Red knots in Delaware Bay. Photo by hjhipster, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Are you planning to travel this summer? Not like these birds. In No Way Home: The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations, ecologist David Wilcove shares the science behind some of the most incredible journeys species makeā€”and what threatens to end them forever. In the excerpt below, he traces the paths of songbirds traveling between cooler breeding grounds and warmer wintering grounds. In the meantime, he offers not just an awe-inspiring look at migration, but also insightful pictures of the birds in question and the scientists who study them. Highly recommended reading for your next airplane flight.