cover image A Parrot Without a Name: The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth

A Parrot Without a Name: The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth

Don Stap. Knopf Publishing Group, $20 (239pp) ISBN 978-0-394-55596-6

The rain forest of Peruvian Amazonia is the ultimate place for bird studies; Peru, with 1700 known species, contains the richest avifauna on earth. Poet-naturalist Stap had the good fortune to accompany John O'Neil, who has identified more new species than any other ornithologist, and Ted Parker, who is regarded as the foremost authority on Peruvian birds, on two expeditions into a wilderness where scientists had never been before. Reaching the study site was an adventure in itself, but there is more. Stap profiles O'Neill and Parker, and gives us a fine picture of ornithologists in the field. He explains the necessity of killing birds for taxonomic studies. The expedition discovered a new small parrot, hence the title. This book will have strong appeal to birders and readers who thirst for adventure. Macmillan Book Club alternate. (May)