Vultures in the Sky

Vultures in the Sky PDF Author: Todd Downing
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504061578
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
A customs agent must track down a killer on a train barreling across the Texas border into Mexico . . . When a train leaves Laredo en route to Mexico City, the trip turns terrifying as one passenger after another falls victim to murder. Will anyone make it to their destination alive? Fortunately, Hugh Rennert—US Customs agent and amateur detective—is on board, and his investigation will proceed full steam ahead . . . “You won’t go wrong in giving Todd Downing a try.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

Vultures in the Sky

Vultures in the Sky PDF Author: Todd Downing
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504061578
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
A customs agent must track down a killer on a train barreling across the Texas border into Mexico . . . When a train leaves Laredo en route to Mexico City, the trip turns terrifying as one passenger after another falls victim to murder. Will anyone make it to their destination alive? Fortunately, Hugh Rennert—US Customs agent and amateur detective—is on board, and his investigation will proceed full steam ahead . . . “You won’t go wrong in giving Todd Downing a try.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

A Vulture Landscape

A Vulture Landscape PDF Author: Ian Parsons
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781849954570
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A Vulture Landscape is more than just a book about vultures, in the same way that these majestic flyers are more than just birds. Vultures are a crucial part of many of the world's ecosystems, and without these specialist environmental cleansers the ecosystems wouldn't work properly. A calendar year in the lives of these gargantuan raptors is explored as they live, breed, feed and fly with effortless ease across the skies of the vulture landscape that is Extremadura in central Spain.There are four species of vulture in Europe, and a fifth that is becoming more of a regular visitor as its own global population plummets. The serious conservation issues faced on a day-to-day basis by these species, and their relatives spread across the globe, are explored, issues that in many cases threaten their very survival. However, this book is a celebration of the vulture and the landscape in which it reigns.Using the latest science, his keen eye and his passion for the birds themselves, the author takes the reader on a journey, introducing readers to the vultures, their lives and their landscape. Along the way, much of the other wonderful wildlife of the vulture landscape, from exotic Bee-eaters and bewitching Montagu's Harriers to rutting Red Stags as well as some very excitable cattle, are included. Ian explains how watching vultures is not only addictive, but that it can often lead to vulture gazing, surely the most relaxing form of bird watching there is!

The Cat Screams

The Cat Screams PDF Author: Todd Downing
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
ISBN: 1434464768
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Hugh Rennert investigates a strange series of suicides in near-rural Mexico.

Consider the Birds

Consider the Birds PDF Author: Debbie Blue
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426775903
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
From biblical times to today, humans have found meaning and significance in the actions and symbolism of birds. We admire their mystery and manners, their strength and fragility, their beauty and their ugliness—and perhaps compare these very characteristics to their own lives in the process. Though admired today, the birds of Scripture are largely unseen and underappreciated. From the well-known image of the dove to the birds that gorge on the flesh of the defeated “beast” in Revelation, birds play a dynamic part in Scripture. They bring bread to the prophets. They are food for the wanderers. As sacrifices, they are the currency of mercy. Highlighting 10 birds throughout Scripture, author Debbie Blue explores their significance in both familiar and unfamiliar biblical stories and illustrates how and why they have represented humanity across culture, Christian tradition, art, and contemporary psyche. With these (usually) minor characters at the forefront of human imaginations, poignant life lessons illuminate such qualities as desire and gratitude, power and vulnerability, insignificance and importance—even as readers gain a better understanding that God’s mysterious grace is sometimes most evident in His simplest of creatures.

Sky Burial

Sky Burial PDF Author: Xinran
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307366278
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
In 2002 Xinran’s Good Women of China became an international bestseller, revealing startling new truths about Chinese life to the West. Now she returns with an epic story of love, friendship, courage and sacrifice set in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Based on a true story, Xinran’s extraordinary second book takes the reader right to the hidden heart of one of the world’s most mysterious and inaccessible countries. In March 1958, Shu Wen learns that her husband, an idealistic army doctor, has died while serving in Tibet. Determined to find out what happened to him, she courageously sets off to join his regiment. But to her horror, instead of finding a Tibetan people happily welcoming their Chinese “liberators” as she expected, she walks into a bloody conflict, with the Chinese subject to terrifying attacks from Tibetan guerrillas. It seems that her husband may have died as a result of this clash of cultures, this disastrous misunderstanding. But before she can know his fate, she is taken hostage and embarks on a life-changing journey through the Tibetan countryside — a journey that will last twenty years and lead her to a deep appreciation of Tibet in all its beauty and brutality. Sadly, when she finally discovers the truth about her husband, she must carry her knowledge back to a China that, in her absence, has experienced the Cultural Revolution and changed beyond recognition. . .

Vulture View

Vulture View PDF Author: April Pulley Sayre
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805075571
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Introduces young readers to the world of the turkey vulture.

A Window on Eternity

A Window on Eternity PDF Author: Edward O., Wilson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476747431
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The remarkable story of how one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the world was destroyed, restored, and continues to evolve—with stunning, full-color photographs by two of the world’s best wildlife photographers. A Window on Eternity is a stunning book of splendid prose and gorgeous photography about one of the biologically richest places in Africa and perhaps in the world. Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique was nearly destroyed in a brutal civil war, then was reborn and is now evolv-ing back to its original state. Edward O. Wilson’s personal, luminous description of the wonders of Gorongosa is beautifully complemented by Piotr Naskrecki’s extraordinary photographs of the park’s exquisite natural beauty. A bonus DVD of Academy Award–winning director Jessica Yu’s documentary, The Guide, is also included with the book. Wilson takes readers to the summit of Mount Gorongosa, sacred to the local people and the park’s vital watershed. From the forests of the mountain he brings us to the deep gorges on the edge of the Rift Valley, previously unexplored by biologists, to search for new species and assess their ancient origins. He describes amazing animal encounters from huge colonies of agricultural termites to spe­cialized raider ants that feed on them to giant spi­ders, a battle between an eagle and a black mamba, “conversations” with traumatized elephants that survived the slaughter of the park’s large animals, and more. He pleads for Gorongosa—and other wild places—to be allowed to exist and evolve in its time­less way uninterrupted into the future. As he examines the near destruction and rebirth of Gorongosa, Wilson analyzes the balance of nature, which, he observes, teeters on a razor’s edge. Loss of even a single species can have serious ramifications throughout an ecosystem, and yet we are carelessly destroying complex biodiverse ecosystems with unknown consequences. The wildlands in which these ecosystems flourish gave birth to humanity, and it is this natural world, still evolving, that may outlast us and become our leg­acy, our window on eternity.

Vulture

Vulture PDF Author: Katie Fallon
Publisher: University Press of New England
ISBN: 151260030X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Turkey vultures, the most widely distributed and abundant scavenging birds of prey on the planet, are found from central Canada to the southern tip of Argentina, and nearly everywhere in between. In the United States we sometimes call them buzzards; in parts of Mexico the name is aura cabecirroja, in Uruguay jote cabeza colorada, and in Ecuador gallinazo aura. A huge bird, the turkey vulture is a familiar sight from culture to culture, in both hemispheres. But despite being ubiquitous and recognizable, the turkey vulture has never had a book of literary nonfiction devoted to it - until Vulture. Floating on six-foot wings, turkey vultures use their keen senses of smell and sight to locate carrion. Unlike their cousin the black vulture, turkey vultures do not kill weak or dying animals; instead, they cleanse, purify, and renew the environment by clearing it of decaying carcasses, thus slowing the spread of such dangerous pathogens as anthrax, rabies, and botulism. The beauty, grace, and important role of these birds in the ecosystem notwithstanding, turkey vultures are maligned and underappreciated; they have been accused of spreading disease and killing livestock, neither of which has ever been substantiated. Although turkey vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes harming them a federal offense, the birds still face persecution. They've been killed because of their looks, their odor, and their presence in proximity to humans. Even the federal government occasionally sanctions "roost dispersals," which involve the harassment and sometimes the murder of communally roosting vultures during the cold winter months. Vulture follows a year in the life of a typical North American turkey vulture. By incorporating information from scientific papers and articles, as well as interviews with world-renowned raptor and vulture experts, author Katie Fallon examines all aspects of the bird's natural history: breeding, incubating eggs, raising chicks, migrating, and roosting. After reading this book you will never look at a vulture in the same way again.

Vultures of the World

Vultures of the World PDF Author: Keith L. Bildstein
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501765027
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
In Vultures of the World, Keith L. Bildstein provides an engaging look at vultures and condors, seeking to help us understand these widely recognized but underappreciated birds. Bildstein's latest work is an inspirational and long overdue blend of all things vulture. Based on decades of personal experience, dozens of case studies, and numerous up-to-date examples of cutting-edge science, this book introduces readers to the essential nature of vultures and condors. Not only do these most proficient of all vertebrate scavengers clean up natural and man-made organic waste but they also recycle ecologically essential elements back into both wild and human landscapes, allowing our ecosystems to function successfully across generations of organisms. With distributions ranging over more than three-quarters of all land on five continents, the world's twenty-three species of scavenging birds of prey offer an outstanding example of biological diversity writ large. Included in the world's species fold are its most abundant large raptors—several of its longest lived birds and the most massive of all soaring birds. With a fossil record dating back more than fifty million years, vultures and condors possess numerous adaptions that characteristically serve them well but at times also make them particularly vulnerable to human actions. Vultures of the World is a truly global treatment of vultures, offering a roadmap of how best to protect these birds and their important ecology.

Vanessa's Rotten Day

Vanessa's Rotten Day PDF Author: Roberta Carr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781533629357
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
Vanessa's Rotten Day is a whimsical tale that is based on a true animal rescue story. One hot August morning, Vanessa, a young turkey vulture, is hunting for food when she sports a half-buried dog in a field. She swoops down and enjoys a savory meal. As she flies home, she begins to feel sick. Before long, she falls from the sky and crashes into a stranger's backyard. She's scared, unable to move, and desperately wants her mother. She trembles with fear as a human shadow closes in on her. What made her sick? Will the human harm her? Will she ever see her family again?