It is with barely contained excitement that I share with you this good news: The Mountaineers Books is reissuing my book, Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet in paperback in September 2013.

   It's been eight years since the hardback edition was first published and I am thrilled to be introducing my favorite bird to new audiences and that The Mountaineers Books is putting their imprint on the book with a new epilogue, an index, a section on helping the murrelet, and an arresting new cover (sneak preview in an upcoming post).

  Rare Bird has found the perfect new home.  For those of you new to The Mountaineers Books, they are a Seattle-based publisher with 500+ titles in print, focusing on recreation, lifestyle, and conservation. They are the publishers of natural history books. including ones on birds of arctic, caribou, beluga whales, polar bears, and urban goats. No doubt you own one or several of their popular "100 Classic Hikes" or "Best Hikes" series of guides or the bible of mountain climbing, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills (8th edition).

   I so wish I had read this bible before I began following biologists into murrelet habitat. I would have gotten in shape. I would have understood contours maps and, therefore, the difference between a "stroll" and an "uphill battle." I would have brought my own stick to scare off the mountain lions. I would not have worn cotton, the death fabric. But memories (and stories for Rare Bird) were made from near-death experiences in the wilderness.

   Which is not to say you have to go off trail and bushwhack your way through an old-growth forest to experience the world of the marbled murrelet. Let the professionals do that. Let your armchair transport you into the Pacific Coast's old-growth forests. You know. The arm chair next to the reading lamp. The armchair with the little table next to it, the table waiting to hold the Mountaineers Books'Rare Bird.