Tundra Swans - Hardcover

Grade 3-6?A lucid and spirited narrative and well-chosen full-color photographs illuminate the life cycle and current status of the tundra swan, one of North America's two native swan species. Although tundra swans use two flyways for their yearly migration, Lavies concentrates on a flock that migrates from the Chesapeake Bay area to Alaska and Canada, a 4,000-mile trip. In the first few pages, she describes the species' typical feeding, grooming, and flying behavior. The author devotes most of the book to the activities of a research project of which she was a part. The data that the team amassed will help scientists create a viable conservation plan, since legalized hunting and a loss of natural diet and habitat threaten these birds. The pictures show conservationists, scientists, and volunteers, many of whom are children, capturing swans with a net; fitting them with numbered plastic collars; collecting physical data about each swan; and using radio telemetry from a car or airplane to track their activity 24 hours a day. Readers will close the book not only knowing more about tundra swans, but also having gained an understanding of how scientists make a difference in today's complex world.?Ellen Fader, Oregon State Library, Salem
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-6. Photographer Lavies, whose previous books include A Gathering of Garter Snakes (1993) and Monarch Butterflies (1992), explores the migration of the tundra swans. The first half of the book describes the swans themselves; the second part concerns the efforts of a scientific team to band the birds and track their migratory route from Chesapeake Bay to the arctic tundra. While the text informs reader about the tundra swans' habits and the problems brought about by ecological changes and hunting, the book is most notable for its beautifully lit photographs of swans in the air and on the water. Carolyn Phelan