“It is refreshing reading something that’s science based, beautiful, and fun.”

—Tom Clay, Executive Director, Illinois Audubon Society

Paintings by Peggy Macnamara
Text by John Bates and James H. Boone
 

Tiny ruby-throated hummingbirds weighing less than a nickel fly from the upper Midwest to Costa Rica every fall, crossing the six-hundred-mile Gulf of Mexico without a single stop. One of the many creatures that commute on the Mississippi Flyway as part of an annual migration, they pass along Chicago's lakefront and through midwestern backyards on a path used for millennia.

The Art of Migration introduces more than two hundred of the birds and insects that traverse the Chicagoland area every year. They are brought to life on every page by Peggy Macnamara's magnificent watercolor illustrations, which capture flocks, movement, and spectacular details. Descriptions and histories from Field Museum staff and information on the best places to bird- and insect-watch make The Art of Migration the perfect balance of science and art.

 

Peggy Macnamara is the only artist-in-residence at the Field Museum, as well as adjunct associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; associate of the zoology program at the Field Museum; instructor at the Chicago Public Libraries Nature Connection and Art Institute family programs; and author of Illinois Insects and Spiders, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

For more information, or to connect with Peggy Macnamar or the contributors, contact Lauren Salas at lsalas@press.uchicago.edu / 773-702-0890.