The Amazing Monarch

The Secret Wintering Grounds of an Endangered Butterfly

by Windle Turley

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org

*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

Pub Date Sep 01 2010 | Archive Date Mar 17 2014

Turley Publishing | Bookmasters, Inc

Arts & Photography | Outdoors & Nature

Description

In The Amazing Monarch, author and photographer Windle Turley chronicles the lifecycle of the monarch butterfly. Replete with page after page of full-color photographs, the book shows the monarch's rarely captured wintering grounds. The contrast of the orange and black pops off the page as the reader goes on a visual tour in the high mountains of Mexico. The multifaceted work also contains poems and quotations focusing on the beauty of these tiny animals that weigh only .02 of an ounce. The Amazing Monarch tracks the monarch's migration and interesting life span. The handful of roosting sites, located at an altitude of about 10,000 feet and only a few acres in size, may each contain 20 to 30 million monarchs. Granted almost unprecedented access by Mexican wildlife officials, Turley photographed the insects in their natural habitats at their sanctuaries in Los Saucos and at the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary—areas unknown to outsiders until 1975.

Advance Praise

"Beautifully photographed and well written, The Amazing Monarch describes the monarch's incredible migration, its life cycle and its problems. Windle Turley has done his research well; the text is sprinkled with references to back up his statements and conclusions. The bulk and glory of the book, however, lie in the photography. This is some of the very best photography of the monarch that I have seen." --William H. Calvert, PhD, Monarch Watch of Texas

"The photographs are nothing less than spectacular, and together with the comprehensive coverage of the latest scientific findings, this book will be a welcome addition to a broad audience of readers interested in the biology and aesthetics of this marvelous migratory butterfly." --Lincoln P. Brower, PhD, Distinguished Service Professor of Zoology Emeritus at the University of Florida and Research Professor of Biology at Sweet Briar College

"Among nature's migrations there is none more spectacular, mysterious nor intriguing than that of the monarch. If you are in a quiet place as you turn these pages and can imagine the whisper of tens of thousands of wings as the monarchs cascade off the trees, it will almost be like being there—and you will be stunned by the beauty." --Orley R. "Chip" Taylor, PhD, Director, Monarch Watch