First Lines of "Shadow Country"

"Sea birds are aloft again, a tattered few. The white terns look dirtied in the somber light and they fly stiffly, feeling out an element they no longer trust. Unable to locate the storm-lost minnows, they wander the thick waters with sad muted cries, hunting seamarks that might return them to the order of the world."

- Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country. I'm only about a 100 pages into this book but it's already impressed me with its gravitas, its artistic impression that's creative without being unduly "arty", and its depiction of the natural state of southern Florida on its last legs.