Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Questioning Why Birds Migrate
Why do birds migrate? The popular view holds it is due to weather; birds leave nesting grounds to avoid winter weather, returning when the weather improves. John Rappole has studied migrating birds for 50 years. He believes birds leave ancestral homes in the tropics to exploit plentiful resources in their northern range.
Migration Mysteries: Adventures, Disasters, and Epiphanies in a Life with Birds, by John H. Rappole, explains this conclusion. It also explores Rappole’s career as a research scientist from the 1970s through the present.
Migration Mysteries was written for the general public, more approachable than his highly technical and theoretical Bird Migrations: A New Understanding. Migration Mysteries is as much a memoir as a book about migrating birds. Rappole explains his research that led to his bird migration conclusions, while providing a lively account of his research career.