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Johnsgard crafts essays featuring snow geese, owls, hummingbirds, and other creatures against the backdrop of Great Plains landscapes. He describes prairie chickens courting during predawn hours and the calls of sandhill cranes; he evokes the magic of lying upon the prairie, hearing only the sounds of insects and the wind through the grasses. From reflections following a visit to a Pawnee sacred site to meditations on the perils facing the stateÕs finite natural resources, Seasons of the Tallgrass Prairie celebrates the gifts of a half century spent roaming NebraskaÕs back roads, trails, and sometimes-forgotten places.
Paul A. Johnsgard is Foundation Regents Professor Emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of NebraskaÐLincoln. He has received the National Conservation Achievement Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, both sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, and is the author of more than five dozen books on natural history, including The Sandhill and Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices over AmericaÕs Wetlands and Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie (both available in Bison Books editions).