Rossitten: Three Decades on the Curonian Spit

For more than thirty years, Johannes Thienemann directed the world's first bird observatory on the Curonian Spit, transforming a remote stretch of sand dunes on the Baltic coast into a pioneering center for the study of bird migration. Combining scientific observation with personal memoir, he recounts the daily work of the Rossitten Ornithological Station and the discoveries that helped establish modern ornithology.
Thienemann vividly describes the migration of countless bird species, the challenges of field research, and the unique landscape of the Curonian Spit, while reflecting on the international scientific collaborations that shaped the discipline in the early twentieth century. His observations preserve a remarkable record of both nature and scientific life before the upheavals of two world wars.
Part scientific chronicle, part travel narrative, Rossitten is a classic account of one of Europe's most influential centers of ornithological research and a tribute to the enduring fascination of bird migration.