Nature at it most breathtaking!

In this lavish, hefty volume of 200 mostly terrific color photographs of wildlife, Mangelson's careful, inventive composition and expert use of available light make for artistic success, while his portrayal of animals in natural poses and settings assures biological accuracy. We see a spruce tree full of bald eagles, migrating sandhill cranes, a bull moose in a snowstorm, coyotes, sparrows, zebras, owls, elk, woodpeckers, elephants, egrets, starlings, bison and many bears (polar, black, grizzly). A spectacular shot of an Alaskan brown bear, a split second away from chomping down on a flying salmon, decorates the dust jacket. Naturalist Craighead's short chapter introductions set the mood for the illustrations that follow, while Mangelson (whose photos have appeared in National Geographic , Geo and Smithsonian ) provides eloquent, insightful notes from the field to make the pictures even more immediate.