Birds of Prey Giveaway!

Once again thanks to the good folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt we here at 10,000 Birds are giving away books! This time the tome that three lucky readers will receive is Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America by Pete Dunne. Carrie reviewed the book here and, like me, she has a soft spot for Pete Dunne’s prose. Here’s a quick excerpt from Carrie’s review so you have some idea what it is you can win.

Dunne being Dunne, he is thorough in this project; the book begins with a full accounting of what he’s including under the rubric “raptor” and why, and proceeds methodically through the etymology of each species’ name, a thorough description, life history, ecology, and discussion of its conservation status, before concluding with a short section on the threats that all or most raptors face and action items on how to help protect them. It’s not a book you’re going to drag into the field with you (in fact, Dunne himself explicitly identifies its origin in the desire to craft a more comprehensive companion to his id-focused Hawks in Flight). Instead it’s one you’re likely to turn to on coming home after a long day to find out a bit more about one of the species you spotted – or to consult before a trip to learn the little quirks of a target species. Dunne is a compelling writer, and if he’s fond of long, multi-clause sentences and elaborate descriptions that might seem outright poetic to people used to terse field guide species accounts, well, I’m right there with him.

But enough about the book! How do you win one? Read on, dear reader, read on.

The first and easiest way to win a copy of Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America is to subscribe to the 10,000 Birds email mailing list. Just go to the upper right hand corner of this here blog, enter your email, click the “Sign Up” button, and confirm your intention to subscribe when you receive the confirmatory email. If you are already subscribed to the mailing list you are automatically entered! One of our email subscribers chosen at random will win one of the copies of the book.

The second and second easiest way to win a copy of Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America is to share this blog post on Facebook while using the hashtag #birdsofprey. In order for us to find your Facebook share and get you entered you have to use the hashtag, share this blog post, and make sure the post is set to “public.” One of the people who follow the directions correctly and share this blog post will be rewarded with a copy of the book.

The third and third easiest way to win a copy of Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America is to write one paragraph naming your favorite North American bird of prey with an explanation as to why. Put it in the email that you send to 10000birds@gmail.com, making sure to include your name, and we will choose one of the entries as the winner of the third copy. We’ll also share your paragraph here on 10,000 Birds in a blog post! You can win a book and become bird-blog famous! How cool is that?

Cooper’s Hawk would beat least in my top five North American raptors.

You can enter in just one way, in two ways, or, if you are feeling really ambitious, all three ways! (Or, if you’re someone who hates books, birds, and this blog you don’t have to enter at all.) No matter how many ways you enter all three ways options have a deadline of the end of the day next Wednesday, 10 May. Enter away, awesome readers! This is a very simple way to win a free copy of an entertaining and excellent book!

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing three copies of Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America for our readers.