The Fate of the Elephant

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It's no longer news that animals are being driven to extinction at an astonishing rate, with some scientists now estimating that 1,000 species disappear each year. What is news is that the species are increasingly familiar to us: lions, grizzly bears, gorillas, whales, black terns--and elephants. In the 19th century, writes Douglas Chadwick in this superb journalistic study, Africa boasted more than 10 million of the giant pachyderms; there are fewer than half a million today, a situation mirrored in Asia. The slaughter is largely the result of the illegal ivory trade, conducted through such nations as Japan and Singapore, which ignore international conventions to keep the barbarous supply rolling. Sanctions on those nations are needed, says Chadwick--but so is much more. This sobering book offers an encyclopedic look at the life history of the African and Asian elephants, which, unless something is done now, may not be long for the world.

Customer Reviews:

An amazing read and a sobering view of the fate of nature..........2001-03-03

While Douglas H. Chadwick's extraordinary book is titled "The Fate of the Elephant" and does an incredible job of presenting the decidedly bleak future of this magnificent animal in the face of an incredible human-induced onslaught, it does more than just examine that issue. At its heart, this book is about the fate of the "natural world"; that is, the world as it was/is before it has been shaped by human contact. The explosion in the human population is increasingly reducing and destroying the habitat of not just elephants, but other animal species in general, and Chadwick recognizes this. Chadwick's book is thoroughly researched, decidedly well-written, and a joy to read. As stated by another reviewer, as clear as it is that Chadwick's sympathies lie with the elephant itself, he shows remarkable restraint in not condemning those who make the future of the elephant so bleak. As such, the book makes the reader realize that while it is quite easy to sit in our comfortable homes and condemn those who are forcing these elephants into fewer and fewer numbers, there are real problems and concerns on the other side of the coin as well. Without stealing any of the author's thunder, I would just say that this is easily one of the best books I have ever read, and while my sympathies are definitely on the side of the elephants, this book was a sobering and tremendously informative look at the full scope of the problem that elephants and animal species in general face. Furthermore, the best thing this book did, in my opinion, was force me to really think about humankind, its relationship to the other species on the planet, how certain dominant views of that relationship have led us to the where we are today, and what might need to be done in order to prevent large scale extinctions in this upcoming century (which is where I personally fear we might be headed).

Great look at lots of aspects of the elephant crisis!.......1999-04-10

In a mere 475 pages, Douglas Chadwick's The Fate of the Elephant manages to thoroughly cover a range of subjects almost as large as the elephants that serve as its focus. Originally assigned by National Geographic as a piece on "elephants of the world," each chapter in the book opens in a new setting, from the elephant enclosure at an American zoo, to the parts of Africa and Asia where elephants can still be found in the wild. From the workshop of Japanese ivory artisans to a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference in Switzerland, he also journeys to elephantless areas where their presence is still felt.

Knowing a little about man's history with elephants, I assumed-even daresay expected-that at least some parts of the book would be dedicated to the kind of finger-pointing induction of guilt that has come to be seen as a means to inspire action on the part of the general public. Refreshingly, there is none of that to be found here, yet the final emotions that the reader comes away with are no less strong. Chadwick does not trivialize the fact that, for him, writing The Fate of the Elephant was as much a personal exploration of a subject of lifetime interest as a travel adventure undertaken for the sake of National Geographic. His frankly portrayed moments of sheer joy and of utter frustration become highs and lows for the reader as well.

Along these same lines, Chadwick skillfully avoids simplifying those engaged in the struggle over what should be done with elephants into "good guy" and "bad guy" camps. Though having just seen the body of a faceless and bloody young bull elephant lying in the bush, he does not celebrate when reports of killed poachers come across his radio. Likening poaching to the illegal drug trade, he knows that the crises of a burgeoning population have pushed many of those living on the margins into these high-risk jobs, while those orchestrating it all sit out of the way in relative safety. The ever-growing human population also drives habitat degradation, the other main threat to African wildlife. It comes as a shot of realism when Chadwick points out that these days, even Africans have to go to parks and zoos to see African wildlife.

Describing the World War I bolt-action guns with which many park rangers must ridiculously face off against AK-47-toting poachers, Chadwick highlights one of the great challenges to wildlife conservation: economics. Not only does poaching rob resources from local economies, but even legal industries such as tourism pay few monetary returns at the local level. He advocates the need to make conservation economically viable to local people, not just something imposed by the government of the moment.

Chadwick integrates scientific concepts in a subtle way that guarantees that even those simply looking for a good "animal tale" will come away as more knowledgeable armchair naturalists. Judging from the brevity of his bibliography relative to the amount of material packed into the book, this integrated approach may be the same way that Chadwick picked up much of his technical knowledge of elephants-not by purely poring over scientific texts as much as by living alongside some of the best in the field, in the field.

The only missing element in Chadwick's work seems to be information about the time period in which he was in each place. While perhaps intended as a testament to the timeless quality of life spent in elephants' presence, it seemed most peculiar in a book whose message was a sense of urgency, that time was of the utmost importance.

This book was the absolute best book I have have ever read!!.......1998-11-15

It has a lot of good information on poaching in North Africa and a lot of other places in the world that elephants were poached at. It really makes you see the world like an elephant as though you were an elephant. it brings out your greatest fantasies about elephants that you would never dream of. This book was just really great.

Absolutely fantastic.......1998-10-18

Incredibly detailed reporting and an easy, conversational writing style make this one of the most rewarding books I have ever read. The author writes of travelling the world, observing human and elephant interactions in dozens of different countries; part travelogue, part eco-primer, and wholly absorbing. And Chadwick makes a convincing case for keeping the African elephant on the endangered species list. This book is perhaps even more important now than when it was published _ only recently CITES (the UN group that makes the endangered species list) decided to allow some southern African countries to sell ivory again. I'd love to see the author's thoughts on these new developments. Anyone concerned with conservation or animal welfare should read this book. Personally, I found Chadwick's work so interesting and educational that after reading it I booked a trip to Africa to see these great beasts _ before the opportunity is gone forever

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (Awards))

Average customer rating:

Lord God, what a book!
Engrossing Non-fiction
The Lord God Bird
The Lord God Bird
Studying the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and Trying Too Late to Save It.

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (Awards))
Phillip Hoose
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374361738

Book Description

The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell's Arthur A. "Doc" Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.

All this, plus Mr. Hoose's wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds calls "the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker."

Customer Reviews:

Lord God, what a book!.......2006-04-01

At the risk of sounding blasphemous let me simply say "Lord God, what a book!" This book belongs on your MUST READ list!

This is a perfect example of how nonfiction should be written. Every school and public library should have a copy of this book. It is a valuable addition to the study of man, nature, and the environment.

Phillip Hoose's wonderful book captures the reader's attention and doesn't let it go till the very end of a beautifully written account of one of the most magnificent birds ever to grace this land. The cover of the book, not to mention the title, immediately attracts attention and after reading it the reader clearly understands why this bird was referred to as the Lord God Bird.

Hoose introduces us to collectors like Brewster and Wayne who helped lead to the bird's demise. There are the corporate villains in the form of the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company and the Singer Manufacturing Company who could have saved the last real refuge of the Lord God Bird but who chose profit over conservation when the Singer Tract was not spared from the woodcutter's ax. There are heroes to this story. You will meet Jim Tanner, "Doc" Allen, and J. J. Kuhn who worked tirelessly to save the species. Having read this book I felt that Jim Tanner was definitely someone I wished that I had known personally.

Educators will find countless lessons on environmental awareness, extinction of species, and the recklessness with which man has "civilized" the wilderness.

Well done Mr. Hoose, well done.

Engrossing Non-fiction .......2006-03-23

I picked this book up based on recommendations from online reader groups who said it would read more like fiction than non-fiction. They were right! Hoose has meticulously researched the plight of the "Lord God Bird", the ivory-billed woodpecker, documenting the efforts to locate the dwindling population and the sad effects of man vs. nature. Well highlighted by photographs, we follow the loss of this magnificent creature as its habitat is swallowed up by man's greed in the first half of the twentieth century. Hoose's writing is vivid and engrossing and caused me to do that rarest of things---go online and research more for myself. Most interesting of all is that just after this book was published, there have been reports of the rediscovery of the ivory-bill! This is a wonderful book appropriate for people of all ages and especially those who are worried about the endangerment of species by mankind's shortsightedness. Recommended!

The Lord God Bird.......2005-11-18

I thought that this book was well written, reasearched, and thought through. But as a 12 year old I didn't enjoy it quite as much as i think an older person would. I think that the author wrote the stories well, and made them very drawing. This book was not one of my favorite books, partially because it was very hard to read. The other reason was beause to me it was a bit confusing. I could see him doing a kids version of the same book, but making it a bit simpler or shorter. I thought that the author did a great job in writing this book, but I think you should wait to read it until you are a bit older. Some people I know thought it was a great book, but they're older than me. So again I thought that this was an o.k. book, but not a great kid's read.

The Lord God Bird.......2005-11-17

I thought that this book was well written, and thoroughly researched, but I didn't enjoy it very much. It was a very sad book. The author did a great job writing the story's fact for fact, but there were some parts where you say "awwww" and feel bad for these birds. In one story he wrote, a man went on a hunting trip to find a "Lord God Bird" and killed a family of them, including two babies. The hunter also killed many more birds that trip. I would not recommend this book unless you enjoy sad stories. It is one of those books that draws you into certain stories, but in between them you really want to put the book down.

Studying the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and Trying Too Late to Save It........2005-11-08

"The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is a chronicle of the history and demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker. It was written for children ages 9-12 but is perfectly suitable for adults as well. The book is large format in size, which makes the font bigger, but there is just as much text on each page as in an adult book, and there is nothing conspicuously juvenile about it. The large dimensions allow for nice black-and-white photographs of ivory-bills, their habitat, and the people who studied the birds.

Author Phillip Hoose follows human interest in the ivory-bill woodpecker from Alexander Wilson's encounter with the bird in 1809 as he was working on his 9-volume "American Ornithology" to John James Audubon's work sketching the bird in natural poses around 1820. By 1900, large scale deforestation in Southern states had made the ivory-bill rare. At this point, "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" turns its attention to the collectors who were continuing to mine the population when they clearly shouldn't have been and the beginnings of organized conservation efforts, starting with the "Plume Wars" that sought to end the slaughter of birds to decorate ladies' hats. It describes the 1935 Cornell University expedition by Jim Tanner, George Sutton, Arthur "Doc" Allen, and Paul Kellogg to record bird calls of nearly 100 species in the Tensas Swamp in Louisiana. That's followed up by an account of Jim Tanner's 3 years studying the few remaining ivory-bills for the Audubon Society, 1937-1939, from which he wrote his still-famous book.

As Tanner was creeping around in it, the Singer Manufacturing Company sold logging rights to the Singer Tract, where the last known ivory-bills lived, and efforts to preserve the forest by purchasing it failed. The ivory-billed woodpecker was declared extinct. A couple chapters are dedicated to recent searches for the ivory-bill in Cuba and the United States, but this book was published before the announcement in April 2005 that the ivory-bill may still live. In the back of the book, there are maps of the shrinking ivory-bill habitat 1800-present, a chronology of important dates in ivory-bill and bird conservation, a glossary of terms, a detailed list of sources, and an index. "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is a readable and informative account of the actions and circumstances that brought the ivory-bill woodpecker to near-extinction in spite of a persistent human fascination with the bird and concerted efforts to save it. For more information on sightings of the ivory-bill since it was presumed extinct in the 1940s, see Tim Gallagher's book "The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker".

Average customer rating:

Enjoyable reading material for all.
I guess it's okay
One of the best books I've ever read!
Owl lovers vs. loggers
Lessons from our feathered friends

There's an Owl in the Shower
Jean Craighead George
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0064406822

Book Description

Borden's father, Leon, was a logger in the old-growth forests of California. That is, until the spotted-owl lovers interfered. One day, frustrated by his father's unemployment, Borden sets out on a mission of revenge against the spotted owl but returns home with a half-starved owlet instead.
The family soon discovers that the owlet, whom Borden names Bardy, loves to take showers and watch late-night TV. Only after the whole family has fallen in love with Bardy do they realize that the conflict between nature and human industry is not so easily resolved.
Award-winning nature writer jean Craighead George tells a heartwarming story about a family and their love affair with a special little owl.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable reading material for all........2006-08-25

I am a mature adult who read this book on a chance and discovered it to be quite entertaining and enlightening at the same time. I can see why many children would enjoyed reading this book. The approach proves to be fair, balance and while it take a pro-environmental perception toward the end, it teaches that there are two sides to a debate.

The book also take pains to developed the characters and the gradual evolution of the main character's father, a lumberjack laid off from work dues to endangered owls proves to be most reflective. The father's gradual understanding of issues of both sides guide the readers as well.

The book also educated about owls. Why they cast out pellets or what hunger streak in feathers can do. These information come gradually and unrushed for easy absorption of information for children.

The writing proves to be light and easy to read, story was interesting and while it was geared toward elementary school children and they should love this book, I enjoyed it myself as well. Thus, the book come highly recommended and while it end in rather a somber note (no happy ending here), its an intelligently written book, suitable for all.

I guess it's okay.......2006-01-09

I bought this book for my younger sister for christmas who loves animals.I looked at the cover and the picture of the owl was adorible!
But later when my sister read the book, she said that Borden's father kept saying that he was going to kill the bird.
Well at the end of the book he doesn't kill the bird but just before the end it is really sad what happens to Bardy.
To find out what happens, just read the end of the book.

One of the best books I've ever read!.......2003-11-15

This book is awesome!I read the first chapter in the book store and I just had to take it home with me!If I could I would rate it 10 stars.

Owl lovers vs. loggers.......2003-11-10

It's owl lovers vs. loggers who hate the spotted owl for putting them out of job. It's an amazing book by an amazing author about a boy whos father was a logger and he took in an owlet that was on the ground. You won't want to miss this!

Lessons from our feathered friends.......2003-10-03

I came across this book while hunting for books suited to the educational needs of my nine-year-old cousin. This book explores the age-old conflict between economic progress and environmental concerns. The argument for both sides is presented in a manner easily understood by children of grade-school age, and although the book heavily and undisguisedly favors conservation, the humans in this story are warm, believable and not portrayed as selfish destroyers of old growth forests.
The protagonist of this story is young Borden, whose father, a lumberjack, loses his job following a government directive to preserve old growth forests in order that the habitat of the Spotted Owl may be saved. Borden's family is understandably angry, as it appears to them that the government cares more about owls than about people. Here we get the usual argument from the loggers' point of view that logging puts food on the table, that logging has always formed a substantial part of the economy, that the legislators have forgotten the role of the loggers in nation building (i.e. by providing timber for construction), that the extinction of the Spotted Owl would be no great loss to the human population and that the government should strive to protect the interests of people rather than of birds.
Borden enters the woods with the intention of killing the spotted owls that took his father's job. He finds, instead, an owlet that has fallen out of its nest. Assuming that it is a Barred Owl, Borden takes the owl home and names it Bardy. His out-of-work father develops affection for the owl and observes every stage of its growth. When Borden's father receives a summons for assault and public disorder after hitting an ecologist, he decides to bring the owlet to court with him to win over the sympathy of the judge and to convince the public that loggers are not enemies of owls. Soon, true love for the young owl wins him over and he decides to free the owl and pay the fine rather than capitalize on the owl for his own selfish motives. The family learns the consequences of forest loss when a family friend loses his job as a fisherman because the river is too polluted. Borden's father decides to retrain himself for other, more sustainable professions after he understands that change is inevitable and the welfare of the Planet is in his hands as well as the ecologists'.
The environmentalists' side of the story is that the destruction of wildlife habitats and the decrease in the number of Spotted Owls are indications that people are not managing the forests right. Indeed, the exploitation of natural resources does not mean that humans will be able to live better - it might mean that it will help people (poachers, loggers, wildlife traders etc) put food on the table for the time being, but natural resources would be dissipated quickly and human health would suffer more than if measures had been taken to sustainably manage rather than exploit resources. Every action has a consequence, this book teaches us, and if there are no more spotted owls, the rodent population would increase. If there are fewer trees then it won't be long before the loggers are truly out of work as there will be no trees left for them to cut. The loss of trees would cause the loss of vital watershed areas. There will be less fresh water for people, less freshwater fish and less clean air. People have to learn that their quality of life is intertwined with the fate of the Planet. More toys and gadgets and bigger homes do not make for a better life if the air, water and soil are polluted.
There is much to learn in this book about animal behavior. The title of this book comes from a stage in the transformation of the owlet into an adult owl. Owlets bathe shortly before they are prepared to learn to fly.
Far from being moralizing, this book is absorbing and teaches reverence for all beings, from people to owls and trees. A recommended read for children, parents and teachers.

Ivorybill Hunters: The Search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness

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good story, but where is the proof?
Opinion on Iverybill Hunters
Ivorybill Hunters: The search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness
Chasing after hope on a feather

Ivorybill Hunters: The Search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness
Geoffrey E. Hill
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195323467

Book Description

The last documented sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker--one of the rarest and most intriguing animals in the world--was noted over 50 years ago. Long thought to be extinct, the 2005 announcement of a sighting in Arkansas sparked tremendous enthusiasm and hope that this species could yet be saved. But the subsequent failure of a massive search to relocate Ivorybills in Arkansas made hope for the species' revival short-lived. Here, noted ornithologist Geoffrey Hill tells the story of how he and two of his colleagues stumbled upon what may be a breeding population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the swamps of northern Florida. He relates their laborious attempts to document irrefutable evidence for the existence of this shy, elusive bird following the failure of a much larger research team to definitively prove the bird's existence. Hill tells of his travails both in and out of the vast swamp wilderness, pulling back the curtain to reveal the little-seen political maneuvering that is part of all modern science. He explains how he and his group decided who to exclude or include as their findings came in, and why they felt the need to keep their search a secret. Hill returns repeatedly to how expectations can guide observations, and how tempting it is to oversell evidence in the face of the struggle between an overwhelming desire to find the bird and the need to retain integrity and objectivity. Written like a good detective story, Ivorybill Hunters also delves into the science behind the rediscovery of a species, explaining how professional ornithologists follow up on a sight record of a rare bird, and how this differs from the public's perception of how scientists actually work. Hill notes the growing role of amateurs in documenting bird activity and discusses how the community of birders and nature lovers can see, enjoy, and help preserve these birds. Ivorybill Hunters will prove a fascinating read for those with an interest in natural history, adventure, environmental conservation, and science, as well as the more than forty-six million Americans who now call themselves birdwatchers.

Customer Reviews:

good story, but where is the proof?.......2007-10-10

I think this book needs to be reviewed on two levels: first is this a good, honest, readable book, and then second is their credible evidence for the Ivorybilled woodpecker presented?

Dr. Hill writes in an open manner that makes the account of the search readable. There are stories of alligators, a stolen kayak, and almost being lost in a remote area. I think he is honest in presenting what he thinks he saw and his motives ... I don't think if he was being open, he would state that his group a panther in North Florida (they are not known to occur there). He also is willing to state his motives, even if not completely honorable (to do a better job that the Cornell team and to have a southern team find a southern bird). On this account, it is ironic that he criticized Cornell on their evidence, when he offers little more. In one short chapter, whose purpose seems to increase his own credibility, he dismisses the experience of locals (who had never reported them) as well as the more systematic Florida Breeding Bird Atlas. Hill is quite open about mistakes made and opportunities missed.

As a book (and his published scientific article) that tries to present evidence it is not all that convincing (and he himself states this is not proof). As Carl Sagan said "Extraordinary claims requires extraordinary proof". Although he argues that the Ivorybilled in Florida are different than those that were in the Singer tract, he does not seem willing to accept that Pileated Woodpeckers may have variability in cavity size or behavior. The circle showing the ivory billed on page 232 could be any black and white (however somewhat better images are published on the Auburn web site). The reader is really left with little evidence to examine other than the word of a few good observers. The reader is also left to ponder, whether Hill rushed to publish this book and findings, just as he criticized the Cornell team. For the skeptic there are some nice blogs on the Ivorybill as well as important paper by Jerome Jackson.

Opinion on Iverybill Hunters.......2007-10-03

A very detailed
account of a search for Ivorybills in a north Florida river swamp, which led me to believe that the author and his crew had in fact found a breeding population of these woodpeckers; the author certainly seems convinced of this. Both he and his students seem to have convincing expertise on the identification of this species, although they failed to obtain absolute proof in the form of videos and photos, due to the great difficulties involved and their admitted lack of expertise with cameras. They did obtain many minutes of sound recordings which were quite convincing to outside experts. All in all, a very interesting and encouraging account of a search for these birds in what remains of wild America. I recommend it.

Ivorybill Hunters: The search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness.......2007-09-12

This is an incredible account of an ongoing story that is still alive even now. The implication af the rediscovery of the Ivorybill Woodpecker is unparalleled in conservation history and this account is most exciting!!

Chasing after hope on a feather.......2007-05-05

I remember hearing news of an ivorybill sighting in 2005, followed up by purported sound recordings of the formerly extinct species and then fleeting video footage. Since then, several research teams and amateur birders have claimed sightings, but none have captured definitive proof of the bird's existence.

Throughout all the debate, excitement, speculation and accusations, two things struck me: First, Nature never fails to surprise, and second, the passions of people also never fail to surprise.

Now we have the story of the (maybe) resurrection of a thought-to-be-lost species by one of its hunters, Professor Geoffrey E. Hill, who was part of a 2005/2006 Florida search team that found tantalizing evidence but no definitive proof of ivorybills in the forests around the Choctawhatchee river.

"Ivorybill Hunters" reads like a good detective novel filled with political intrigue, clashing agendas, and a forest of tantalizing leads, most of which ended up as dead ends. The ivorybill has taken on such a mythic status that one could compare it to another famous bird, the Maltese Falcon, both of which are the stuff on which dreams, and in the case of the ivorybill, reputations and history, are made.

Condor: To the Brink and Back--the Life and Times of One Giant Bird

Average customer rating:

A Near Death Experience
Everything Condor
How one large bird journeyed to the very edge of extinction and came back makes for an exciting story
Informative and a lot of fun to read
The Return of the Condor

Condor: To the Brink and Back--the Life and Times of One Giant Bird
John Nielsen
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006008863X
Release Date: 2007-03-13

Book Description

The California condor, with a wingspan of nine–and–a–half feet and a history as old as the Redwoods, should be extinct by now. It should not be soaring over the Grand Canyon, Big Sur, and south–central California. It should not be breeding like a machine in zoos. It should be a bitter memory.

Fifteen years ago, there were only twenty–seven California condors left in the world, and they were all in zoos, where none had even tried to reproduce. The effort to save this bird had come to resemble a bar fight, in which environmentalists, scientists, and bureaucrats injured themselves and the species they were trying to save. It was embarrassing at best.

Yet the condor has survived somehow. It has sailed past the brink of extinction, turned a broad circle in the sky, and returned to the wild again. The story of how this happened is more than the story of an endangered bird with an amazing wingspan. It is also the story of a wild and giant state that has become crowded and small, and the behind–the–scenes dramas that shaped the environmental movement.

Customer Reviews:

A Near Death Experience.......2007-07-07
If cats have nine lives, then the California condor as a species must be their equal. These birds have stepped to the edge of the extinction cliff and ALMOST fallen to a crushing collapse. After reading their story, you have to wonder if the creator was playing a cruel joke on this ancient and giant bird. First, with the exception of the huge black body and their graceful soaring, they aren't what you would call "easy on the eyes." They have a number of disgusting habits, and to top it off, they settled on Southern California as home (i.e., this place is being consumed by development at an alarming rate).

Condors to the Brink and Back - covers this bird's life history all the way to the release of zoo raised birds into the wilds of California and Arizona. With each chapter that John Nielsen writes in their life history I felt like, "Okay, this is it. These birds aren't going to survive this one." In the end, the species (read: humans) which puts them against the ropes, is ultimately the same species which comes to their rescue. Nielsen introduces all the key players in what at times resembles a less-than-unified effort to save the mighty condor.

Nearing the end of the book, what becomes apparent is man's role as the crutch the fragile condor must lean against to survive. As more condors raised in captivity are released into the wild, their dependency on wildlife biologists and zoo care-takers can begin to crumble. Encouraging news about California condors breeding and fledging new birds in their natural habitat is happening with greater frequency and spreading over a wider range including Mexico.

Their longer term survival looks brighter and brighter. But some of the threats that put these birds on the brink of collapse are still present today in the form of lead pellets and bullets in downed game which the condors ingest and the ever shrinking range land which they inhabit. For the time being, we have the California condor back to grace our skies, and play an important role as one of nature's big body snatchers.
Everything Condor.......2006-06-03
This is a really interesting book. Nielsen writes very well, and with an evident passion arising from his boyhood experiences with condors in southern California. Nielsen tells the story of the condor, what little we know of its history before the nineteenth century, the slaughter of the birds and the stealing of its eggs, and finally the sometimes comical efforts to save this profound species from extinction. The book is equally appealing to readers who are simply seeking a good story, and to those who are involved in other kinds of environmental protection efforts.

One particular part of the story surprised me. Nielsen interviewed Sandy Wilbur, the government biologist charged with developing a plan to save the condor immediately after the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973. According to Nielsen, Wilbur became a Christian after reading a book by C.S. Lewis, and it was his Christian beliefs that influenced his desire to preserve the condor. Wilbur believed that the condor was special because it was created by God, even though the bird had long outlived its evolutionary significance and was not necessary for any current ecosystem. This is a different kind of motivation for saving biodiversity, and the story is a nice complement to the many other individuals who have struggled to save such a memorable bird.
How one large bird journeyed to the very edge of extinction and came back makes for an exciting story.......2006-05-26
How one large bird journeyed to the very edge of extinction and came back makes for an exciting story: especially when related by a NPR environmental correspondent as in CONDOR; TO THE BRINK AND BACK - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ONE GIANT BIRD. Here is where passionate reporting blends best with science, producing a moving story of how a small group of committed people refused to allow the condor to become extinct, joining forces to gather the last remaining wild condors to a pair of zoos where they were encouraged to breed with other captives. John Nielsen is a native Californian as well as an environmental writer, so he's in the perfect position to provide a survey of both California environmental politics and processes and natural history in this compelling account.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Informative and a lot of fun to read.......2006-04-02
John Nielsen has clearly done his homework when it comes to understanding the fascinating history of the California Condor. He not only takes us through the natural history of condors from the Pleistocene to the present, he also introduces us to the remarkable cast of characters who have worked diligently for almost a century to prevent this species from disappearing. Written in an easy, engaging style, "Condor" combines ecology, history, and gossip to create a vivid picture of the challenges involved in saving a species that was more at home in the age of the mammoths than in the age of McMansions.
The Return of the Condor.......2006-02-28
American condors are not an easy bird to love, at least for many people. Their points of unattractiveness are many. The condor is a vulture, a creature that eats dead and rotting things by sticking its bald, red, ugly head into carcasses. When it needs to cool its feet, it urinates on them. Its sense of interior design for the caves in which it nests is to decorate the walls with feces and vomit. John Nielson, in _Condor: To the Brink and Back - The Life and Times of One Giant Bird_ (HarperCollins) admits to all this ugliness, but says the images vanish when the bird takes flight: "You may think there's no chance you could ever give a damn about this bird, but take my word for it: once you see the condor soaring, it owns you." The birds have inspired a great deal of fervent enthusiasm, which has of course pitted enthusiasts against such types as farmers and developers, but has also divided those who want to save the birds into warring factions when they disagree on the fundamentals of how to do so. The condor has survived, but even Nielsen admits it has long been a species with no ecological value. It has survived, barely so, despite its involvement with humans and now directly because of them.

The birds are amazing in many ways. They are one of the largest of flying birds, with a ten foot wing span. The finger-like feathers at the end of those wings are almost two feet long. As big as condors are, they were small scavenger birds compared to some of the others 1.6 million years ago in the Pleistocene, when they would have fed on mammoths, sloths, and saber-toothed cats. As Nielsen says, we'd pay plenty to get mammoths and saber-tooths back; what's it worth to keep an animal with the same history? Condors started being afflicted by humans who wiped out different mammalian species in the mid-1700s, and then by hunters who left their prey full of lead, and then by strychnine used to poison varmints, and then by collectors of their feathered skins and their eggs. By 1982 there were only about two dozen left. A great deal of basic research had to be done on the birds to get real understanding of how they lived. It was not until the 1980s, for instance, that it was learned by chance that condors are among the birds that "double clutch," laying a second egg in a season if they lose the first one. This meant that one egg could go to the zoo without making the flock smaller. Crews of condor-fanciers wore themselves out tagging condors in the wild or collecting the eggs; they called themselves "The Zombie Patrol" because as they staggered to the condor nest caves they were "filthy, smelly, bleeding, starving, stiff, and utterly exhausted." Eggs brought back (in a special padded suitcase) were hatched in the zoos. A program of simply tagging and releasing birds in the wild did not work; eventually all the last birds wound up as captives.

There has been enough success in captive breeding that condors raised in pens have been released into the wild. No one really can predict how this will go. Chicks raised this way are often fed by hand, or at least by hand puppet, a covering for a hand that looks very much like an adult condor head coming down with food in its beak. This was supposed to let chicks sense that they were in a condor family, but one keeper said, "It only took the chicks a few days to figure out that there were people behind the puppets." Wild birds do not need to be thinking of people as a source for nutrition (or for any other blessings, given how we have treated them). There was a program of "aversive therapy" to keep them from being too affectionate to or curious about humans, and another to teach them not to land on power lines. There are important philosophical issues here; are such birds raised so unnaturally really natural members of the environment, and what is it that we have gotten for the millions that have been spent to get them back in the air? If you only count numbers, there are about a hundred condors flying free now, which is a real success, although some biologists think this only shows how badly we have failed to keep the environment a place where condors could continue to make their homes independently. Perhaps it is only appropriate that this strange bird, hideously ugly in appearance and fabulously beautiful in the skies, should bring out the best and the worst in us, and that its unresolved story should be filled with ambivalent messages.

Average customer rating:
Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida: Birds (Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida Series , Vol 5)

Manufacturer: University Press of Florida
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Trees of Florida: A Reference and Field Guide (Reference and Field Guides) (Reference and Field Guides)

ASIN: 0813014492

Average customer rating:

The Grail Bird

Great Book!

Waders of the Lost Ark

A great story of people, places, and a bird

Enough to make you want to buy a pair of chest waders

The Grail Bird: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Tim Gallagher
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

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Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul

To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifetime Obsession

ASIN: 061870941X

Book Description
In April 2005, a startling announcement made national and international news: the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird thought to be extinct for nearly sixty years, had been sighted. The story behind this incredible discovery began more than a year earlier when, after a lengthy search, Tim Gallagher was one of the first people to see this iconic bird, the holy grail of birdwatchers. He convinced the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to mount a massive search for evidence of the bird's existence. The news was kept secret while field teams went to work and land was bought up to be conserved. Gallagher's story reads like a mystery novel, and the subsequent conservation efforts provide hope and a lesson for our times.
Customer Reviews:

The Grail Bird.......2007-10-16
This is such an enjoyable book. Gallagher paints the picture of all the players, even way back over time, that were involved in the Ivory-bill's research. More should know of these backgrounds and personalities. What has surprised me is how many prominent naturalists of considerable renown have seen the bird over this century, and then kept quiet about it. This is like saying you personally have seen an UFO and don't want to be scorned by your peers, and considered an outright nut. That revelation is what causes me to think this reclusive bird might just have survived in some numbers in these swamplands. Plus the swamp crackers remarking about the coloration and striking white patterns of the birds, and having their own colloquial descriptions of their experiences. They seem to know pileateds quite well and sense the contrast with any Ivory-bill they ever encountered. This is what makes this book exciting reading, and such a keeper. Anyone will get involved in this pursuit and Gallagher does a great job weaving the tale. Non-birders will be surprised that this genus extends down into South America, and a member or two can be observed there of this larger woodpeckers clan. This book is an education!
Great Book!.......2007-09-04
I just learned of the rediscovery of the ivory billed woodpecker from reading some back issues of WILDBIRD magazine. I immediately ordered this book and read it in two days....WOW what an exciting, riveting, fascinating, fun book this is...I love woodpeckers so I really hope this can be proven with a picture even though I am sure it exists already. On the website it says there are still no pictures to prove it and people are still searching. I hope they find it soon-What an amazing story!!!!
Waders of the Lost Ark.......2007-01-11
This book is poignant and RIVETING. The protagonist is as "muck"rakingly mortal as a Ross Macdonald sleuth and the Delta-country bit parts have the idiosyncrasies of Dashiell Hammett collaborating suspects. The woodpecker himself, whether guilty of existing of not, is as elusive and infuriatingly (intentionally?) mysterious as a John le Carre double agent. And the stakes, a second chance for all of us, to find and preserve the "Lord God bird" are so heartbreakingly high as to be virtually Biblical.
A great story of people, places, and a bird.......2006-08-17
I've got a small den with limited bookshelf space. I read 2-3 books a week and give most of them to the local library--the rest go to friends. This one is a keeper. It is up on the shelf with The Big Year, Into the Heart of the Sea, and Undaunted Courage.

Tim Gallagher tells a tale of wanton destruction of primeval forests for greed and the miraculous species survival of a beautiful bird. Into the story he weaves a constant stream of lovable people, fantastic country, and remarkable history. My family is from Mississippi so I knew he was painting an accurate picture of swampland in winter, even down to the occasional cottomouth.

What a story! The book went by too fast and I hated to leave the people he introduced me too. I hope he is busy with the sequel and current photos of the Lord God bird.
Enough to make you want to buy a pair of chest waders.......2006-08-08
An exciting tale that is so well written, you can feel what it is like to be guiding your canoe through snags in the bottomland forest water. Gallager brings the characters and the search to life as he takes you down the trail that lead to the recent rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Ever skeptical, I found myself reviewing the evidence in the book and on other sites online. I still feel amazed that the rediscovery might actually be true. And time will tell. This is a book every birder and every logger/developer should read.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful Pictures...even better cause!

Fantastic book

This book made me cry!

Saving Grace

Saving the Big Cats: The Exotic Feline Rescue Center (Quarry Books)
Stephen D. McCloud
Manufacturer: Quarry Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0253346096

Book Description
Nestled in the woods near Center Point, Indiana, The Exotic Feline Rescue Center houses more than 160 big cats—ranging from lions, tigers, leopards, and pumas, to bobcats and more obscure breeds like the caracal, serval, ocelot, and lynx. But all of the cats at EFRC have one thing in common: they are predators that have suffered abuse and escaped extermination because of EFRC's efforts.
Through astonishing images and compelling text, Stephen D. McCloud tells each cat's story. Meet Sinbad, Molly, Sierra, Montana, Tika, and others. Included with the photos in this book are background stories, anecdotes, and inside information on the personalities of feline residents at EFRC.
Stephen D. McCloud heard about the Center in a casual conversation with a friend, and decided to take his camera and visit. In the last three years, McCloud and his camera have spent hundreds of hours at the Center. He has taken the time to get to know each of the cats: their likes, their dislikes, their quirks, and their stories. The affection he has for them is clearly reflected in his photographs. It's an incredible collection, and choosing only 100 or so for the book proved a daunting task.
A portion of the proceeds from each sale of this book will be donated to The Exotic Feline Rescue Center.
Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Pictures...even better cause!.......2007-01-16
This is a wonderful overview of the Exotic Feline Rescue Center. Stephen McCloud has obviously fallen in love with the cats at the center and it shows. There are SO many animals that have fallen victim to the exotic pet trade...the Feline Rescue Center provides a safe haven for some of the lucky ones, that now call it home. This book provides an intimate look at some of the rescues living at the center and allows the reader to look at the cats on a more personal level. The exotic pet trade is a HUGE problem in our world today and only with the help of people like Mr. McCloud educating people through photographs and information on their plight, will more people get involved and raise the necessary funds to end the vicious cycle. Wild animals belong in the WILD, not behind bars or in canned hunts for trophies. The Exotic Feline Rescue Center provides as close to a natural environment that is able for these poor cats forced to live in captivity. Stephen McCloud does a wonderful job with stories backed up by fabulous pictures.
Fantastic book.......2006-08-30
The book does the Exotic Feline Rescue Center justice. Stephen has captured the animals through wonderful photography. My granddaughter loved the center and enjoys the book.
This book made me cry! .......2006-06-12
If you love big cats like I do this is the ultimate book. Filled with striking photographs and heart-wrenching-yet-uplifting stories, I was flooded with emotion as I read. Lots of emotions. This is not an easy read, especially when confronted with stories of people abusing these majectic animals or forcing them to travel en masse in the back of a Volkswagon van... but these lions, tigers, cheetahs, panthers and lynx have all been very fortunate to be part of this book. The photos are as beautiful as they are intimate and it's like the photographer has actually captured a tiny bit of each cat's personality. BUY THIS BOOK.
Saving Grace.......2006-05-22
The Exotic Feline Rescue Center is the saving grace to somewhere around 170 big cats (they have acquired more since the publishing of this book). This book could be a great teacher to the world (especially breeders and private owners) about the realities of sending these beautiful creatures out into the world as "pets". I have been to the compound in Center Point a number of times, and have taken a LOT of pictures, but the pictures in this book are the most beautiful ones I've seen. And the stories can be heartbreaking, too. The way some people have treated these creatures of God is appalling, as you will read in this book. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that tunnel ends at Center Point, Indiana in the Exotic Feline Rescue Center. I recommend you buy this book, and have your friends buy this book. Everyone will enjoy it, and hopefully learn something from it. And a portion of the proceeds will go to the EFRC, and every little bit helps.

Average customer rating:

Boring pseudoscientific drivel

a wonderful book

A good read

Correction to below review

Good, but enough material for a whole book?

In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Jerome A. Jackson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060891556
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Book Description

In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is a complete natural history of one of the most exciting and rare birds in the world. Noted ornithologist Jerome A. Jackson takes the reader on his fantastic and personal quest, providing detailed insights into the bird's lifestyle, habitat, and cultural significance, examining its iconic status from the late 1800s to the present in advertising, conservation, and lore. As he relates searches for the bird by John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, and others, Jackson offers anecdotal tales illuminating the methods of early naturalists, including how one captive ivory-bill destroyed a naturalist's hotel room in a desperate attempt to escape. Jackson's search for one of the few remaining ivory-bills takes him across the United States and into Cuba. A new epilogue disputes the putative rediscovery of the bird in April 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Boring pseudoscientific drivel .......2006-05-27
I really wanted to like this book. I'm actually very interested in the ivory-billed woodpecker, but this was incredibly boring--dry, technical, lifeless. The author actually has the scientific name for every plant and animal all through the text. I just wanted to read an interesting story about a search for this amazing bird. This was not it.
a wonderful book.......2005-07-13
I absolutely could not put this book down. The information on the natural history of the ivory-bill is fascinating. The history of its demise--due to the stupidity and greed of humans--is gut wrenching. The accounts of searches in the U.S. and Cuba are spellbinding. This book has special meaning to me because I heard ivory-bill calls a few miles to the east of the Honey Island Swamp less than a year after David Kulivan saw a pair there. Jerome Jackson and others (such as John Dennis, Tim Gallagher, Bobby Harrison, and Mary Scott) are heros for keeping alive the hope that the species survived.
A good read.......2005-05-09
This is a good read for anyone who's interested in the ivory-billed woodpecker. Although it does not have any information about the rediscovery of the bird in Arkansas, Dr. Jackson has spent his entire adult life studying this bird and has some interesting insights. I also just finished reading "The Grail Bird," a brand new book by Tim Gallagher--one of the people who found the bird. It's like a combination detective story and adventure, and is also very funny in parts. I couldn't put it down. Another great book that has a section on the ivory-bill is "Hope is the Thing with Feathers," by Christopher Cokinos, a first-rate writer. If you're truly interested in learning more about this species, I highly recommend reading all three books.
Correction to below review.......2005-04-30
Just to make a correction to the review written below. The author of this tale is Jackson, not Tanner. Tanner did indeed see and record the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
Good, but enough material for a whole book?.......2004-10-12
I wanted to love this book, and before reading it I assumed that I would. I didn't quite, though. The "problem" with author Jackson's search -- and a rigorous search it's been -- is that he never actually found anything. And I don't just mean that he didn't find an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (if he had, you'd already have heard about it). What I mean is that Jackson apparently didn't find anything: no Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, no real hope of finding an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, no spiritual understanding of the bird or its possible (likely?) extinction . . . That's not a criticism, really. Not many of us are capable of spiritual understanding, and even fewer of us are capable of conveying such things to others. But without any of this, I found the book just a bit . . . well, a bit thin. A big chunk of the book is filled with accounts of 19th-century naturalists who studied and "collected" Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, and I found myself skipping over some of this material. It's useful, I know, but it's not a narrative that pulls you along. I hate it when people tell an author which book he should have written, so I'm not going to do that here. Rather, I'll just say that if you're truly interested in the Ivory-Billed then you'll probably enjoy this book, as I did.

Average customer rating:

Second edition - needs a bit more life perhaps

Flawed masterpiece

Not on any birders life list

Lively Writing on Dead Birds

SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING

Extinct Birds (Comstock Books)
Errol Fuller
Manufacturer: Comstock Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds

ASIN: 080143954X

Amazon.com
Ornithologists estimate that there have been 150,000 avian species since birds first appeared millions of years ago. If that figure, based on incomplete evidence, is correct, writes Errol Fuller, then nearly 94 percent of those species have gone extinct over time.
Most have done so through more or less natural causes--through disease, say, or widespread climatic change. In historic times, though, many species have been hastened to extinction through human actions, inadvertent and deliberate. In the case of the Hawaiian rail, Fuller writes in this catalog of birds that have disappeared since 1600, the introduction of alien species, such as the mongoose, domestic cat, and rat, was probably to blame. Rats, too, killed off the Lord Howe Island white-eye when a ship accidentally ran aground there in 1918. The Carolina parakeet disappeared a few years later, owing, perhaps, to the destruction of its forest habitat and its beautiful plumage, highly prized by hunters. Mosquitoes carried on other ships felled many other island species. And so on. Curiously, Fuller writes, the usual-suspect agents of extinction--hunting, say, or egg collecting--have had a smaller effect on vulnerable bird species than have changes in the environment wrought by humans and their "accompanying menagerie."
Fuller's book makes for a sobering obituary, and one of particular interest to environmentalists engaged in habitat preservation and restoration. --Gregory McNamee
Customer Reviews:

Second edition - needs a bit more life perhaps.......2004-07-20
This is a marvellous collector's book and fit for any coffee table. Lavishly illustrated, well bound with detailed and often poignant descriptions. It is also reasonably scholarly with lot of quotes and references to follow up leads. Each bird is given a separate "portrait" and chapter.
I think the second edition has not evolved too much from the first. Pehaps a few maps and a greater sense of urgency in an overview chapter could have made this book more than just a collector's book. It could have lists of organisations you can join to help prevent extinctions and notes about endemic bird areas - in the style of Roger and Petersen.
This remains an important reference though its traditional format has obviously not helped sales as I got mine for a fraction of the published cost.
Flawed masterpiece.......2002-04-23
This book is flawed only in that it does not mention the Giant Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei) of New Zealand. Driven into extinction by humans around 500 years ago, it was the largest bird of prey ever to exist, and was the airbourne equvilent of a lion or tiger. It hunted the Giant Moa but once this main food source became extinct, the eagles turned to humans as a source of food. As the Maori legend of the Pouakai relates, they would swoop down snatching away human victims, and were probably hunted to extinction by man out of sheer self defence. It would have been good have included this bird in the book. Otherwise its very good.
Not on any birders life list.......2002-03-30
The two most basic and obvious descriptions of this book only highlights the poignancy of the subject of EXTINCT BIRDS. To say that the book is large (nearly 400 pages) implies that there are a lot of birds that are no longer with us. Telling you it's beautifully illustrated (which it is, with nearly every page including a painting, photograph, or sketch, many in full color) only shows that we've lost a wide variety of colorful species. The book is also thoroughly researched and well organized with a logical arrangement of the birds in their main groupings.
In the introduction Fuller mentions Jerdon's Courser and the Four-colored flowerpecker, two species previously thought extinct (the flowerpecker since 1900). Both have since been rediscovered. This illustrates one of the dramatic changes in recent times with regard to the whole subject of extinction. Rediscovery is news and extinction is big business. It long ago shrugged off it's dry and dusty, stuffed-exhibits-in-a-museum image, and is now firmly embedded in popular culture and is the subject of bestsellers and box-office hits. This is especially true for birds and dinosaurs. Fuller says as much and gives a nod to the huge role JURASSIC PARK played in this. The story of the Coelacanth is even more remarkable than the rediscovery, after 100 years, of a small flowerpecking bird in a stand of forests on the Phillipine island of Cebu. Nonetheless we'll probably have a long wait before we see a prehistoric fish starring in a movie. The Coelacanth does have its own book though. Its rediscovery in 1938 after being gone for 400 million years is the subject of Samantha Weinberg's A FISH CAUGHT IN TIME. Fuller acknowledges another recent trend which is heightening interest in extinction - the recent scientific work using DNA technology - and its hint that we may be able to restore species in the not too distant future.
As part of useful background information Fuller talks about the special role of islands in the extinction process. There is much that is known about the peculiar sensitivity of these ecosystems. There is a correlation between islands and high rates of extinct, and threatened but still extant, bird species. Fuller makes referrence to David Quammen's appropriately titled book THE SONG OF THE DODO which explores the whole subject of island biogeography. Small fragile ecosystems, loss of habitat (especially forest cover), the impact of agriculture and other man-made environments, introduced species and competition; all of these are subjects scientists are very familiar with and whose impact on bird extinction has been studied.
Where the recent popular interest in extinction becomes slightly problematic for professionals is that we all want to know what's happening, but quantifying bird extinctions and arriving at loss rates still remains an inexact science. This book covers the 85 bird species that are known to have gone extinct since 1600. There is immediately a problem with this simple statement. "Known" is very subjective and the starting year of 1600 is artificial. Fuller explains: "The year 1600 heralds a period during which relatively reliable records have accumulated; before this time the records are sparse and, where they do exist, it is usually difficult to know what to make of them." As for the difficulty of statistical methods in estimating loss rates, consider the following. For ease of calculation use the number of species lost as 80 and years at 400 (1600 to 2000). This works out to 5, which a dishonest person could report as saying that on average over the last 400 years we have been losing bird species at the rate of 5 per year! ... That works out to 2000 extinct species but we know that the correct figure is 85, so it simply means that for many years there were no extinctions. What we do know is that the rate of extinction in recent years has been increasing. The most commonly accepted bird extinction rate today is Colombia University's Center for Environmental Research and Conservations' figure of 0.01 percent or one species per year. This little exercise illustrates the statistical chicanery employed by THE SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST with his estimate of the overall extinction rate at "0.7 percent over the next 50 years". This works out to 0.014 percent which is barely higher than the most conservative estimate for bird extinctions alone!
Statistics aside, and regardless of whether you accept that there will be an estimated 1200 more bird species extinct in the next 100 years there are a couple of things that are certain. The next edition of this book will be as beautiful as this one and depending on how soon it's published it will be bigger. How much larger and by how many species remians the sad unknown.
Lively Writing on Dead Birds.......2001-06-20
Like Errol Fuller's previous books, _Extinct Birds_ (Cornell University Press) is big, colorful, and magnificently laid out. Of course it is sad; one cannot look at these pages and read about the birds that we will never see again, without a sense of loss. (However, this second edition has some good news: some of the extinct birds reported in the first edition have been found again!) It's a shame we don't have the birds instead of a commemorative volume about them, but granting even this, _Extinct Birds_ is as beautiful a commemorative volume as we can ever expect to see. It may be that some of these birds are not extinct, only hiding (Fuller shows this has happened before), but most of the birds here are certainly as dead as dodoes. The reasons are not hard to seek, and it will come as no surprise that humans have killed most of them off. Hunting has taken a direct toll, but is not a usual major cause of wiping out a whole species. Ruination of habitats and introduction of predators (especially rats) to islands are more devastating. Predicting how it will go for birds over the next century can't be done exactly, of course, but it doesn't look good for them; one respected research study concludes that one in eight bird species are at risk for extinction in the next century. Watch the birds around you carefully, and count your blessings, and say goodbye.
_Extinct Birds_ is not a dry catalogue ticking off each species we have lost. Besides the lovely illustrations, Fuller has written about the birds with a dry wit not found in a mere catalogue. Fuller writes, "...extinct birds are, by and large, a quite spectacular bunch. Although there are some fairly unexceptional exceptions among the ranks of the extinct, not a few of the world's most memorable birds are now among the lost. The dodo, the great auk, the moas, and the great elephant birds are all obvious qualifiers. Are there any conclusions to be drawn from this? Perhaps only the notion that a raised head is more likely to be chopped off!" The lovely pictures in this volume, often from sources that could draw the bird from life, come from Audubon, of course, from Edward Lear, who is now more famous for his nonsense verse, and from Fuller and some of his friends.
Some of the stories behind the birds are decidedly odd. The funniest and saddest of the stories is that of the Stephen Island wren. Stephen Island is a square mile rocky place near New Zealand. There was a lighthouse on the island, and the lighthouse keeper had a cat named Tibbles. As cats are wont to do, Tibbles would go hunting, and would bring his dead prey back to his human. Tibbles brought the tiny birds to the keeper in around 1896 and thus can be credited with finding a bird that no one had previously recorded. He can also be credited with wiping out the entire species. The specimens he collected are in various museums. Fuller quotes an anonymous correspondent to _The Canterbury Press_ at the time: "And we certainly think that it would be as well if the Marine Department, in sending lighthouse keepers to isolated islands where interesting specimens of native birds are known or believed to exist, were to see that they are not allowed to take any cats with them, even if mouse-traps have to be furnished at the cost of the state."
A gorgeous volume, _Extinct Birds_ is paradoxically full of lively stories.
SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING.......1999-12-27
Extinct Birds is a very important, not to mention facinating, book. If it were required reading in all schools, I think that today's extinction/ecological problems would have a powerful foe. Order this book, you won't regret it.
Books:

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

The Raptors of Arizona

The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior

The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story

The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story

The Third Secret: A Novel of Suspense

The Unquiet: A Thriller

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

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