Looking for some great summer reads about birds and bird conservation? Here are a few that I have enjoyed recently.
Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury
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A book full of fascinating stories that weave together Stutchbury's years of field experience and research with easy-to-understand explanations of the state of our understanding about bird ecology and behavior and how they interact with the issues impacting bird populations. I was taken-aback by the stats on pesticide use here and in Latin America and intrigued by the discussion of how fragmentation of habitat can change the behavioral and social fabric of bird species.
Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul
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Scott has done it again in this wonderful book. He traces a journey that starts with an acknowledgement of Native Americans as the first birders/ornithologists, ends with the bizarre birders who participate in New Jersey Audubon's World Series of Birding, and has the kind of stops in-between that make you want more.
No Way Home: The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations by David Wilcove
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Not only does this book open up your thinking about migrations to include insects, fish, and mammals along with birds, but it brings into sharp focus the losses of migratory species and behavior that have already occurred. Wilcove really made me think even more about why protecting large intact ecosystems like the Boreal is important.
Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds by Miyoko Chu
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Miyoko is able to capture the jaw-dropping spectacle of bird migration, summarize the intricacies of the newest findings about what limits bird populations during breeding and winter, and make you want to get out and look and listen for birds—all in under 300 pages! I love the discussions about studying nocturnal migration and it is great to see the sections on the importance of the Boreal for bird conservation.
Hope is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds by Christopher Cokinos
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Although this book was published back in 2000, I had never gotten around to reading it until recently but I am really glad I did. Cokinos does a masterful job of weaving together history, biology, and the personal stories of the real people who were involved in studying and trying to save the last of North America's extinct birds. It may sound ominous but Cokinos finds a way of bringing it back to hope for the future.
