Ten thousand years ago, the California condor's shadow raced across the rock faces of canyon walls throughout the Southwest, but, over time, the majestic condor disappeared from this land--seemingly forever. Last seen in northern Arizona in 1924, the California condor was on the brink of extinction. In the early 1980s, scientists documented only twenty-two condors remaining in the wild, all in California. Thanks to a successful captive-breeding program, their numbers have increased dramatically, and dozens now fly free over northern Arizona and southern Utah. Sophie A. H. Osborn's groundbreaking book, Condors in Canyon Country, tells the tragic but ultimately triumphant story of the condors of the Grand Canyon region. A natural storyteller, Osborn has written an in-depth, highly personal narrative that brings you along as the author and other condor biologists struggle to ensure the survival of the species. The book's kaleidoscopic photographs of these huge birds flying free over the Southwest are nearly as breathtaking as seeing California condors live. The only book of its kind, Condors in Canyon Country is a must-read for anyone passionate about endangered species and what humankind can do to save them.

Apples, blueberries, peppers, cucumbers, coffee, and vanilla. Do you like to eat and drink? Then you might want to thank a bee. Bees pollinate 75 percent of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. Around the world, bees pollinate $24 billion worth of crops each year. Without bees, humans would face a drastically reduced diet. We need bees to grow the foods that keep us healthy. But numbers of bees are falling, and that has scientists alarmed. What's causing the decline? Diseases, pesticides, climate change, and loss of habitat are all threatening bee populations. Some bee species teeter on the brink of extinction. Learn about the many bee species on Earth—their nests, their colonies, their life cycles, and their vital connection to flowering plants. Most importantly, find out how you can help these important pollinators. "If we had to try and do what bees do on a daily basis, if we had to come out here and hand pollinate all of our native plants and our agricultural plants, there is physically no way we could do it. . . . Our best bet is to conserve our native bees." —ecologist Rebecca Irwin, North Carolina State University

A leading figure in the emerging field of extinction studies, Thom van Dooren puts philosophy into conversation with the natural sciences and his ethnographic encounters to vivify the cultural and ethical significance of modern-day extinctions. Unlike other meditations on the subject, Flight Ways incorporates the particularities of real animals and their worlds, drawing philosophers, natural scientists, and general readers into the experience of living among and losing biodiversity. Each chapter of Flight Ways focuses on a different species or group of birds: North Pacific albatrosses, Indian vultures, an endangered colony of penguins in Australia, Hawaiian crows, and the iconic whooping cranes of North America. Written in eloquent and moving prose, the book takes stock of what is lost when a life form disappears from the world—the wide-ranging ramifications that ripple out to implicate a number of human and more-than-human others. Van Dooren intimately explores what life is like for those who must live on the edge of extinction, balanced between life and oblivion, taking care of their young and grieving their dead. He bolsters his studies with real-life accounts from scientists and local communities at the forefront of these developments. No longer abstract entities with Latin names, these species become fully realized characters enmeshed in complex and precarious ways of life, sparking our sense of curiosity, concern, and accountability toward others in a rapidly changing world.

An illustrated monthly with popular articles about nature.