Scientists in the Field – serie

Winner of the Green Earth Book AwardSibert Medalist, National Book Award Honoree, and New York Times bestselling author Sy Montgomery turns her formidable talents to the story of California condors and the scientists who have fought against their extinction in this installment in the award-winning Scientists in the Field series.In April of 1987 the last wild California condor was captured and taken to live in captivity like the other twenty-six remaining birds of its kind. Many thought that the days were over of of this remarkable, distinguished bird that had roamed the skies of North and Central American for thousands of years.Sy Montgomery employs her skill for on-the-ground reporting, shrewd observation, and stunning narrative prose to detail the efforts of scientists, volunteers, and everyday citizens to get California condors back in the wild. In particular, Montgomery profiles employees at the Santa Barbara Zoo who have worked tirelessly to raise abandoned chicks, nurse sick birds back to health, and conduct research that can support legislation to ban what is probably the largest threat to the existence of the wild condor: lead bullets. In turns affectionate and frustrated, hopeful and heartbreaking, Montgomery’s powerful prose does justice to these ancient, sociable, and elegant creatures.Complete with world-class, full-color photography and helpful sidebars that provide details such as the history of the bird’s fight back from extinction, the dangers of lead poisoning, and the relationship of condors to the Chumash nation, Condor Comeback is an inspiring story of groundbreaking science, perseverance, and cooperation.

Sibert Medalist, National Book Award Honoree, and New York Times bestselling author Sy Montgomery dives below the surface to study giant manta rays in Ecuador in this final installment in the award-winning Scientists in the Field series.On the vast Pacific, the ocean heaves and sighs like a beating heart. But dive beneath the surface, and angels appear. Giant manta rays—wider than a car is long, with wingspans stretching up to twenty feet—glide past with balletic grace, then vanish into the murky blue. They can soar to depths of nearly a mile, race at twenty-two miles an hour, and live more than fifty years. With the largest brain of any fish on Earth, they are among the ocean’s most intelligent and mysterious creatures.But even the most magnificent creatures are fragile. Because mantas grow up slowly—reaching maturity only at seven to ten years—and raise just a single pup once every few years, they are uniquely vulnerable. Only recently did scientists discover that these “angels of the sea” are hovering on the edge of extinction.Bestselling author Sy Montgomery and Patrick Joyce joins scientist Michel Guererro and his team to search for mantas in Ecuador’s plankton-rich waters, record their sightings, chart their locations, and note their behaviors and the conditions around them. The work will test and challenge them. But as they struggle and learn, they will also be transformed by their encounters with one of the largest, most mysterious, and most imperiled beings ever to swim the sea.

"An appealing, elegantly designed introduction to another much-maligned species." —Kirkus (starred review)"A fascinating, informative, and inclusive window into a feared and misunderstood species." —Booklist (starred review)This myth-busting addition to the critically acclaimed Scientists in the Field series by Sibert medal winning team Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop is perfect for nonfiction readers looking for more female scientist narratives, or a fresh perspective on an underrepresented animal—Hyenas!Timely and inspiring, The Hyena Scientist sets the record straight about one of history’s most hated and misunderstood mammals, while featuring the groundbreaking, pioneering research of a female scientist in a predominately male field in this offering by Sibert-winning duo Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop.As a scientist studying one of the only mammalian societies led entirely by females, zoologist Kay Holecamp has made it her life’s work to understand hyenas, the fascinating, complex creatures that are playful, social, and highly intelligent—almost nothing like the mangy monsters of pop culture lore.