ON THE WIRE
BOOK
Vagrancy in Birds
By Alexander Lees and James Gilroy, Princeton University Press, 2022, hardcover, 400 pages, $35.
What causes birds to stray from their typical ranges? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors of this impressive book present readers with everything known about the subject, and they bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution.
The bulk of the book, which is richly illustrated with photos of vagrant birds, is devoted to accounts of vagrancy in each avian family around the world. Some families with no tendancy to wander require only brief entries, but others, like hummingbirds, falcons, and flycatchers, go on for pages.
