The University of Arizona Press
The Great Hummingbird Chase
The Great Hummingbird Chase takes us on a passion-fueled journey that starts in a single backyard and blooms into a full-blown pursuit across one of the richest birding landscapes in North America. When photographer John P. Schaefer realizes he has captured only a handful of the hummingbirds that zip around southeastern Arizona, he sets his sights higher. Teamed with acclaimed nature writer Ken Lamberton, the photographer and the writer embark on a three-year quest to find, observe, and photograph all fifteen species that visit Arizona’s desert canyons and sky islands.
From Bisbee’s feeder-lined yards to canyons in the Chiricahua, Huachuca, and Santa Rita Mountains, Schaefer and Lamberton chase rarities most birders only dream of—white-eared hummingbirds, violet-crowned jewels, the elusive plain-capped starthroat. Thanks to patience, humor, and wonder, the chase becomes an intimate encounter of light, motion, and chance.
At once a natural history, a travel narrative, and a visual feast, this work offers an immersive journey for birders, photographers, and nature lovers alike. The Great Hummingbird Chase is a love letter to southern Arizona—America’s hummingbird capital—and to the enduring thrill of paying close attention to the wild.
“Fast and furious, colorful and bright, The Great Hummingbird Chase zooms, flits, and sings on a sweet sugar high. Chasing each other and their quarry, these two obsessed birders rely on dumb luck and persistence to get their eyes and camera lenses on every species known across southeastern Arizona, the hottest of the hummingbird hotspots in North America.”—Craig Childs, author of The Wild Dark
“The idea of John Schaefer—Arizona’s heir apparent to the Ansel Adams legacy in the Southwest—teaming up with Ken Lamberton’s storytelling thrills me to no end and should thrill you too. They are at the pinnacle of the respective art forms, and the combination is a delicious whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. As someone who has chased hummingbirds from Sonora to Alaska, such a chase is a spiritual pilgrimage.”—Gary Nabhan, co-author of Sonoran Desert Bestiary
“The gorgeous images within reveal fifteen of Arizona’s ephemeral treasures—seventeen, if you count the esteemed photographer John Schaefer and his poetic pal, writer Ken Lamberton, whose collegial camaraderie makes their hunt for Arizona’s fleeting fifteen a charming, joyful, and shimmering birder’s dream expedition.”—David Fitzsimmons, retired columnist and cartoonist for the Arizona Daily Star
“Everyone loves hummingbirds, but few have celebrated them so exquisitely as John Schaefer and Ken Lamberton do in this beautiful new volume. With stunning photographs and brilliant prose, they elevate the famous hummingbirds of Arizona to a level of inspiration and adventure. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates nature, photography, or fine writing.”—Kenn Kaufman, author of The Birds That Audubon Missed
“This is not a ‘coffee table book’ in the conventional sense. This is a picaresque tale about two chums with wildly different backgrounds who ricochet around the border ranges of southeastern Arizona in a quest. Not just a feast for the eyes, The Great Hummingbird Chase is a page-turner about a friendship forged in a shared appreciation for beauty.”—Richard Cachor Taylor, author of Birds of Arizona
“Whenever passionate naturalists set out to see, catch, or snap as many of their target quarry as they possibly can, adventure is sure to follow. In The Great Hummingbird Chase, two skilled birder/photographers go for broke over our tiniest and loveliest rarae aves. Their joint hunt, told with wit, lyric language, and great love for the hummers themselves, will carry you along on bright wings, cheering for each shimmering find. Move over, ‘Big Year’ books and ‘Life List’ logs—this is the most captivating wild goose chase I've read in years.”—Robert Michael Pyle, author of Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year
“Diary of a quest, field guide, and chronicle of a friendship, The Great Hummingbird Chase uses a conversational and often humorous narration to reveal the beauty and mystery of ‘connecting with the unfamiliar.’ It will leave readers eager to pick up some binoculars and search out the fluttering beings hidden in their own surroundings.”—Caroline Tracey, author of Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History
