It was written by Fred Bodsworth, a Canadian newspaper reporter and naturalist, and published in 1954.

The story follows the bird throughout a year during its migration to South America and return to the Canadian Arctic in search of a mate.

Although somewhat anthropomorphic in parts, the book paints a realistic and detailed picture of this bird's life and behaviour.

[4][5] The 1988 edition (ISBN 1-887178-25-2) includes a foreword by the Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S.

Merwin and an afterword by the Nobel Laureate physicist Murray Gell-Mann.