Wings Over Water is a joint venture of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, which works to secure the future of hunting, fishing, and land management Ducks Unlimited Inc. Wings Over Water immerses readers in this awe-inspiring, essential place, using more than 300 breathtaking photos and inspiring essays from some of the North America’s foremost conservationists to shine a spotlight on these critical breeding grounds and the necessity of preserving these threatened environments. More than half of all North American migratory waterfowl and 96 species of songbirds breed and nest there, and more than 60 percent of the continent’s ducks are hatched there. Once Upon a BlurbĪ beautiful, photo-rich companion book to the internationally distributed IMAX film of the same name, Wings Over Water celebrates the prairie wetlands of North America and the birds that live and breed in this critical habitat.Ĭovering 300,000 square miles stretching from Canada through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, the prairie wetlands are one of Earth’s most important, yet little-known, ecosystems. I adored the photos in this book and had trouble choosing a favourite, so instead I’ll share one each of the three stars of the film. My favourite fun fact was that yellow warblers weigh “less than three sheets of paper”. There were a few, just not as many as I would have liked.

I’m hoping the facts about the birds and their life cycles that I was keen to learn from this book will be presented on screen. I expect I will appreciate the behind the scenes information more once I’ve watched the film. I’ve done this backwards, reading the companion book prior to seeing the film. It doesn’t hurt that it’s being narrated by Michael Keaton. Although a number of birds are included in this book, the film focuses on three: mallards, sandhill cranes and yellow warblers. The film runs for 44 minutes, a fraction of the over 220 hours of footage that was shot. The implications for the continent’s bird populations are even more bleak. Without them, we face a future of depleted water resources, decreased water quality, ruinous flooding, and a greatly diminished ability to sequester carbon.

The prairies are key to abundant birds, clean water, and sufficient grasslands to keep our continent healthy. This book and the IMAX 3D movie Wings Over Water are aimed at awakening the continent and the world to the need to protect the prairie wetlands, North America’s greatest ecological asset.

This book was my introduction to America’s prairie wetlands, which span “parts of five states – Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa – and three Canadian provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.” Approximately seven out of ten birds that migrate over North America rely on prairie wetlands during part of their life cycle

Wings Over Water by Wings for Wetlands