In his role as Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Keith Bildstein has arguably studied raptors on a more global scale than any person alive, both in person and in the literature. He has put this experience to good effect in this excellent synthesis of the research on raptor migration ecology around the world. The inclusion of information from the tropics, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America make this book a big advancement over its predecessors. Bildstein's concise and precise text uses words economically to explain scientific phenomena and details of raptor biology clearly in a way that is accessible to amateur ornithologists and conservationists, while still being of interest and value to professionals. The references alone form a valuable body of work for anyone doing research in the field. And the migration life histories of eight species are unique and interesting, showing how individual species apply the general ecological principles of migration ecology in varying ways. Every hawkwatcher and raptor researcher will definitely want to add this to their libraries; birders and naturalists of all interests will be enriched in their understanding of the natural world by this book; and ecologists and conservationists of all stripes should own this work since it is about some of the sentinel species of earth's environment. I give it my highest recommendation and it would make a great Christmas gift for any of the above.