places as Bhutan and Mongolia.

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preaching to the choir of the birds of heaven

Of Peter Matthiessen's non-fiction I have previously read only The Snow Leopard, but I have also enjoyed a collection of short stories called On the River Styx. Mr. Matthiessen's authorial voice is very prickly in Birds of Heaven, much more cranky than I remember it in The Snow Leopard, which was written in the wake of the death of his wife from cancer. The Snow Leopard was permeated with sadness and longing. Birds of Heaven is permeated with anger and impatience.

The book is arranged geographically. Beginning in Siberia, Mr. Matthiessen takes through Asia to Australia and then on to Africa and Europe and finally to North America. There are no cranes in South America (or Antarctica).

The author is at his best when he is combining his wry observations of the people and places around him with an enthusiastic and well-informed account of the natural history of a region. I felt that he was less successful when he lets his righteous indignation get the better of him and begins to make snide comments about the absence of a love of the natural world in Chinese society, the wrong-headedness of various bureaucrats and the corruption of local officials.

It is not as if I disagreed with his point of view, but I knew that I already shared it before I even picked up the book. I can't imagine anyone who had any doubts about the importance of cranes as sensitive indicators of the general health of the environment being won over to the crane's side by this hectoring, doctrinaire authorial voice. But then, perhaps this books is really just an extended love letter to the cranes and to the environment in general. As such, it succeeds wonderfully.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

A leading naturalist and writer travels the globe in search of a prized-and vanishing-bird

Cranes are ubiquitous in the earliest legends of the world's peoples, where they often figure as harbingers of heaven and omens of longevity and good fortune. They are still held sacred in many places, and for good reason. Their large size and need for wilderness habitat makes them an "umbrella species" whose wellbeing assures that of other creatures and of the ecosystem at large. Moreover, the enormous spans of their migrations are a symbol of, and stimulus to, international efforts at conservation.

In The Birds of Heaven, Peter Matthiessen has woven together journeys in search of the fifteen species of cranes in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia. As he tracks them (and their declining numbers) in the company of scientists, conservationists, and regional people encountered along the way, he captures the dilemmas of a planet in ecological crisis, and the deeper loss to humankind if these beautiful and imposing creatures are allowed to disappear. The book includes color plates by renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman.

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