In this dazzling literary collection, writers explore and celebrate their lives with and love for birds-detailing experiences from Alaska to Bermuda, South Dakota to Panama. In When Birds Are Near, fresh new voices as well as seasoned authors offer tales of adventure, perseverance, and fun, whether taking us on a journey down Highway 1 to see a rare California Condor, fighting the destruction of our grasslands, or simply watching the feeder from a kitchen window. But these essays are more than just field notes. The authors reflect on love, loss, and family, engaging a broad array of emotions, from wonder to amusement. As Rob Nixon writes, "Sometimes the best bird experiences are defined less by a rare sighting than by a quality of presence, some sense of overall occasion that sets in motion memories of a particular landscape, a particular light, a particular choral effect, a particular hiking partner." Or, as the poet Elizabeth Bradfield remarks, "We resonate with certain animals, I believe, because they are a physical embodiment of an answer we are seeking. A sense of ourselves in the world that is nearly inexpressible." When Birds Are Near gives us the chance to walk alongside these avid appreciators of birds and reflect on our own interactions with our winged companions. Contributors: Christina Baal, Thomas Bancroft, K. Bannerman, R. A. Behrstock, Richard Bohannon, Elizabeth Bradfield, Christine Byl, Susan Cerulean, Sara Crosby, Jenn Dean, Rachel Dickinson, Katie Fallon, Jonathan Franzen, Andrew Furman, Tim Gallagher, David Gessner, Renata Golden, Ursula Murray Husted, Eli J. Knapp, Donald Kroodsma, J. Drew Lanham, John R. Nelson, Rob Nixon, Jonathan Rosen, Alison Townsend, Alison Vilag

In this memoir of the Hudson River and of her family, Susan Fox Rogers writes from a fresh perspective: the seat of her kayak. Low in the water, she explores the bays and the larger estuary, riding the tides, marveling over sturgeons and eels, eagles and herons, and spotting the remains of the ice and cement industries. After years of dipping her paddle into the waters off the village of Tivoli, she came to know the rocks and tree limbs, currents and eddies, mansions and islands so well that she claimed that section of the river as her own: her reach. Woven into Rogers's intimate exploration of the river is the story of her life as a woman in the outdoors rock climbing and hiking as well as kayaking.

Rogers writes of the Hudson River with skill and vivacity. Her strong sense of place informs her engagement with a waterway that lured the early Dutch settlers, entranced nineteenth-century painters, and has been marked by decades of pollution. The river and the communities along its banks become partners in Rogers's life and vivid characters in her memoir. Her travels on the river range from short excursions to the Saugerties Lighthouse to a days-long journey from Tivoli to Tarrytown and a circumnavigation of Manhattan Island, while in memory she ventures as far as the Indiana Dunes and the French Pyrenees.

In a fluid, engaging voice, My Reach mixes the genres of memoir, outdoor adventure, natural and unnatural history. Rogers's interest in the flora and fauna of the river is as keen as her insight into the people who live and travel along the waterway. She integrates moments of description and environmental context with her own process of grieving the recent deaths of both parents. The result is a book that not only moves the reader but also informs and entertains."

A collection of essays honoring the Hudson Riverkeeper, John Cronin.

Thelma and Louise get sporty (and survive) in this anthology of true stories about women whose idea of fun involves sharing adventures--big and small--in the great outdoors. In essays that not only take you to mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers but also explore the powerful and intimate bond of female companionship, the editor of Solo: On Her Own Adventure introduces sixteen daring women and their travel mates as they ski, climb, hike, bike, and drive all over the world.

Trudge through the muddied roads of Australia's outback with thirty-something Sara Corbett and her childhood chum to find the legendary 80-year-old woman rumored to split wood faster than any man who challenges her. Go fishing with Holly Morris, kick back with Pam Houston and a good friend at a Denver ranch, or bike with Diane Ackerman and her friend through the "aubergine drapery of the forest" as they circumnavigate Otsego Lake. Hop in the car with Mary Morris and her baby daughter to meet the eccentrics living in the California desert, and climb the Himalayas with 54-year-old Jean Gould and her 70-year-old travel partner.

Whether you are an armchair adventurer or a thrill seeker in your own right, these exhilarating essays will inspire you to dust off your bicycle, lace up your hiking boots, fill your gas tank, and take your dearest friend along for the time of your lives.