About the Book
"Flight is the essence of birdness. I strive to illustrate the beauty and complexity of avian flight." - Peter Cavanagh 100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight offers a vivid and varied glimpse into the world of birds. A white-tailed eagle plummeting through a Japanese sky, a brown pelican striking a silhouette against an Ecuadorian sunset, an Atlantic puffin carrying its fish dinner above the Scottish coast, or a keel-billed toucan gliding through a Costa Rican jungle canopy; readers will marvel at the splendour of birds in flight while learning the techniques to capture these gravity-defying moments from a world-class nature photographer. For each picture, author and photographer Peter Cavanagh shares his most evocative thoughts: the challenges of the shoot, the beauty of the location, and the curiosities of the species. Bird people will enjoy the bird photographs and facts, travelers will gobble up the tales of distant parts, and photographers will absorb the technical details. For instance, readers might be surprised to see that a very slow shutter speed can freeze the motion of hummingbird wings. Peter Cavanagh has collected 100 beautiful photos spanning a wide range of species. The subjects of each of the 11 chapters are: . Eagles . Hummingbirds . Gulls and Terns . Small Waterbirds . Large Waterbirds . Ducks, Geese and Swans . Raptors . Condors and Corvids . Cranes . Songbirds AUTHOR: Peter Cavanagh is a wildlife photographer who has been taking pictures since he was a boy in England. Peter's migration to the photography and study of bird flight evolved from his study of flight aerodynamics for aircraft pilot qualifications; his professional training in anatomy, biomechanics, and high-speed photography; and his love of nature and the outdoors. Peter's images have been included in the Audubon Society's Top 100 Bird Photographs of the Year. 120 colour photographs
About the Author :
Peter Cavanagh is a Wolverhampton-born wildlife photographer who has been taking pictures since he was a boy. After earning his PhD in human biomechanics from the University of London in 1972, he moved to Penn State University in the USA, where he became a Distinguished Professor. He returned to London in 2004 to receive a Doctor of Science (D Sc) degree from the University of London, and to Glasgow in 2019 where he was installed as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Peter currently lives in the San Juan Islands off Washington State, USA with his wife, artist Ann Vandervelde.
Review :
A gorgeous visual pick for collections strong in wildlife photography or ornithology alike. Even general-interest readers who have no special interest in science or photos, but who enjoy birds, will find this oversized presentation of images accessible and visually gorgeous as Cavanagh studies bird flight via the camera lens to provide details on aviary aerodynamics and natural history. The full-page images and their accompanying information are unique, compelling attractions for anyone who likes birds and wants more details about their flight and natural history.--Diane C. Donovan "Donovan's Bookshelf" (12/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Artists who paint birds need clear reference photos of various flight positions. A new book called 100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight delivers a helpful collection of images in a beautiful and useful form... The photos are sharp and clear, reproduced full-page along with the author's commentary... The text presents the context of the shot, the mechanics of the flight pose, or insights about behavior or the environment. That text combined with the photos makes this an unusually welcome resource for birdwatchers or ornithological artists who want a better understanding of their subject.--James Gurney "Gurney Journey Blog" (12/13/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Every page of Peter Cavanagh's "100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight," from the preface... to the ending acknowledgements is a delight for the bird enthusiast regardless of whether or not they are an active or living-room birder. It's a must read, especially for anyone thrilled by the sight of feathered flight...Of the many dozens of bird books that I have read, skimmed, purchased or borrowed over 60 or so years, no one has inspired me more than Peter Cavanagh and his 100 Flying Birds.--Thom Smith "Berkshire Eagle" (11/25/2021 12:00:00 AM)
I was expecting 100 Flying Birds to be something of a coffee-table book, designed to showcase a set of attractive photos of beautiful birds -- and, indeed, to a large part that is what it is -- but there is considerably more to this book than just the pretty pictures... All in all, this feels like a complete, authoritative and interesting book with heaps of information hung off the main attraction, the (just over) 100 stunning photographs of birds in flight.--Stephen Menzie "British Birds Magazine" (6/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)
If a camera is your birding tool of choice or is a consideration, here is a book focused sharply on you... His stories define what sounds like a delightful and generous field companion, sharing the best of how he does bird photography along with why it didn't always go as planned.--Jim Williams "Star Tribune" (11/23/2021 12:00:00 AM)
In his pictorial volume, the author sets out to capture the very essence of flight. Each of the hundred birds in his beautiful coffee table book is depicted mid-flight, the result being a book filled with a vantage point not normally seen. Flipping through the pages, one is impressed at the sheer variety of flight stances. No two birds fly in the same way, and Cavanagh has gone to great lengths to depict each and every one.... These are blink-and-you-miss-it moments which Cavanagh has collected for the reader's benefit, and they are truly astounding. 100 Flying Birds is a must for the true bird lover and a worthy addition to any coffee table.--David Neilsen "Hook Magazine" (7/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)
In this new book, he [Peter] displays his love of birds and his talent with the camera. After all, flight photography is perhaps the most challenging of bird-photography tasks, but Cavanagh does not fail to impress.-- "Bird Watching Magazine" (11/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Perfectly captures the striking sight of wild birds in flight.--Georgina Probert "Cage and Aviary Birds Newspaper" (12/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Peter Cavanagh's top 100 selection, from the more than a half million images that he's taken all over the world, highlights both aesthetics and aerodynamic design. Hummingbird plumage, iridescent in millisecond exposures, is rendered in minute detail; Andean condors spread their ten-foot-wide wings over two-page spreads; Galapagos hawks attack with talons outstretched. Cavanagh's delightful field stories and nerdy tech information enliven every facing page.--Laurence A. Marschall "Natural History Museum Magazine" (12/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
You may have seen many pictures of, say, Roseate spoonbills in an estuary, but likely none as awesome and powerful -- and lovely -- as the one in this book, with legs and wings in full flight extension, showing off its spectacular colors (colors, plural, not just the roseate). And similarly with 99 other birds -- raptors, songbirds, ducks, and otherwise. Each image is accompanied by a page of prose detail on the bird... And of detail, as well, of the process involved in taking that particular photograph. No matter how big your avian-related library is, this would be a terrific addition to it.--Mark Gamin "10,000 Birds Blog" (12/4/2021 12:00:00 AM)
