WINGS ALONG THE WATERWAY
by Mary Barrett Brown & illustrated by Mary Barrett Brown
The illustrator of Esbensen's Tiger with Wings (1991) looks affectionately at 21 of her favorite shore- and water-birds—blue heron, osprey, white ibis, roseate spoonbill, purple gallinule, limpkin, etc.—focusing on appearance, diet, courtship, nesting, and raising young, with occasional mention of range, migration patterns, or size. Brown stresses protecting the habitat of these elegant, often endangered birds. Her precise, slightly stylized paintings, some spanning two pages, often show the birds at their most dramatic in courtship plumage. Perspective or framing is occasionally awkward (e.g., an outsize baby coot is superimposed on an adult), but, still this is a beautiful browsing book of special interest to those along the coast from Maryland to Florida. Further reading; index. (Nonfiction. 10+)