From Dennis Paulson via Tweeters, Jan 13, 2026:
I’ve just finished looking through a new book, How Birds Fly, by Peter Cavanagh. Peter is one of us, a resident of Lopez Island. This 336-page large format book is without question the best book on birds I have seen in a long time, surely one of the best books ever. I wanted to share my enthusiasm, so I have written this as a sort of review of the book.
It seems to me that the author has explored all the angles you could possibly think of for understanding this wonderful adaptation. Humans have long been fascinated with flight, and he spends a lot of time comparing birds and airplanes, which is great for all of us who thrill to see any flying object. Let’s face it; our great interest in birds surely stems in part from our envy of their ability to fly!
I can’t get over how thorough this book is. We all know about drag and lift, right? Read this book to learn so much more about what make flight possible. It even treats flightless birds in detail, explaining why and how some winged wonders evolved to stay out of the air. Learn about feather structure, flocking, migration, and so much more involved in the aerial world of birds.
Each of the 13 chapters ends with a page “FROM THE LAB.” Each one deals with an aspect of research on bird flight, each a superb example of the scientific method. “Can aerodynamic forces be measured?” “How do pigeons turn in slow flight?” “Are swifts designed for gliding or flapping?” “What is the altitude profile of a migration flight?”
He even has a section on researchers who have studied bird flight, something rarely included in general books. Also, he includes the latest word about the many ways we have tried to copy bird flight. And the photos with which the book is so lavishly illustrated are by the author, from hummingbirds to albatrosses and all over the world. I especially like learning where each photo was taken. Peter Cavanagh is a superb photographer and writer.
The profusion of photos, their educational captions, and the many, many diagrams will allow you to delve into bird flight widely, with an even deeper knowledge from reading the text. Of course, this should be combined with doing a lot of birding. Learn about flight, and then go out and understand better what you are seeing!
Dennis Paulson, Seattle
dennispaulson at comcast dot net
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From Ed Pullen’s Bird Banter podcast:
I read Dennis’s excellent review of the book How Birds Fly by Peter Cavanagh, and remembered how much fun I had talking with him on the podcast. I think most birders and really most people think that the fact that birds can fly is both wonderful and mystical. How do birds fly? This subject has been studied by the Wright brothers, by aeroscience engineers, but also by birders like Peter Cavanagh, my guest on this episode and the author of the new book, How Birds Fly: The Science and Art of Avian Flight. I learned a lot reading the book and talking with Peter. Enjoy.
Link: https://birdbanter.com/index.php/2025/07/01/the-bird-banter-podcast-194-with-peter-cavanagh-additional-info/
Ed Pullen
Listen to my podcast at The Bird Banter Podcast available on iTunes podcast store and other feeds.
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From Seth Leopold, MD, via Tweeters Jan 13, 2026:
One more voice on Peter Cavanagh’s wonderful book, and an interview from an unusual vantage point you might enjoy. Once a quarter, the surgical journal that I edit interviews someone who is not a surgeon who has skills that we think doctors (and surgeons in particular) should learn more about. I thought that Peter’s skill at patient observation would really help doctors to think differently about how they sit and talk with their patients. You might like it: https://journals.lww.com/clinorthop/fulltext/2025/08000/a_conversation_with___peter_cavanagh_phd,_former.1.aspx.
Seth S. Leopold, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research
Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, UW School of Medicine
