Vesper Flights

She's a beautiful nature writer. I really loved [b:H is for Hawk 18803640 H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442151714l/18803640.SY75.jpg 26732095] and now Vesper Flights has more of her thoughtful and captivating musings and observations on fauna and flora. It's a collection of essays, some of them almost vignettes, whisking you off to a fresh and early walk through the woods, to the migration of birds that get trapped by our cities lights, to a painful and personal experience of mercy-killing an ostrich. She talks of how humanity has impacted the world of animals, how wildlife has nearly vanished from our field of vision. And she also portrays those that collect, study, rescue, and care for nature's creatures. Her portrait of Maxwell Knight (the original ‘M') will stick in mind. Because this had so many essays, some of them were a bit hit-or-miss, but I definitely enjoyed most of them. Macdonald has a wonderful audiobook narrator voice. I listened to this while reading [b:Migrations 42121525 Migrations Charlotte McConaghy https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1590447310l/42121525.SY75.jpg 65230718] in parallel, and the two books complemented each other perfectly.