The River Landing

BOOK REVIEW: Swallow Summer, by Charles R. Brown

          Swallow Summer (1998; University of Nebraska Press; 371 pp; 2 map illustrations and 24 black and white plates; $16.95) by Charles R. Brown, tells the story of a long-term study of cliff swallows along the Platt River valley in Nebraska.  If the book were as prosaic as my last sentence, I might never have gotten past the first page.  But as it were, I thoroughly enjoyed this very unusual book because the story is approached from several different angles.

          Most of the time, Swallow Summer describes the day-to-day activities of a team of very dedicated field researchers.  These descriptions are creatively mixed with many scientific facts about swallow behavior.  Everything is woven together with Brown’s personal reflections on the study and how his research has taken shape over a fourteen-year period.  At the same time, there are many instances when Swallow Summer reads like a fine travel/adventure narrative or a well-constructed journal.  This book may be many things, but it is never boring.

          Another aspect of Swallow Summer is Brown’s role as mentor.  Throughout the text, Brown provides the reader with a good supply of tips for those that may be contemplating a field research project.  Brown even provides a few bits of commentary on the way scientific research is conducted today in academia.  He indicates that “scientists compete like hyenas over a carcass for the pittance [in funding] NSF [the National Science Foundation] distributes each year….[and] many people spend more time trying to raise money than actually doing science.”  Though Brown makes no secret about his disillusionment with academia and lecturing to students, he also makes it clear that he absolutely loves doing field research on cliff swallows.

          Chapter one opens with a present-tense description of Brown’s return trip to his study area in southwestern Nebraska on May 8, 1995.  He travels with his wife and major scientific collaborator, Mary Bomberger Brown, with whom he has written many published manuscripts, including the recent book, Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow:  The Effect of Group Size on Social Behavior.  As the narrative continues through the first few chapters, we are gradually given more details on the cliff swallow study and Brown’s three volunteer assistants, who are the other main characters of the book.  Each day is given a separate account, right up to the time when Brown and his collaborator-wife leave Nebraska for home on July 27^th, the last day of the field season.  The effect is to give the reader the illusion that he or she is actually shadowing the author.  But though the entries for each day are chronological, each chapter also has a loose focus.  The chapter entitled “Information Centers,” for example, expands on the notion that cliff swallows in colonies tend to assess each other to identify well-fed individuals, who can then be followed to rich food concentrations.

          Throughout the book, the reader is brought along on all aspects of the 1995 field season.  The conversational style of writing throughout most of the book, with the occasional and surprising use of mild profanity, adds a certain intimacy and real feeling to this honestly written narrative.  We are there with Brown as he trains each assistant to properly net and handle cliff swallows, and how to record information on data sheets.  Brown gives the impression that he is tirelessly alert as to what the swallows are doing at any given moment, and he frequently asks new questions, and offers logical interpretations and cautious speculations about swallow behavior.  Though Brown appears to be in his favorite element when collecting information on cliff swallows, he frequently expresses his frustration when things do not seem to be going right, especially when bad weather does not allow birds to be netted or when the swallows do not seem to be cooperating.

          Brown has a single-purpose mindset during his field season:  collect information on cliff swallows and band as many birds as possible.  He seems to be totally immersed in directing his study from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week, for almost three months.  He does not stop even when troubled by a bad ear infection.  Independence Day is a field day just like any other, although he does manage to take some time off to watch a fireworks display—and, surprisingly, does not lament that swallows cannot be netted in the dark.  On rare occasions he even treats his field crew to ice cream, and on one occasion takes them to watch a rodeo.  Often when things are quiet at the swallow colonies, Brown may take time to look around at the surrounding landscape.  The word-pictures that he uses to describe such scenes are particularly eloquent.  On one occasion, Brown writes of “a glassy water surface, brilliant blue sky, soporific sun, and two white pelicans steaming along on the water directly in front of us.”  So he is human after all.

          In fact, Brown does seem to acknowledge that conditions may not always be pleasant for other people.  For himself, he seems to shrug off what most people would probably consider miserable working conditions.  Most of the cliff swallow colonies are located under road culverts, where Brown and his assistants set mist nets at the culvert entrances, and then remove birds from the nets to attach bands and take measurements.  One challenging site, known as Mule Deer, is described:  “The mud underneath the water is extraordinarily thick and gooey, and several assistants over the years have fallen into it.  The cold, dark standing water has a slimy film, and the culvert smells of swamp, mildew, and rot.  Invariably there are dead things floating in the water:  swallows, ducks, sparrows, rodents, rabbits, snakes, turtles, frogs, crayfish, and many things too far gone to recognize….Yet I love this place.”  He is fond of the site because Mule Deer has yielded some of the most meaningful information on cliff swallows for the entire study.

          In the sweltering mid-summer heat, day after day, the field work continues.  At one site the field workers are accosted by hordes of black flies; at another site, hordes of mosquitoes; then, Brown writes, “huge, biting, bloodthirsty, homicidal flies.”  What can be worse than spending the hot summer collecting data with your shirt covered in bird excrement?  Swallow Summer provides the answer:  also being engulfed in dust that is mainly cow excrement; then imagine that excrement-laden dust combined with sweat.  Not a pretty picture.

          In the end, though, the result of fourteen years of hard work and dedication, with over 80,000 cliff swallows banded, is an incredible insight into the biology of this species.  Brown, together with his wife, Mary, has made major contributions toward understanding the benefits and disadvantages of nesting in colonies of various sizes.  Many of their discoveries on cliff swallow behavior have added insight into the basic processes of species evolution in general.  My only disappointment is that Brown does not mention an application of his work that may also help solve the world-wide, human-caused biodiversity crisis that is presently occurring.  Species are currently going extinct at a rate which may not have been exceeded for 65 million years, when a mass extinction saw the disappearance of the dinosaurs from the earth.  There is certainly nothing wrong with doing pure research, but the problems facing the natural world today are immediate and extreme, and they require solutions now.  Brown acknowledges that natural habitats are increasingly coming under the influence of our rapidly expanding societies, but his interest seems to be purely academic, related to the necessity of having undisturbed habitats (i.e., uninfluenced by humans) available for studies to answer evolutionary questions.

          One of the reasons Brown wrote this book was so that “others will use this book to vicariously experience life in the field.”  I think he was immensely successful in reaching this goal, because this is the first time that I have ever felt like taking a vacation after reading a book.  I could almost state that after finishing Swallow Summer, I was physically exhausted.  Even so, I still had enough energy left to want to pursue Brown’s other more technical works on the cliff swallow study.  But, unfortunately, Swallow Summer lacks a bibliography.  Brown also decided to leave out even the briefest description of the statistical methods and computers that he uses when analyzing data during the other nine months of the year—a time when, he writes, “The birds become numbers and words on a page….”  And for that I am grateful.

          Perhaps one day if I am passing through Keith County, Nebraska, I may stop to visit the cliff swallow colonies that Brown finds so fascinating.  But I think I will avoid Brown himself, as he states that he is “curt with spectators” and “if we seem weird enough, maybe they’ll go away.”  He won’t even know that I am there.    

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Winter 1998-1999 issue, Number267, pages 22-23.]

 

Note:  To read about the swallows of Illinois, download chapter 10, “Wings over the River”, from my book Side Channels:   Download Chapter 10 Wings Over the River.]

 

Side Channels is available for purchase from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, and a variety of other online sites.

BOOK REVIEW: Chasing Warblers, by Bob and Vera Thornton

          Because I have never been one to travel around the country specifically to list birds, I hesitated more than a bit before purchasing a copy of Chasing Warblers  by Bob and Vera Thornton^a (1999; University of Texas Press; 156 pp; 1 site location map; 90 color photographs; $40.00 hardcover, $19.99 paperback).  Even when a rarity shows up at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge near my home, I usually hold no great hopes of actually finding the bird.  So why would I be interested in reading a book about chasing warblers?  I considered that if the book also contained detailed descriptions of the travel and adventure of tracking down each warbler species plus thoughtful commentary about being on the road in strange places, I would be satisfied.  The book’s jacket promises as much and more, and the color photographs are irresistible and are, by themselves, probably worth the purchase price.

          The first chapter, entitled “Wood Warblers,” presents a few unavoidable details on the methods and strategies used to photograph warblers, including equipment information.  At the outset, I wondered about the Thorntons’ motivation for setting up the challenge for themselves of photographing all 52 warblers that regularly nest within the United States.  It is not as if all of the species have not already been photographed.  And there is nothing biologically meaningful about political boundaries.  So the contribution to ornithology of realizing such a goal would seem small.  Further into the book, though, the Thorntons explain that one day, after experiencing a warbler fallout at High Island, Texas, they simply thought it would be “fun” to see how many species of warblers they could photograph.  Because I am not altogether against doing some things purely for fun (with certain behavioral constraints) I am willing to accept, without deeper explanation, the Thorntons’ motivation for embarking upon their project.  The fun, in any case, would become a nine-year “quest” during the short breeding seasons when males would be in prime breeding plumage (and, hence, more attractive for photography, with females and fall birds not being of interest).  Simply stated, then, Chasing Warblers tells the Thorntons’ story of how they photographed 52 species of warblers in the wild.  And looking at their photographs was, I hate to admit, fun.

          The warblers are presented in 13 chapters according to the order in which they were photographed, which works well for their overall story, but results in a general feeling of randomness and disorganization.  Most birders and ornithologists probably feel more comfortable with species presented in phylogenetic order.  Chapters are organized around general locations or nearby habitats where several species were photographed.  In fact, presenting the birds by habitat type would have been a great way to emphasize the importance of habitat and the growing problem of habitat loss.  For each species, a minimum amount of ecological information, such as habitat requirements and foraging habitats, is discussed.

          Conservation issues are quickly mentioned in only a few instances, without a great deal of emphasis and usually without much passion.  For example, when discussing the cerulean warbler, the authors mention the “decline of our river bottomlands as well as the accelerating deforestation of the Cerulean’s winter home” without really delving into the cause for the habitat losses.  At Matagorda Island, off the Gulf Coast of Texas, the Thorntons look for tired, slowly moving warblers (easily photographed) that have just flown 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.  They then digress briefly from warblers to mention the whooping cranes that overwinter in the area and the fact that the cranes “came within a flash of extinction,” but they never even hint at the cause for the crane’s decline.  It also seems curious that after traveling all over the United States over a nine-year period, and surely encountering shocking examples of urban sprawl and highway development, the Thorntons fail to relate what they saw in terms of impact on bird habitats.  The authors certainly are aware of such issues, because the book is dedicated to “the core principles of conservation and to those who are committed to preserving critical habitats….”  And at the end of the final chapter, the Thorntons finally provide a strong word for conservation and environmental issues when they state that “…the more we observed, and the more we listened to others, the more firmly rooted has become our conviction that there is a real illness in the forests of the world and that our songbirds are clearly under siege.”  This book could have been used to send a poignant, although rather depressing, environmental message; instead, it seems to be somewhat of a missed opportunity.

          In general, the Thorntons seem reluctant to focus on negative issues.  So it is all the more surprising that in the same chapter as the whooping crane reference, they state that Matagorda Island was once “…Karankawa Indian territory until their ultimate demise in the 1850s in an extinction just as complete as that of the Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, and Ivory-billed Woodpecker not that many years thereafter.”  The sentence seems out of place; there was no other information provided; and Native American issues were never mentioned again.  Several other longer digressions throughout the book (for example, the one-page discussion of Panamanian antbirds) apparently attempt to add depth to the narrative or local color to the story, but instead seem mostly out of place.  At the same time, the Thorntons miss many opportunities to include detailed word-pictures of scenes encountered while tracking down warblers or traveling en route to new locations.  Few curious encounters or humorous mishaps are mentioned, though some surely must have occurred—as any seasoned birder knows.  A notable exception, however, is the circumstance in Virginia where a colorful local asks the authors if they are carrying a gun and then warns them about “snakes, wild boar, black bear, and escaped convicts.”

        At any rate, while the book is somewhat lacking as a travel narrative, gives only rudimentary ecological information for each species, and fails, for the most part, to emphasize the important connection between a species and its habitat (discussions of the Kirtland’s and golden-cheeked warblers are two of the better exceptions), the color photographs are absolutely breathtaking and of the highest quality.  I first picked up this book during the height of the spring migration, when I was seeing a variety of warblers every day, and experiencing the usual frustrations of attempting to see the small, quick birds high in leafed-out tree canopies.  To even think about photographing such an ephemeral puff of energy seemed impossible.  So in total amazement, before reading a word of the book, I immediately paged through every photograph.  Later as I actually read the book, I even found myself getting caught up in the anticipation of the author finally photographing their last warbler (number 52, the Colima warbler of the southwest), much like observing the 100^th species on a spring bird count.

        So I grudgingly admit that birding is fun after all, and I had fun reading this book.  Birders, especially the listing type, will enjoy this book.  Beginning birders should find this book an inspiration.  Those expecting a travel-birding story written in the tradition of Edwin Way Teale may be disappointed, although certain passages are somewhat reminiscent of Teale’s writings.  Serious scientific types may be better off grabbing an issue of the Wilson Bulletin from their stack of unread scientific journals, unless, of course, they wish to be reminded of why they became interested in birds (not computers) in the first place.  And that may not be such a bad thing…as I found out.

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak

^a Text by Bob Thornton, photography by Bob and Vera Thornton.

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Fall 2001 issue, Number298, pages 20-21.]

 

BOOK REVIEW: Eagle’s Plume by Bruce E. Beans

        In Eagle’s Plume—The Struggle to Preserve the Life and Haunts of America’s Bald Eagle (1996; Scribner; 318 pp.; $25.00), author Bruce E. Beans points out that the bald eagle population of the contiguous United States has been doubling every 6 or 7 years since the 1970s.  The bald eagle, indeed, was recently upgraded in status from being designated federally endangered to federally threatened, reflecting the bird’s status as a recovering species (reviewer’s update:  in 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the federal Threatened and Endangered Species List).  This is good news.  Yet the overall message in Eagle’s Plume is not one of unquestionable optimism.  Quite the contrary, in fact.

        Beans reaches far beyond citing mere upward or downward numerical trends in eagle populations.  He recognizes that as a top of the food web predator, the bald eagle is a reliable biological indicator of environmental health, and that (paraphrasing Larry Niles, Chief of the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program) “…if we could manage our environment so we could keep eagles, it [is] likely also to be healthy for us and the rest of the planet.”  Managing the environment for bald eagles, however, is not straightforward or easy, as Beans illustrates, especially when not everyone agrees that this would be a good thing to do.

        As the subtitle of the book implies, Eagle’s Plume is as much about the people involved in the bald eagle story as it is about the birds themselves, although the book contains an abundance of eagle facts scattered throughout.  In fact, many of the book’s main human characters are given a short background sketch, as well as a brief physical description.  This was obviously an attempt to make the major players appear more human, and it would have been more successful if some of the descriptions were not subtly biased.  For example, eagle researcher Bill Bowerman is referred to as “Fair-skinned and blond, with a broad build and cherubic face…,” while Beans emphasizes the “shirtless potbelly” of a man who just happens to have his “low, mean ranch house featuring a Confederate flag” located in what was once prime eagle habitat (which has since been made less then prime due to the housing developments).  There are a few other examples of this bias toward presenting only characters who are eagle proponents in a favorable light.  This made me somewhat question other aspects of the book that appeared impeccably objective and well researched.  (Notes on sources of information are grouped by chapter at the end of the book, but it is difficult to use the notes as there are no references in the main text.)  Although I would probably agree with the author’s impressions had I met these people—and I certainly am an eagle proponent—environmental reporting must remain objective, otherwise credibility may be sacrificed.

        The tone of each chapter is set with one to several poignant quotes located near the chapter headings.  The quotes, usually referring to bald eagles, encourage the reader to think beyond the moment and to expect anything.  How else can one read about government-subsidized predator control using poisoned carrion in the West that results in the deaths of a variety of non-target species, including golden eagles and bald eagles?  I was shocked to read that a recent resurgence of Native American cultures and pride (including growing interest from non-Native Americans) has spawned a black market in eagle parts (e.g., talons), even including entire birds.  Beans furnished the details of several case studies that involved undercover work by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents; in some instances, guilty parties received prison sentences and heavy fines.

        Eagle’s Plume is comprehensive  in summarizing current threats to the bald eagle, including continuing contamination from synthetic organic chemicals such as PCBs—a threat which began with DDT in the 1940s.  Even with all the progress made in pollution control since the 1960s, some researchers refer to large portions of the Great Lakes as a “bald eagle sinkhole,” as many eagles, dispersing to the Great Lakes from other areas, appear to be prematurely dying.  Deformed eaglets (e.g., crossed bills) are continuing to occasionally turn up in nests located in Great Lakes states, which suggests eagle food sources (primarily fish) are contaminated.  In fact, it is well known that fish in the Great Lakes, especially in areas near centers of industry, are contaminated with a variety of synthetic organic chemicals to such a degree that fish advisories are in effect advocating limited consumption (see Hesselberg and Gannon 1995).

        Even with illegal shooting, secondary poisoning from baited carrion, and long-term threats from persistent chemical contamination, it is clear that Beans regards habitat loss as the greatest threat facing bald eagles today and in the future.  From New Jersey and Chesapeake Bay to Florida (especially Florida) and Alaska, Beans details examples of the destruction of wild areas to make room for expanding urban areas, second home developments, the accompanying highway infrastructure, and the congestion and noise which feeds upon itself creating more of the same (sometimes my objectivity wears thin when I think about expanding urban sprawl and its contribution to habitat loss).  Edward Abbey referred to it “The Blob.”  In his book The Journey Home, Abbey quotes Frank Lloyd Wright who said, “If you don’t want to live in the city pick a spot ten miles beyond its outermost limits—and then go fifty miles further.”  Charley Broley is quoted by Beans as saying, even in 1951:  “There are just too many people moving to Florida—the [Gulf] coast is soon going to be one long village.”

        Beans emphasizes the seriousness and pervasiveness of habitat loss by relating examples throughout the book.  Just as bald eagle populations are recovering from the eggshell-thinning DDT era, their preferred remote, wild habitats are being encroached upon by human developments.  An extreme example is given of the subcontractor in Florida where the land developer told him “…he’d give me a hundred dollars cash if I could just knock the [eagle nest] tree down.”  The subcontractor declined the offer.  Beans relates another Florida story where an eagle nest tree was cut down; the tree was located on valuable real estate suitable for development.  Incredibly, one egg from the nest, after falling forty feet and being chilled for over twelve hours, was alive.  The egg was subsequently hatched artificially, and the eaglet raised and successfully fledged.  Those who cut the tree have never been found.  These stories underscore the fact that in a competition for resources between eagles and humans, the eagles unaided and alone stand no chance of winning.

        In the book’s final chapter, Larry Niles is quoted as saying, with reference to bald eagles, that “…our experience is that our species has [an] almost unending responsibility for taking care of them.”  I agree.  The chemicals contaminating eagles, and other organisms for that matter, are of human manufacture; we degrade their habitats to render those habitats unsuitable or destroy habitats outright.  Larry Niles has made a good point.  The question is whether we are up to his challenge.  There are too many examples today where a healthy environment or the fate of a species or a biological community is unfairly pitted against local jobs and economic growth, as if that is all we can aspire to.  Beans provides typical examples such as the proposed Chilkat National Bald Eagle Refuge in Alaska that was never established because of local residents who feared governmental control of their lands.  Beans suggests that part of the habitat loss problem could be solved if bald eagles could learn to nest closer to human habitations and tolerate higher levels of human activities.  Most evidence from scientific studies indicates there is little chance of this happening soon (for example, see Buehler et al. 1991 and McGarigal et al. 1991), although certain eagles in Florida have become so tolerant of human activities that they have been dubbed “urban eagles” (reviewer’s update:  the number of nesting bald eagles in Illinois has continued to increase).  In terms of evolutionary time, we have pounced upon the eagles in an instant; they have not had sufficient time to adapt.

 

Flooded bottomlands at Meredosia NWR with bald eagle nest, May 1999

        In a larger sense, this book is a summary of several interrelated environmental issues that affect humans as well as bald eagles:  contamination of the environment, increasing development of wild areas and habitat loss, a healthy environment perceived as being incompatible with a healthy economy.  Bald eagles will probably benefit from our attempts to solve the many environmental problems confronting our world.  But the eagles have shown us that we still have a long struggle ahead.

 

References

Buehler, D.A., T.J. Mersmann, J.D. Fraser, and J.K.D. Seegar.  1991.  Effects of human activity on bald eagle distribution on the northern Chesapeake Bay.  Journal of Wildlife Management 55:282-290.

Hesselberg, R.J., and J.E. Gannon.  1995.  Contaminant trends in Great Lakes fish.  Pages 242-244 in E.T. Roe, G.S. Farris, C.E. Puckett, P.D. Doran, M.J. Mac, editors.  Our living resources:  a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems.  U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service, Washington, D.C.  530 pp.

McGarigal, K., R.G. Anthony, and F.B. Isaacs.  1991.  Interactions of humans and bald eagles on the Columbia River estuary.  Wildlife Monographs 115:1-47.

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Winter 1997-1998, Number 263, pages 8-9.]

 

BOOK REVIEW: Smithsonian Book of National Wildlife Refuges by Eric Jay Dolin

        It is no coincidence that the Smithsonian Book of National Wildlife Refuges (2003; Smithsonian Institution Press; 258 pp; color photographs and illustrations; index; $39.95 hardcover), by Eric Jay Dolin, was published in the same year as the Centennial celebration of the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS or refuge system).  The book (hereafter referred to as SBNWR) serves as one of the celebration year’s high points.  It also provides us with a uniquely American story of how it became possible that a network of lands and waters became dedicated specifically to wildlife conservation in 538 refuges, containing 95 million acres.  Dolin’s writing and the many excellent color photographs by John and Karen Hollingsworth, in fact, provide an opportunity for the reader to feel proud of our country as a world leader in conservation.  Of course, the situation was much different for a long time 100 years ago.

        While chapter 1, “A National Treasure,” provides a quick overview of the refuge system as it stands today, chapter 2 , “From Abundance to Scarcity,” soon shows that the need for such a system was a direct result of wildlife habitat destruction and the over-exploitation of wildlife from market and sport hunting.  By the late 1800s, in the midst of a period Dolin refers to as the “Age of Extermination,” wildlife in America was in deep trouble.  Once abundant species such as the passenger pigeon and American bison were nearing extinction, the feather trade was taking its toll on a variety of birds, and waterfowl were declining from habitat destruction and insufficiently regulated hunting.  With America and its demands for resources expanding, it became increasingly clear that a broad-based nationwide solution was long overdue.

        Indeed, the federal government was deemed to be the solution in this case essentially because migratory birds cross state lines and state wildlife conservation laws were inconsistent or non-existent.  In chapters 3, 4, and 5, Dolin reviews the multiple origins of a conservation ethic (from Henry David Thoreau to John Muir) that would result in the mobilization of hunters, birdwatchers, ornithologists, and influential politicians to promote strong federal wildlife protection laws.  Dolin clearly shows how many factors became aligned at just the right time for President Theodore Roosevelt to create, by executive order, the first federal refuge, the Pelican Island Reservation, on March 14, 1903.  Of course, factors such as recognition of necessity, political feasibility, and political will did not spontaneously align.

        Dolin shows the important roles played by many individuals working through avenues such as the American Ornithologists Union (AOU), Audubon societies, the Boone and Crockett Club (an elitist hunting group formed by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell), and Field and Stream magazine.  The early role of the Audubon societies in the creation and management of National Wildlife Refuges cannot be overstated.  One example of this was when the Florida Audubon Society paid the salary of Pelican Island Reservation’s first game warden and purchased a motorboat for his use.  Dolin also highlights over and over how dedicated individuals overcame institutional obstacles by creative means.  For example, he notes that “In the depths of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, the political fortunes of the refuge system took a sharp turn for the better…,” due not in a small way to actions taken by uniquely effective individuals such a Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling and John Clark Salyer II.

        Though SBNWR was obviously produced to project a positive view of the refuge system to help us celebrate the accomplishments of 100 years of conservation, Dolin does not shy away from examining problems and controversies.  Chapter 10, “Conflict, Controversy, and Compromise,” chapter 12, “Searching for Direction,” and chapter 13, “Growing and Losing Ground” in combination hold nothing back while illustrating the stresses and strains the refuge system has been under.

        Beyond stating the obvious problems of inadequate levels of funding and staffing, Dolin examines issues such as oil and gas exploration on refuge lands, toxic contamination of refuges from previous uses, and inappropriate activities that have been allowed on refuges.  Probably the most shocking cases of these issues include the use of certain refuge lands for military practice and, in one instance, for the detonation of nuclear bombs (at Amchitka Island, part of the Aleutian Island Refuge in Alaska) in 1965.  These sobering chapters provide important perspectives that should not be forgotten in our celebrations.  At the same time, the many artistically rendered photographs liberally spread throughout the book keep the author’s message from straying too far into the negative.

        Many folks that I have spoken to about National Wildlife Refuges are surprised to learn that hunting may be permitted on any refuge as long as it does not conflict with the refuge’s purposes.  Years ago, my first reaction to this issue was also confusion, as I assumed the word “refuge” meant that whatever was within the borders of a wildlife refuge was protected from danger (as in “to seek refuge from the storm”).  Dolin presents the facts of the hunting issue in a non-biased was so that both refuge hunting opponents and proponents should be satisfied, allowing the reader to make his or her own evaluation.

        As SBNWR shows, the hunting constituency, without a doubt, had much to do with the initiation and growth of the refuge system and, in fact, beginning in 1934, money from “duck stamps” purchased by hunters has been used to acquire new refuge lands.  But Dolin also emphasizes that the refuge system has evolved in many ways since the early days when the main emphasis overwhelmingly tended to be on big game species and waterfowl-related management.

        Chapter 11, “New Roles and Responsibilities,” shows how an increased public awareness of environmental issues and the resulting federal legislation—such as the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997—have required managers to set new priorities.  Managers also need to adapt to changing societal values.  For example, hunting and fishing are now equally recognized with wildlife observation, photography, environmental education, and interpretation as compatible uses of the NWRS.  To highlight how refuge management is being shifted toward ecosystem-level management, Dolin briefly reviews the influence of the landmark 1999 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report “Fulfilling the Promise,” in which the future direction of the NWRS was charted.

        Chapter 14, “Turning the Refuge System Around,” sets the stage for an uplifting and positive ending to the book.  Then chapter 15, “Profiles in Beauty,” presents a review of eight refuges that illustrate conservation success stories as well as challenges managers face while attempting to maintain National Wildlife Refuges as “anchors of biodiversity” (a term used as part of the vision for the refuge system, as outlined in “Fulfilling the Promise”).

        As might be expected, Dolin states in chapter 16, “Conclusion,” that the refuge system’s “…future looks bright.”  He notes that the outreach being undertaken during Centennial celebrations is expected to do much to increase the public’s awareness of the refuge system, and with awareness comes public support and ultimately political support and funding.  Of course, from its inception with Theodore Roosevelt, the National Wildlife Refuge System has been a political animal.  The ability to utilize our American political system to benefit nature is just one of our nation’s great strengths.           

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Winter 2003-2004, Number287, pages 12-15.]

BOOK REVIEW: Parts Unknown by Tim Gallagher

        After years of enjoying Tim Gallagher’s fine articles in Cornell University’s Living Bird magazine, I was nearly giddy (if anyone could imagine that) when I saw Parts Unknown (2001; The Lyons Press; 227 pp.; 26 color photographs; Index; $24.95 hardcover) for sale at the local bookstore.  So, after giving a surreptitious glance toward the other customers in the store, I quickly seized the lone copy of Parts Unknown from the shelf before anyone else knew what was happening and shoved my way to the front of the checkout line.  The book’s subtitle, “A Naturalist’s Journey in Search of Birds and Wild Places,” confirmed my decision to purchase the book.  While looking at the book in the checkout line, I thought I recognized a few of the chapters’ titles, but nowhere was it mentioned that any of the chapters had been previously published.  I laughed all the way home, proud of my quick thinking and swift action.

        I was very pleased as I read through the introductory essay, which is part autobiography and part travel essay, rich in details of how Gallagher became interested in travel, birding, and conservation issues (especially as related to birds).  Gallagher describes one trip he took at 16 years of age:  “Sleeping in the car.  Living on cans of beans that we put on top of the engine as we drove to warm them up.”  I was ready for a book that combined natural history and birds with the travel-writing qualities of books such as John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie or Paul Theroux’s Fresh Air Fiend.

        Curiously, Gallagher fails to mention in the introductory essay that he has been the editor of Living Bird magazine since 1991, even though he states that “…I’ve written numerous essays about…places and their wildlife.  A selection of them appears here.”  This was the first hint that Parts Unknown was not a new book of essays but, rather, a collection of previously published articles, many of which, I feared, I had already read.  The smug demeanor that I had worn since leaving the bookstore was quickly fading.  After checking my entire collection of Living Bird, I found that I had, alas, already read at least ten of the twenty-four chapters.

        The first of three main sections of Parts Unknown is also entitled “Parts Unknown.”  Except for “The Peregrines of Padre Island,” which describes research and recovery efforts for the peregrine falcon on Padre Island in coastal Texas, the rest of the articles take the reader to the far north in Canada, Greenland, and Iceland.  In these chapters, Gallagher effectively uses a creative combination of word-pictures, biology, and travel writing to describe activities of various researchers studying a variety of bird species from dovekies to gyrfalcons.

        Because Gallagher is an accomplished photographer, the outstanding features of his articles, as published in Living Bird, are the accompanying photographs.  The editors of this book, however, chose to put all of the photographs together in the middle of the book.  In addition, they are not presented in the same order as the chapters, and the photographs are not keyed in any way to specific passages in the text (although each has a short caption).  I was thus forced to periodically check all of the photographs to see whether the text I happened to be reading may have an accompanying photograph.  For this reason, I prefer certain chapters as they appeared in Living Bird, with photographs alongside the relevant text.  I also found it frustrating that not all of the chapters have accompanying photographs.

        Section II is appropriately entitled “Rare Raptors,” as each of nine chapters focuses on a specific raptor.  The chapters in this section are less consistent in style and length than those included in the first section of the book.  Several of the chapters in section II highlight subjects such as the plight of the California condor and peregrine falcon.  Many of the chapters were written several years before being collected in this book.  Chapter 7, “Saving California’s Peregrine Falcons,” first published in 1978, is updated with chapter 8, “Mission Accomplished,” first published in 1999, but the latter chapter was still three years out of date upon publication of Parts Unknown.

        Gallagher provides a more current update in some cases, but it is more often the case that the reader is left wanting much more recent information.  Three of the chapters in section II are very short, rather unexciting species profiles.  By chapter 15, “Lost and found,” in which Gallagher summarizes another researcher’s investigations on certain irregularities associated with museum records of India’s forest owlet, I had almost completely forgotten about the high expectations I had after reading the book’s introductory essay.

        Section III, entitled “Birds and Ornithology,” is even more uneven than the previous section.  Most of the chapters are quite short, with little space for details or thoughtful digression, undoubtedly a reflection of their original publication requirements.  And while this is to be expected with a collection of articles from various sources, chapter 18, “Shorebirds in Spring,” makes such a small impression (chapter 18 is not quite three pages in length, and the main point is that shorebirds are difficult to identify), that it would have been better left out altogether in favor of more color photographs and postscripts.  In contrast, I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 16, “With the Sapsuckers in New Jersey,” which describes a 24-hour World Series of Birding, a big-day birding event (Gallagher’s team is called the Sapsuckers).  This chapter even has an update on the Sapsuckers and the World Series of Birding since 1992, the chapter’s original year of publication.

        In section III, more than anywhere else in the book, Gallagher’s descriptions of birding locations tend to read not unlike a series of prosaic passages from a guidebook.  There is no doubt that he provides the reader with useful information.  But unless I am specifically planning a trip, why would I want to read in detail about the best way to visit a site?  Fortunately, in chapter 23, “A Back Bay Ramble, Gallagher returns to his skillful use of the present-tense narrative with a description of a birding trip to Upper Newport Bay, California.  And the following chapter “Can the Everglades Endure?” ends the book with a first-rate description of environmental issues associated with the Everglades in Florida.  The chapter ends with a nice update and a warning that “we will have to…be forever ready to fight to preserve these irreplaceable areas.  Otherwise the only ‘parts unknown’ our children will ever see will be epitaphs written in books about places that no longer exist.”

        Parts Unknown never really did live up to the high expectations that I formed after reading the very excellent introductory essay.  Even though I attempted to read all of the chapters anew, as a whole, I could never get totally beyond the fact that I was re-reading at least ten chapters.  (I blame the publisher for not providing information on where and when each chapter had previously appeared.)  Given all of the new books, magazines, and scientific journals that I am constantly acquiring—not to mention the daily newspaper—I have little time or desire for re-reading.  Looked at objectively, though, I think most folks with an interest in nature, especially raptors, will find all of this book informative and interesting.  Most of the book is entertaining as well.

        Postscript:  And from this experience, I have learned that I must try to be more caring and nurturing as I compete—I mean cooperate—with my fellow customers at the local bookstore.

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Fall 2004 Number290, pages 12-13.]

BOOK REVIEW: Private Lives of Garden Birds by Calvin Simonds

        After buying my first house a few years ago, one of the first things I did not do was mow the lawn; this was one of my highest priorities.  While my neighbors reacted with the predictable “shock and awe,” the Illinois Audubon Society generously certified my back and front yards as a Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary.  As an official wildflower gardener, then, I was particularly drawn to Private Lives of Garden Birds (2002; Storey Books; 230 pp.; black-and-white illustrations by Julie Zickefoose; Forward by Scott Shalaway; index; $18.95 hardcover), by Calvin Simonds, whose main target audience is those who garden.

 

 

        I believe that Simonds would share my view that a more naturalized backyard (rather than a closely clipped mowed lawn) can bring humans and nature closer together.  In fact, a common, though not explicitly stated, theme throughout Private Lives of Garden Birds is that a home garden can be a bridge between a human-dominated landscape and the natural world.  But while Simonds clearly subscribes to the viewpoint that “…humans are a part of nature…,” he also feels that it is important to treat nature as a partner composed of “…other organisms…[that are] sentient, striving, individual beings.”  So to better facilitate understanding of such creatures, he gradually introduces the reader to a scientific method of behavior watching, with birds as the focal organisms.  His hope is to recruit more gardeners to birding, and thereby encourage empathy with the natural world. 

        Simonds focuses on the following common, well-known bird species or species groups, one per chapter:  mockingbird, swallows, blue jay, chickadees, song sparrow, American robin, house sparrow, eastern phoebe, red-winged blackbird, American crow, and hummingbirds.  Information is also provided, where appropriate, on other species that are closely related to the highlighted species.  Simonds shows how it is possible to gain a great deal of knowledge and satisfaction from watching birds as common as house sparrows; so serious birding need not always involve being narrowly devoted to one’s life list or chasing down rarities.

        Each chapter follows a loosely similar pattern, beginning with some type of personal story or observation, typically involving a gardening activity, that segues into a specific bird reference.  This is followed by a discussion of the highlighted bird species, covering topics such as species distribution, breeding biology, habitat requirements, territoriality, and vocalizations.  There is usually more than one casual reference to gardening in each chapter, and this helps provide a unifying theme to the chapters; but in some cases, the references seem perfunctory, appearing to be mentioned merely to keep the gardening threat alive.  So while this book may have the ultimate effect of recruiting more gardeners to bird watching, the converse will probably be unlikely.

        All of the chapters are filled with interesting facts, observations, and speculations. Chapter 8, “Phoebes:  Gentle Tyrants,” though, has a special appeal to my home work ethic.  In this chapter, Simonds is tempted away from his gardening chores by the sights and sounds of the advancing spring season.  He writes about spring in the following way:  “There always comes an afternoon when the air is particularly soft and enticing, and the sun is warm on my back.  On that day I have to drop my hoe in the unplanted row, put my seeds back in the seedbox, whistle up the dog, and leave the garden work to the earthworms.”  Leaving the work behind, he plays hooky for a day with a walk across the countryside to a nearby stream, in search of an eastern phoebe nest.  During this hike, Simonds relates his observations on the various birds he encounters while passing through a variety of habitats:  a wood thrush in the forest, bobolinks and meadowlarks in a field, a kingfisher and spotted sandpiper along the stream, a catbird from a brushy tangle, and several others.  In this pleasing narrative, he drives home a basic ecological principle that habitat diversity directly translates into bird species diversity.

        Simonds’ scientific method, in fact, is another unifying theme for this book.  An outstanding example is his discussion of hummingbird bioenergetics, where he successfully attempts to give the reader “…some idea of what it is like to try and make your living as a hummingbird.”  And his analysis of crow vocalizations shows that there is a great deal that we still do not yet understand about even some of our most common birds.

        Private Lives of Garden Birds has much more depth than being simply a collection of facts on common bird species.  The book gently inspires the reader to consider interactions between humans and the natural world, and how even good land stewards sometimes inevitably engage in contradictory behavior.  For example, while Simonds suggests that we need a new attitude in the agricultural industry, in which we should begin to treat nature  “as a partner to be respected and negotiated with…” he later relates an incident in which he hurls a stone at a red-winged blackbird which is attempting to eat his corn seedlings.  Furthermore, in Chapter 1, “Mockingbirds:  Virtuoso Singers,” he boasts of planting autumn olive, an aggressive, invasive, non-native shrub.  He also acknowledges the problems for birds of letting one’s domestic cat roam free, while never once suggesting keeping the cat permanently indoors.  By relating these examples he seems to be suggesting that living with life’s contradictions may be an unavoidable part of the human-nature relationship.

        Though Scott Shalaway suggests, in the “Forward” of Private Lives of Garden Birds, that the book will mainly appeal to “gardeners and casual backyard bird watchers,” it may also have an appeal to those simply seeking to ponder the human-nature relationship.  And experienced birders may be intrigued by the occasional reference to unanswered questions and other mysteries about birds.  Finally, everyone will enjoy the many excellent black-and-white drawings of birds by the well-known artist Julie Zickefoose.

        In Chapter 12, “A Lifetime of Observing Birds,” Simons presents some birding basics with information on field guides, binoculars, using nest boxes, bird feeders, and enhancing one’s property to attract birds.  Many gardeners may become birders after reading this book, especially Chapter 12.  But Simonds also may wish to consider a possible unintended consequence:  Some folks may now feel less guilty at abandoning the hard work of vegetable gardening and housework in favor of a birding hike!  Or perhaps they may switch to passive wildflower gardening, which requires much less work, leaving more time for birding.

        In my neighborhood, I have enjoyed setting a good example with my wildflower gardening.  I suspect, however, that some may still be unconvinced, and may simply see unadulterated laziness within my yard’s random mix of grasses, forbs, and shrubs gently swaying in the summer breezes—especially when the wildflower gardener is seldom seen actually in the garden working.  So a special friend this year has taken it upon herself to lend an air of respectability to my operation by planting and tending a true vegetable garden.  As I reap the benefits of her labor, I expect to have much more energy for longer birding hikes, and I expect that Simond’s book will take on a new relevancy, as one gardener benefitting from another.   

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Summer 2005 Number293, pages 12-13.]

BOOK REVIEW: Earth, Water, and Sky: A Naturalist’s Stories and Sketches by Paul A. Johnsgard

            Earth, Water, and Sky:  A Naturalist’s Stories and Sketches (1999; University of Texas Press; 192 pp; 21 black and white drawings; $35.00 hardback; $15.95 paperback), by Paul A. Johnsgard, is a fine collection of 19 articles about birds plus 21 excellent bird drawings by the author, at least one per chapter.  In the Preface, the book begins as an autobiography might:  “I was born in 1931….”  The Preface continues in that vein, explaining how Johnsgard first became interested in birds and why he considers southwestern Nebraska one of his most “favorite places in the world.”  Eagerly expecting a similar narrative style for the rest of the book, I was disappointed to find this to be only partially the case.

          The chapters in Earth, Wind, and Sky are organized into three major sections, relating to the fact that birds occupy all three of these realms.  The introductory essay of each major section is an article that was previously published in the Lincoln Journal-Star newspaper.  These introductory essays are personal and deep, much like the Preface.  They obviously were chosen and strategically placed to help tie all of the various articles in each section together, and also to provide a sense of wholeness to the book.  Half of the remaining 16 articles in the book were previously published in Natural History magazine.  As such, they are all of a similar length and written in a fairly impersonal, dispassionate style—the preferred style for scientific writing, and very unlike the Preface or the three introductory essays.  The rest of the articles originally appeared in a variety of other similar publications.

          The articles in the book’s first major section, entitled “Earth:  Stray Feathers in the Dust,” tend to focus on species that spend a majority of their time earthbound.  In this section, Johnsgard describes the natural history, behavior, and ecology of species such as grouse, quail, bustards, and pheasants.  Of particular note is “The Elusive Tree Quails of Mexico,” originally published in Animals magazine.  In this essay, the author’s personality manages to surface quite a bit, resulting in a very informative yet entertaining description of a scientific collecting expedition to Mexico that could easily be considered a travel essay.  For example, with plans to return to a small village in the early morning to hear and record captive singing tree quails, Johnsgard writes:  “After spending the night at Jacala, we drove back early the next morning.  But the disturbance when we arrived, caused by the barking of the omnipresent mongrel dogs, effectively eliminated any hopes of recording the birds.”  I had no trouble imagining this scene, as I have encountered a barking mongrel dog a time or two while searching for birds.

          Well, before the beginning of the second section of this book, entitled “Water:  A River of Time, “I found myself checking the back of the book to see where each upcoming article was originally published, as a clue to the style to be expected.  In the introductory essay to this section, Johnsgard compares the lives of rivers to human lives:  “They rush madly about, dashing wildly here and there during their youths, gradually becoming more predictable and reliable as they mature, grading into serenity and contemplative majesty in their old age, finally drifting into obscurity and death by merging with some larger river or the sea.”  That is the kind of writing that makes it difficult to put a book down.  In the next article, “The Evolution of Duck Courtship,” originally published in Natural History, Johnsgard returns to his scientific voice and discusses topics such as sexual selection and how closely related species maintain their genetic integrity.  In this chapter, there are two entire pages of drawings showing various duck species in poses during courtship, which also further illustrate Johngard’s great artistic talent combined with his scientific attention to detail and accuracy.  This was one of the most interesting and informative chapters in the book.  Yet I found myself wishing for additional personal commentary by the author, whether in a chapter preface or as a postscript.  Without such commentary, the transition from chapter to chapter, especially when two sequential essays greatly differ in style, can sometimes be rather abrupt.

          Earlier I wondered why the chapter about the highly migratory hummingbirds entitled “Glittering Garments of the Rainbow” was included in the “Earth” section of this book, rather than in the last section “Sky:  Migrations of the Imagination.”  I now found myself wondering why the several chapters about waterfowl were included in the last section, when they could easily have fit into the “Water” section, especially the chapter on sea ducks that only venture onto land for breeding.  But it is a small point to make, and probably indicative of why I am not an editor.  In any case, this last section follows the pattern established in the previous two.  The section opens with a short personal touch in a very emotionally moving introductory essay, followed by five chapters of species profiles.  In several of those chapters, especially “Where Have All the Curlews Gone?” and “The Triumphant Trumpeters,” Johnsgard has much more than usual to say about conservation issues. 

          But nowhere in the book does Johnsgard harp on environmental themes such as the decline of a great number of bird species worldwide, or that those declines are directly attributable to human activities.  Instead, he tends to scatter comments referring to declining species throughout the book at appropriate times.  For example, in the Preface, Johnsgard quickly relates how “birds sometimes…show us how rapidly a species can disappear from the earth, which also may be a ‘natural’ process, but is one that humans have greatly accelerated throughout the world.”  In a later chapter, he writes of the Pribilof Islands and their seabirds that “…are still relatively secure from external threats of human disturbance, potential overharvesting of the marine food chains, and pollution.”  In another example, Johnsgard writes of the nearly extinct Eskimo curlew:  “The sight of these great shifting clouds of birds…must have been a magical vision that, like the great herds of bison on the Great Plains, has forever vanished from the American scene.”  In this way, he manages to unobtrusively convey his conservation message, while alerting the reader to his deep concern.

          In my final analysis, I must state that this book is a fine combination of art, personal narrative, and science.  The introductory essays and thought-provoking titles to each section tend to tie all of the chapters together, but the book could use more of Johnsgard’s wonderful personal narrative style as added commentary with each chapter.  Also, without an overall postscript, the book tends to leave the reader a bit (ahem) up in the air.  But to be fair, any collection of articles written for various publications, each with its own editorial style, is likely to suffer from the same difficulties of having the collection read smoothly as a whole.  This book, at any rate, should appeal to birders and naturalists as well as hardline scientists—who will be happy to know that Johnsgard once even apologizes for the heinous crime of anthropomorphizing!

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Summer 2000, Number 273, pages 26-27.]

BOOK REVIEW: The Great House of Birds

        In the Forward of The Great House of Birds, Classic Writings about Birds (1996; Sierra Club Books; 306 pp.; $24.00 hardback), editor John Hay wonders why birds get so much attention from humans.  It was a line of inquiry that I kept coming back to as I read the book.  And I read the book more slowly than most other books.  This survey of writings about birds together with Hay’s inquiry had the effect of making me want to see birds in the wild.  So this was not a book that I could stay with indoors for hours on end; rather, it was one that I found more appropriate to read in short bursts just before going into the field—or even to read in the field.

        The short selections in The Great House of Birds were drawn from a wide variety of writers that exhibit an equally wide variety of styles.  Writers range from such well-known personalities as John James Audubon and Rachel Carson to an anonymous seafarer whose selection was written about 1,000 year ago.  Eleven of the 61 selections in the book are poems; in fact, the book begins and ends with a poem.  Because I do not usually read poetry, I found these selections required me to open my philistine mind a bit and lower some barriers.  Yet I still found Pattiann Rogers’ reference to the “needs of infinity” in her poem “The Objects of Immortality” to be a bit perplexing.  As a contrast, “How Birds Migrate,” by Roger J. Pasquier almost borders on the prosaically scientific.  However, it is the diversity of styles represented in this book that is responsible for its particular attractiveness.

        The selections that I enjoyed reading the most were descriptions of observations made of wild birds in the field.  Perhaps my favorite selection in the book is “The Rainbow Birds of Spring” by Edwin Way Teale, where he states that “Nothing is more alive in the world than a warbler in spring.”  Anyone who has ever tried to follow a yellow-rumped warbler with binoculars can attest to Teale’s statement.  I found the scant nine pages of “From Another World” by Louis J. Halle to be so good that I was sorry it ended, and I felt like reading it again.  Some of the selections I had already read years before in their original publications.  But I can never seem to get enough of John Muir’s “The Water Ouzel,” a truly classic description of nature.  Muir writes:  “Even so far north as icy Alaska, I have found my glad singer.  When I was exploring the glaciers between Mount Fairweather and the Stickeen River, one cold day in November, after trying in vain to force my way through the innumerable icebergs of Sum Dum Bay to the great glaciers at the head of it…I suddenly heard the well-known whir of the ouzel’s wings, and, looking up saw my little comforter coming straight across the ice from shore.”  While reading Muir, I could not help but think that today’s armchair computer ecologists would benefit greatly from experiences with nature such as Muir describes in this selection.

        The writings in The Great House of Birds are not just randomly arranged, but are grouped into six major sections.  John Hay also provides a short introduction to each section and to each selection, which tends to give the book a sense of continuity and direction.  The first section is entitled “Flight.”  This topic is an appropriate way to start the book, as flight may arguably be the most important characteristic that comes to mind when one thinks of birds (other than, possibly, feathers).  To be sure, some bird species are flightless, but the majority of species can fly; flight is their most enviable trait. 

        If the first selections set birds apart from humans, the next two major sections (“The Language of Birds” and “Art and Ritual”) bring us back together.  Birds obviously communicate with each other, and Hay ponders the meanings of their communications:  “But what are they communicating?  Messages, for one thing, expressing basic needs and intentions.”  I like the idea of birds communicating meaningful messages.  

        In a broad sense, birds and humans compete for the same habitat space; if this were not so, then habitat destruction by humans would not be the major cause of bird population declines today.  Hay suggests that “we really [cannot]understand so varied a race as the birds, with all their attributes, outside the context of the land, the sea, the air above us.”  In short, the habitats of birds.  The last three sections of the book loosely focus on birds in certain geographic areas, habitats, and migration.  In the section entitled “The Migrants” the book comes full circle, and again we are thinking of birds in the air, but purposely flying from one location to another on well-traveled routes.  The fact that some birds travel long distances invites awe as Peter Matthiessen tells of the white-rumped sandpiper that flies “nine thousand miles twice every year in pursuit of summer….”  Thinking about this makes me feel extremely provincial.  The white-rumped sandpiper and all other long-distance migrants deserve our utmost respect for such extraordinary accomplishments.

        It was after reading Mattheissen’s selection that I realized John Hay could have asked an additional question at the beginning of the book; that is, not so much a question of why birds get as much attention as they do, but why they do not get more attention.  Hay suggests that it is the elusiveness of birds that intrigues us.  I would add that human fascination with birds probably results in part from simple curiosity about a group of obviously very different creatures that upon closer inspection exhibit many similarities with ourselves.

        Birders will enjoy this book, but it also deserves a wider audience outside of the already converted birding community.

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Fall 1997 Number262, pages 25]

     

BOOK REVIEW: The Life of Birds by David Attenborough

    The Life of Birds (1998; Princeton University Press; 320 pp; $29.95) by David Attenborough is a companion text to the 10-part public television series of the same name.  But while much of the media focus has probably been on the television program, the book stands alone very well, in large part due to Attenborough’s creativity and skill as a writer.  It is Attenborough’s unique synthesis of current information that makes this book great reading, despite a few minor deficiencies.

    The Life of Birds begins, as many general books on ornithology, with discussions on the origins of birds and flight, two well-known yet still hotly debated topics.  When necessary, with brief discussions, Attenborough gently approaches topics such as anatomy and evolutionary relationships between birds and reptiles.  After the first chapter, he then quickly leaves the past behind to focus the rest of the book on living birds and how they interact with other living organisms and their environment.  A special emphasis is placed on how birds have adapted to the constraints of being flying creatures (e.g., the necessity of light weight).  His writing style truly shines when he describes a living scene with action word-pictures, as in the chapter entitled “The Mastery of Flight”:  “In the night, on a small offshore island in Japan, birds wait in line to clamber up a tree trunk.  They are streaked shearwaters, sea-birds the size of pigeons…Nose to tail, they inch up, pushing with their legs, scrabbling with the elbows of their closed wings…One by one they open their long wings, lean forward into space and launch themselves into the air.”  

    Throughout The Life of Birds, Attenborough mostly avoids technical jargon.  And he does not cite references “in order to not clog the text.”  This makes the reading easier, but at times, makes the text appear somewhat light; I tended to get the impression of only getting a tiny morsel of information from a much bigger, heavier pie.  But to be fair, in a medium-sized book that attempts to cover the entire subject of birds from evolutionary origins to conservation issues, topics must perforce be covered quickly.  At the same time, about half of the book is filled with fine color photographs (most of which were not actually taken by the author), so there are at best about160 pages of actual text—room for only a few details on any one topic.  The discussion on bird navigation during migration, for example, is covered in one paragraph.  So in this way, Attenborough eventually covers many of the topics normally found in a standard ornithology textbook and more.  At appropriate times, he uses birds to illustrate many of the topics one would find in a standard ecology text.  Topics include symbiotic and predator-prey relationships, resource partitioning, structure of food webs, and competition among species.  Attenborough presents topics from an evolutionary as well as ecological perspective.  After completing this book, the reader will have been expose to principles of general biology as well as becoming more knowledgeable about birds.  Overall, though, Attenborough focuses on bird behavior more than on any other topic, as the name of the book implies.

    A characteristic of The Life of Birds which I noticed in some of Attenborough’s other books (e.g., The Private Life of Plants) is his use of unusual or extreme cases of a phenomenon to illustrate a general concept.  For example, he chose to use the sungrebe of Guatemala, which he refers to as using the “most extraordinary of any method,” to show how some birds can transport young from place to place.  Later he describes the behavior of young megapodes to show how some newly hatched birds are independent after hatching; in this example, he states that “of all ground-nesting birds, [they are] the most swiftly independent.”  In the chapter “The Limits of Endurance,” he describes birds living under some of the hottest and driest habitable conditions on earth (sand grouse in the African desert), the coldest (emperor penguins in the Antarctic), and the saltiest (the extremely specialized flamingos of Kenya). Without doubt, Attenborough eloquently makes his points, though I wonder if it is always a good idea to use an extreme example to illustrate a general concept.  Part of this tendency is probably related to enhancing the entertainment value of the book.  Yet, they are still good examples; and, after all, before reading this book, I had never heard of a sungrebe.

    In choosing bird examples, Attenborough appears to have taken great effort to not favor one part of the globe over another.  In the space of a few pages, he is likely to draw examples from several widely-spaced continents.  On one hand, this emphasizes the diversity of birds and the habitats they occupy; but on the other hand, it reminded me of how quickly each topic is covered and of how much more information may be available than what is presented.

    Given Attenborough’s global perspective, it is surprising that he mostly does not discuss the global biodiversity crisis until the last chapter of the book.  Even with topics such as birds under stress from introduced species, overhunting, and habitat destruction, I was surprised by the hard-hitting last paragraph of the book.  In direct contrast to the positive mood established throughout the rest of the book, where the reader is almost encouraged to marvel without fear of embarrassment at the wonders of nature, Attenborough states that “the greatest destruction we have wrought has been inadvertent—a consequence of the wholesale changes we have made to the face of the earth.”  Just when I was feeling good about the fate of birds in this world, I could not have been more violently jerked in the other direction than if he had referred to humans as a cancer on the planet.  I wondered whether this message was left to the very end to make a lasting impression on the reader or whether it was tacked on as an attempt to cover yet another topic, however briefly.  To conclude the book, Attenborough asserts that we, “as the new masters of this planet,” must find the will to use the knowledge and tools we possess to ensure that not one more bird becomes extinct as a result of human activities.  I am not sure about the “master” concept, but I agree with the rest of his sentiments.

    Even with its few minor limitations, I enjoyed The Life of Birds very much.  Part of the reason is that I simply like Attenborough’s writing style; another part is that I enjoy looking at quality color photographs of birds.  If this book had three or four times as much text, diagrams and maps as well as photographs, a section of selected references, and more thoughtful commentary on birds and the biodiversity crisis, I would have been much more than merely satisfied.       

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak  

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Fall 1999 Number270, pages 14-15.]

BOOK REVIEW: Restoring North America’s Birds: Lessons from Landscape Ecology

Askins, Robert A.  Restoring North America’s Birds:  Lessons from Landscape Ecology.  2000.  xiii + 320 pp.; 72 illustrations; lists of organisms with common and scientific names; notes; references; index.  Yale University Press, New Haven and London.  Hard Cover.  Price:  US$35.00.  Available from Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520-9040.

 

        As the published works in the science of ecology become evermore abstruse and mired in advanced statistical techniques and computer wizardry, the need for more easily accessible and usable syntheses of information has become increasingly evident.  Askins’ Restoring North America’s Birds, therefore, is exactly what restoration managers, conservationists, and bird enthusiasts need to help address new and more difficult issues as bird habitats continue to be destroyed or degraded by human impacts.  The book, however, provides more than a dispassionate synthesis of scientific studies.  It lays a firm foundation for viewing natural systems from a landscape perspective, which the author considers essential for conserving birds in habitats increasingly influenced by human activities.

        The facing page of each chapter has an excellent artistic rendition of a bird species (by Julie Zickefoose) in its habitat that will be discussed in the chapter.  In addition, the title of each chapter is followed by a relevant quotation.  Quotations were drawn from a variety of literary sources including one selection from a poem by Emily Dickinson.  This provides the true impression that the text will be easily assessable and not bogged down in scientific minutia; it also encourages a freedom to expand one’s viewpoint beyond the familiar and immediate.  Photographs of birds and their habitats, liberally scattered throughout the book, also increase the accessibility of the information.  Askins gradually introduces the concepts of landscape ecology with examples and case studies rather than formal definitions, with a more structured definition waiting until the final chapter entitled simply “Landscape Ecology.”  Therefore, the sequence of chapters tends to develop as a finely crafted story might, pulling the reader forward to find out what happens next.  Readability is enhanced by referencing citations by numbered superscripts rather than the often unwieldy author-year method that is common for scientific writings.

        Nine of the ten chapters each cover a specific habitat type.  In his habitat descriptions and historical perspectives, Askins references a variety of older writings, scientific and otherwise (a procedure increasingly lacking in recent years [Pechenik et al. 2001]).  He frequently uses quotations from those writings; but at the same time, his discussions are grounded in the latest ornithological studies.  Not all habitat types in North America are covered, and in this aspect the book is far from comprehensive.  Nevertheless, grasslands, shrub lands, forests, riparian ecosystems, and other habitat types are examined adequately to illustrate Askins’ main point that viewing bird habitats from a landscape perspective is the most effective way to approach the restoration of bird populations.  General recommendations for conservation of birds appear at the end of each chapter for the specific habitat under consideration.  Figures of data and other information are sparingly used with discussions of statistical methods and results avoided entirely.  Hardliners may complain the book lacks rigor; but the motivated reader seeking details merely has to consult the original references, while the rest of us may continue to read happily onward.

        A great deal of emphasis is given to the importance of disturbance as an integral, natural factor influencing the structure, composition, and overall appearance of landscapes, within which specific bird habitats may be embedded.  Natural disturbances include periodic fires, floods, wind, grazing pressure, widespread disease, and insect damage.  Akins, in fact, suggests that a disturbance-dependent natural landscape, such as a grassland, should be viewed as a “…’shifting mosaic’ of habitat patches,” the dynamics of which are a function of the disturbance regime.  Askins discusses the grasslands and forests of Illinois in several examples.

        Most of Illinois’ natural terrestrial communities were historically shaped by fire for thousands of years in combination with the topography of the landscape.  Fire frequency was largely responsible for whether a particular piece of land developed into grassland, forest, or the transitional savannas (Anderson 1991).  Many ecological restorationists in Illinois have, in fact, been using the landscape approach from some time (Schwartz 1997).  Even though Askins admittedly did not attempt to make Restoring North America’s Birds a comprehensive synthesis of the literature on ecosystem dynamics and habitat management, the book may easily stand alongside such excellent syntheses of recent ecological thought as Botkins (1990) and the more technical Huston (1994), where disturbance and change are given full recognition, but older ideas of unchanging, long-term stability of mature ecosystems and the balance of nature are de-emphasized.

        Throughout the book, Askins advocates active management of bird habitats to restore and maintain specific habitat types.  Indeed, he states that “Letting ‘nature take its course’ to reestablish a presumed ‘balance of nature’ can lead to severe loss in biological diversity.  The resulting natural areas may be much more homogeneous than the diverse landscapes that preceded European settlement.”  The author provides many examples of bird habitat management in a wide variety of systems where disturbance dependence, successional processes, and interactions with surrounding landscapes are central to the discussion.  Throughout the book, he stresses the need to view specific bird habitats in relation to surrounding areas; that is, in terms of the overall surrounding landscape, in addition to relationships with other habitats across larger regions (e.g., for the total picture on Neotropical migrants, one much consider that overwintering areas are not in North America).  Again, the author discusses examples drawn from Illinois, which provides some of the best examples and comprehensive studies of habitat fragmentation, edge effects, and the problem of cowbird parasitism on forest-dwelling songbirds (Schwartz 1997).  And he stresses the importance of maintaining a diversity of habitat types (e.g., a grassland area should contain patches of tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass with burned and unburned areas) ”…to support a full range of successional stages, from newly disturbed areas where vegetation is regenerating, to long undisturbed sites where vegetation is relatively stable.”  He even suggests the use of limited clearcutting of woods in carefully selected patches (not old growth) to create a mosaic of habitat types (for example, shrub lands within a larger forested matrix), allowing for greater overall species diversity on a landscape scale.  At the same time, Askins warns that “…conservation efforts that benefit one species will inevitably harm other species.  Creating grassland for Grasshopper Sparrows may destroy or degrade woodland habitat for Cerulean Warblers.”  Resources managers must make the choice.

        Askins views humans not only as the main agent controlling the disturbance regime, but as part of the landscape itself, suggesting that “…we must try to find ways to maintain ecological processes and the species that depend on them across landscapes that are used by people for economic purposes.”  Such purposes include farming, timber harvesting, and ranching.  He cites the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio and Austin as a case study worth replicating.  Undoubtedly, working together pro-actively should work better than confrontation and fighting, which usually occurs after a great deal of damage has already been done.

        Restoring North America’s Birds is not a step-by-step handbook for restoring and managing bird habitats.  Instead, the book presents examples of how a landscape perspective can be used to guide how bird habitats are managed.  Permeating the book is the idea that restoring and maintaining bird populations can only be accomplished by restoring and maintaining habitats.  For this reason, it may be one of the most important books in recent years, forming a strong and needed link between theoretical ideas of ecosystem dynamics and processes (although with little theory explicitly mentioned) and practical implementation in the real world.  Bird populations are sure to benefit from habitats being managed from a landscape perspective. 

 

Literature Cited

Anderson, R.C.  1991.  Illinois prairies:  a historical perspective.  Pages 384-391 in L.M. Page and M.R. Jeffords, editors.  Out living heritage:  the biological resources of Illinois.  Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin (34(4):357-477.

Botkin, D.B.  1990.  Discordant harmonies:  a new ecology for the twenty-first century.  Oxford University Press, New York.  241 pp.

Huston, M.A.  1994.  Biological diversity:  the coexistence of species in changing landscapes.  Cambridge University Press.  681 pp.

Pechenik, J.A., J.M. Reed, and M. Russ.  2001.  Should auld acquaintance be forgot:  possible influence of computer databases on citation patterns in the biological literature.  BioScience 51(7):583-588.

Schwartz, M.W., editor.  1997.  Conservation in highly fragmented landscapes.  Chapman and Hall, New York.  436 pp.

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak, author of Side Channels: A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir  

 

[This review was originally published in the Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, 2001, Volume 94, pages 251 - 253.]

 

BOOK REVIEW: Southern Illinois Birds: An annotated List and Site Guide

Robinson, W. Douglas.  Southern Illinois Birds:  An Annotated List and Site Guide.  1996.  lii + 436 pp; 24 black and white species photographs; 16 maps; references; index of common names; index of scientific names.  Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois.  Hardcover.  ISBN 0-8093-2032-0.  Price:  US $39.95.  Available from Southern Illinois University Press, P.O. Box 3697, Carbondale, Illinois 62902-3697.

 

        Having traveled throughout most of Illinois many times, I wholeheartedly concur with W. D. Robinson as he states, in the Introduction of Southern Illinois Birds:  An Annotated List and Site Guide, that “Southern Illinois is a unique and wonderful place to find birds….”  Southern Illinois, especially the Shawnee Hills and southward, seems to have a palpable sense of place.  For this reason, with scientific considerations aside, it is entirely appropriate for such a widely recognized and distinct geographical area of the state to have its own book of ornithological information.  On the other hand, somewhat comparable coverages of southern Illinois are included in Bohlen (1989) and De Vore (2000).

          In writing this book, the author’s primary goal was to “document the current knowledge” of southern Illinois birds.  Additionally, he wished to provide a reference document, usable indoors and in the field, that would highlight the wealth of information currently available, emphasize gaps in knowledge and help observers assess the importance of their observations.  Robinson includes a section in his Introduction called “A History of Southern Illinois Bird Study” in which he laments observers who have not published their data.  He further states that “everyday bird observations…are useful contributions…,” and he encourages birders to accurately record their observations in a systematic manner that will be useful in scientific analyses. The list of 167 individual observers whose data were drawn upon to compile this book supports this view.  In addition, this book is well documented with references to the ornithological literature.  Considering this, it is curious that Robinson does not cite works by Stephen A. Forbes and Alfred O. Gross of the Illinois Natural History Survey (Forbes 1913, Forbes and Gross 1922, 1923).  Yet, he attributes the beginning of scientific bird surveys in southern Illinois to Richard R. Graber and Jean W. Graber, also of the Illinois Natural History Survey, in the 1970s and 1980s.  

          Robinson includes the 17 southernmost counties of Illinois plus part of St. Clair County in his definition of Southern Illinois.”  Within this area, he recognizes three distinct physiographic areas based upon the Natural Divisions of Illinois:  the Shawnee Hills; the Floodplains of the Ohio, Wabash, and Mississippi Rivers; and the Till Plain in the northern ten counties of the coverage area.  The next logical step is for the reader to begin thinking about types of habitats found within the physiographic areas and habitat requirements for specific birds (species).  Robinson especially emphasizes the habitat needs of forest songbirds that are sensitive to the effects of forest fragmentation.  He often shows a strong conservation ethic in his writing, and he offers five management recommendations for improving forest habitats for songbirds.  Many other types of habitats are mentioned, but not similarly highlighted, although much certainly could have been written about each.  These types of habitats include grasslands, shrublands, wetlands, mudflats, large reservoirs, large rivers and small streams.

          About three-quarters of Southern Illinois Birds is composed of the first two main parts of the book entitled “Species Accounts:  The Past and Present Status of Birds in Southern Illinois.”  Species are arranged phylogenetically and grouped by order and family.  Each account for the 361 species includes:  information on the status and abundance of the species (i.e., migrant, resident or rarity); the habitat(s) where the species may typically be found; records for the species by season (dates and numbers); and documentary evidence supporting species identification (e.g., collected specimens and photographs).  Lastly, the accounts include page numbers where the reader can find more information in three popular birding field guides.  In addition, each account for migratory birds begins with dates between which the species is most likely to be observed (e.g., late March to early May).

          While it could become tedious to read the species accounts one after the other, even for the most serious birder, remarks included with most accounts can be interesting and even entertaining.  For example, consider Robinson’s description of banding a Northern Saw-whet Owl:  “As an illustration of the tameness of this species, after the Ozark owl was banded, it was placed on a tree limb and photographed; it remained motionless, except for blinking its eyes, for nearly an hour.”  Robinson’s remarks typically include information on nesting, migration, behavior and sometimes conservation issues.

          Part Two of Southern Illinois Birds consists of a guide to 26 of what Robinson calls “the traditionally best birding spots in southern Illinois.”  About half of the site descriptions also include simple maps.  Other than the book’s Introduction, these site descriptions are the most readable portion of Southern Illinois Birds.  Directions to the sites were obviously drawn from first-hand experience, because they contain information that one would most likely know only from having been there.  For example, when describing Alexander County, Robinson mentions “…a small trail [that] will take you down the other side [of a levee] into some woods and out onto the shores of the Mississippi River.”  It remains to be seen, though, whether one could actually find such a small unmarked trail.

          Site descriptions typically describe some of the habitats as well as some of the birds to be expected.  Here it would make little sense to list the same common species that could be seen at almost every site (e.g., American Robins) while emphasizing rarities (e.g., Pacific Loon) or one-of-a-kind sightings (e.g., Rock Wren at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge [NWR]) that would be unlikely to happen again.  Robinson generally strikes a fair balance in naming common to rare species.  He rightly emphasizes fairly reliable southern Illinois specialties, such as Least Terns along the Mississippi River or Black Vultures at Heron Pond-Little Black Slough Nature Preserve along the Cache River.  Readability of site descriptions is enhanced by comments on conservation issues.  For instance, for Baldwin Lake, Robinson writes that “Summer is virtually worthless [for birding].  Dozens of fishing boats cruise around the lake….”  Robinson occasionally mentions unusual aspects of visiting certain sites, such as the description of Crab Orchard NWR, where he warns that the “turnaround at the end of the road is also a meeting place of undesirable sorts of company….”

          Southern Illinois Birds succeeds very well as a reference book, field guide and an inspiration for birders to become adventurous as well as systematic and accurate in recording their observations.  Although a book such as this soon becomes dated, it will always serve as a record of information at the time of publication and may hopefully generate an endless series of revised editions.

 

Literature Cited

Bohlen, H.D.  1989.  The birds of Illinois.  Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis.  222 pp. 

De Vore, S.  2000.  Birding Illinois.  Falcon Publishing, Inc., Helena, Montana.  356 pp.

Forbes, S.A.  1913.  The midsummer bird life of Illinois:  a statistical study.  Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History Vol. IX, Article VI.  Urbana, Illinois.

Forbes, S.A., and A.O. Gross.  1922.  The numbers and local distribution in summer of Illinois land birds of the open country.  Bulletin of the Natural History Survey Vol. XIV, Article VI.  Illinois Department of Registration and Education, Urbana, Illinois.

Forbes, S.A., and A.O. Gross.  1923.  On the numbers and local distribution of Illinois land birds of the open country in winter, spring, and fall.  Bulletin of the Natural History Survey Vol. XIV, Article X.  Illinois Department of Registration and Education, Urbana, Illinois.

 

[This review was originally published in the Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, 2003, Volume 96, pages 321 - 323.]

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak, author of Side Channels, A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir. 

 

   

BOOK REVIEW: Two Books on Illinois Birds

Kleen, Vernon M., Liane Cordle, and Robert A. Montgomery.  The Breeding Bird Atlas.  2004.  xviii + 459 pp; black and white species photographs; 16 figures; 12 tables; 11 appendices; literature cited; index of common names.  Illinois Natural History Survey Special Publication 26.  Soft Cover.  ISBN 1-882932-07-2.  Price:  US $25.95.  Available from Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.

DeVore, Sheryl, Steven D. Bailey, and George Kennedy.  Birds of Illinois.  2004.  376 pp; color species illustrations; appendix; select [selected] references; glossary; checklist; index of scientific names; index of common names.  Lone Pine Publishing, Auburn, Washington.  Soft Cover.  ISBN 1-55105-379-9.  Price US $19.95.  Available from Lone Pine Publishing, 1808 B Street NW, Suite 140, Auburn, WA 98001.

 

          The publication of both The Breeding Bird Atlas (hereafter referred to as the Atlas) and the Birds of Illinois has made 2004 a benchmark year for birders at all levels.  Because each book has a different purpose and special features, one may appeal more to a somewhat different audience than the other; each book is considered separately and then together to help explain this assertion.

          The “Preface” to the Atlas by the noted ornithologist Dr. Scott K. Robinson presents an only slightly optimistic future for many of Illinois’ bird populations.  Next, a lengthy “Acknowledgments,” lists all individuals who contributed to the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas Project which resulted in this publication, that is organized as a standard scientific monograph.  Subsequently, the brief “Introduction,” with a clear goal statement (“…to conduct a comprehensive and systematic statewide survey of breeding birds to document their distribution and status in the state…”) and a list of eight objectives, is followed by chapters entitled “Methods” and “Results and Discussion.”  The latter attempts, within the space of merely six pages, to make sense of all the data of the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas Project, which was collected from 1986 to 1991 by 945 individuals, from 1,286 10-square-mile blocks spread across the entire state; this herculean effort generated 74,288 species records from 216 species.

          This quite voluminous database is summarized in a series of tables and appendices of the Atlas, some of which are rather lengthy.  While having access to the actual numbers may be important for archival purposes, searching large tables of numbers for patterns and trends can be daunting.  At the same time, the explanatory text does point out highlights of the tables, which are sometimes obvious.  For example, in Table 4 (page 7), a list of 22 species is shown in rank order by the number of priority blocks in which the species occurred; the authors explain that “The five most frequently reported species were the Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Mourning Dove, House Sparrow, and Common Grackle;” that is, the first five species listed in the table.  It is here, in the presentation of data summaries, that the authors might have effectively used more computer graphics and thus, designed interesting an creatively organized figures where broad patterns might be easily discerned by the reader at a careful glance.

          The data collected during the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas Project published in the Atlas provides a baseline for comparison with future similar studies.  Furthermore, Kleen, Cordle, and Montgomery have gone beyond simply the presentation of information relating to the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas Project by including long-term information from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS); this helps place the Atlas within a temporal context.  The BBS methods and data summary, with BBS data collected throughout Illinois along standardized route from 1966 through 2000, are presented in a special chapter of the Atlas.  Here data from 133 species are grouped within a table by breeding habitat guild (woodland, grassland, etc.) and population trend (i.e., positive or negative).  A further analysis considers migration status.  But the authors offer only limited discussion of the data presented in these tables.

          Seven land cover maps (e.g., forest cover, natural divisions) are briefly discussed in a chapter entitled “Physical Environment of Illinois.”  The purpose of presenting this information was to provide a background by which to interpret patterns in the data summaries.  Although such analyses are mostly left up to the reader, with numerous caveats given concerning the limitations of the data, it is convenient to have these maps (which have appeared elsewhere in various publications) available in one place for easy reference.

          The bulk of the Atlas is, of course, the 183 individual species accounts.  Each species account includes a black and white photograph and a full map of Illinois, with county outlines, showing locations of sampling blocks for which the highlighted species was recorded as a breeder (marked:  confirmed, probable, or possible).  Also, each species account provides basic notations on its population status and breeding biology, as well as historical information and a variety of interesting facts.  A chapter entitled “Guide to Species Accounts” helps facilitate ease of interpreting the descriptive information.

          For species where sufficient data are available, the BBS trends from 1966 to 2000 are shown graphically as statewide annual indices of abundance.  Because of the wide latitudinal range of Illinois and the fact that certain species distributions have changed over time, it would have been useful here to divide the state into northern, central, and southern regions (a convention established in earlier studies [e.g., Graber et al. 1970]) to show the annual indices of abundance for each region.  In addition, presenting BBS trend data for Illinois’ natural divisions (Schwegman 1973) could have highlighted relationships between population trends and habitat preferences, much like Jacobs and Wilson (1997) showed for BBS data in relation to Missouri’s natural divisions.

          Where the Atlas might cause readers to think of more in-depth data analyses that could have been presented; in contrast, the Birds of Illinois takes the reader in the opposite direction—toward the aesthetic appreciation of birds.  The first impression one gets, before ever turning a page of the book, is that of an exceedingly colorful field guide.  But the liberal use of color is the basis of a highly effective quick reference system to the major groups illustrated in the book.  The reader then searches for color matches, which are readily seen, rather than thumbing through numerous pages.  And because unidentified birds in the field are notorious for quickly flying out of view, the sooner one is on the proper page of the field guide, the better.

          The Birds of Illinois begins with a short introductory chapter which defines some of the unavoidable technical terminology used throughout the book as well as concepts and activities associated with watching birds (e.g., composing lists and observing/recording feeding habits).  Devore, Bailey, and Kennedy suggest studying behavior, conservation issues, and bird-habitat relationships to enhance bird watching.

          When discussing bird habitats, they refer to a colored map which shows the 14 natural divisions of Illinois, which for some reason they refer to as “bioregions.”  This map is also used to located 100 of the top birding sites in the state, 20 of which are given a more extended treatment with information on location, bird habitats, and bird species to be expected, especially rarities.  Here better directions and special information for visitors may have been better emphasized rather than attempting to list a few commonly expected birds or rarities which one may have a very small chance to see; for example, in reference to Illinois Beach State Park, they write that “Warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and flycatchers occur in fall and spring, ….” This statement could apply to nearly any medium-sized wooded area in Illinois.  For the Morton Arboretum, they mention the Townsend’s Solitaire, even though in the many decades that birders and ornithologists have been keeping records throughout Illinois, there have been only 19 Townsend’s Solitaire sightings documented.  It is obvious that the authors wish to recruit more people to birding, but setting up beginners with unrealistic expectations could have the opposite effect.

          The Birds of Illinois covers 319 species expected to be seen in Illinois on an annual basis.  Each species account, one per page, has an introductory paragraph in which the authors relate unusual or otherwise interesting facts about the species in Illinois. These accounts are creatively written, and will likely be interesting to and enjoyed by beginning birders as well as experienced ornithologists.

          Each species account includes an artistically depicted color illustration of the species showing the plumage in which the bird is most likely to be seen in Illinois.  This may be a disadvantage of the book, however, for birders seeking to identify species with very different spring and fall plumage (e.g., warblers) or species that have a different plumage for several years before attaining the definitive adult plumage (e.g., gulls).  Not finding a bird in the field guide is sure to be a frustration for beginning birders, causing them to search through one of the more comprehensive guides.

          Small colored maps of Illinois (about 3 cm high) are included with each species account showing ranges for breeding, year round, winter, and migration.  These maps combined with the section labeled “Status” provide a quick summary of current knowledge for the species in Illinois.  DeVore, Bailey, and Kennedy do not cite the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas Project in the “Select References,” even though the raw data for the Atlas publication have been on the Illinois Natural History Survey’s web site since 1998.  Each species account also includes a summary of information on identification and biology plus suggestions on the best sites to see the highlighted species.

          Because the Atlas and the Birds of Illinois were written with different goals in mind, direct comparisons, for the most part, are not justified.  But while the scientific Atlas may satisfy the needs of ornithologists and the Birds of Illinois may be suited more to new birders, experienced birders will likely find both publications useful and interesting.  Areas of overlap between both books occur within the species accounts, which is not surprising.  In short, both books complement one another.  And each book offers certain unique information and insights.  Of course, the quantitative nature of the Atlas sets it quite apart from the Birds of Illinois.  But together, they represent the best and most comprehensive compilation of information on Illinois’ bird populations since Bohlen (1989).

 

Literature Cited

Bohlen, H.D.  1989.  The birds of Illinois.  Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.  222 pp.

Graber, R.R., J.W. Graber, and E.L. Kirk.  1970.  Illinois birds:  Mimidae.  Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes No. 68, Champaign, Illinois.  38 pp.

Jacobs, B., and J.D. Wilson.  1997.  Missouri breeding bird atlas:  1986-1992.  Natural History Series, No. 6.  Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City.  430 pp.

Schwegman, J.E.  1973.  Comprehensive plan for the Illinois Nature Preserves System.  Part 2.  The natural divisions of Illinois.  Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Springfield, Illinois.  32 pp.

 

[This review was originally published in the Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, 2005, Volume 98, pages 89 - 92.]

  

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak, author of Side Channels, A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir.  Many of the chapters in Side Channels are about birding in Illinois at several of the sites mentioned in DeVore, Bailey, and Kennedy’s Birds of Illinois.

 

BOOK REVIEW: The Minds of Birds, by Alexander F. Skutch

 

 

    While reading The Minds of Birds (1996; Texas A&M University Press; 183 pp.; $29.95) by Alexander F. Skutch, I was reminded of a birding experience at Lake Michigan.  A cold, brutal north wind blew off the lake.  I found it difficult and almost painful to face into the wind and horizontally blowing snow for more than a few seconds.  Yet out over the fantastically rough seas, ring-billed and herring gulls soared on the winds.  What could induce them to be on the wing in such terrible conditions?  They did not appear to be foraging for floating fish or performing pair-bonding flight displays.  Feeling frustrated, I reluctantly concluded that the gulls were simply having fun in the wind.  After finishing The Minds of Birds, I felt more comfortable with my conclusion.

    In The Minds of Birds, Skutch synthesizes over 60 years of his bird behavior watching.  Skutch’s interpretations of bird behavior are backed up by numerous citations from the scientific literature, where he has also made substantial contributions.  In addition, the book is enhanced with 42 excellent illustrations by Dana Gardner.  Skutch asserts that birds in general have emotions that can be categorized similar to emotions exhibited by human beings, and that birds are much more intelligent and aware of what they do than we humans have commonly acknowledged.  Skutch states at the outset of the book that “If we believe…birds suffer and enjoy somewhat as we do, we have stronger motives for protecting them.”  I agree with this sentiment; in the foreseeable future, I cannot imagine that birds will need less protection.

    Throughout the book, parallels are drawn between bird and human behavior.  It is important to note that Skutch is careful not to rate bird intelligence in relation to that of humans; rather, he points out similar mental processes involved in making decisions and expressing emotions.  For example, birds can exhibit mental conflicts such as being torn between opposing actions, much like humans.  Skutch indicates that this implies conscious decision making.  In the chapter entitled “Emotions” Skutch suggests that pleasure, distress, and the show of affection are emotions readily exhibited in birds.  There is an entire chapter devoted to examining the aesthetic sense in birds, where one conclusion is that birds must enjoy singing their songs much as we enjoy music, and that “if they find no joys or satisfactions in their lives, all their efforts to survive and reproduce are barren.”  At times throughout the book, Skutch does tend to make such unsupported claims.  But if his six decades of observing birds in the wild cannot support his claims, there is probably not much that can.

    Bird intelligence is examined more fully in chapters that discuss tool using by birds, social interaction, abilities to remember events and anticipate the future, and rudimentary counting abilities.  Problem-solving by birds is addressed in topics such as why birds sometimes act as if they are primarily ruled by inherited behavioral patterns with little flexibility.  As Skutch points out, although most bird behavior is innate, in many situations birds also exhibit behavioral flexibility by learning and building upon innate patterns.  But he also stresses that certain situations created somewhat recently by humans may demand behavioral responses too far removed from innate patterns; we, therefore, find birds flying into panes of glass and being attracted to and flying into tall buildings with bright lights.  And yet, studies of cooperative breeding species—where non-parental but closely-related individuals help raise young—provide evidence that birds are not simple creatures.  According to Skutch, the complex interactions (such as the recognition of individuals and relationships) that must occur in a breeding colony to avoid conflict and inbreeding indicate that “birds’ minds are capable of fine discriminations and establishing order in complex situations.

    The chapter entitled “Play” has the most relevance to my observations of gulls at Lake Michigan.  Skutch describes barn swallows playing with a feather:  “A swallow would drop down, seize a feather in its bill, then swoop upward to circle above the other swallows and drop the plume.  As it floated down, another caught it.  So the game continued while with marvelous grace the birds traced wide arcs through the air.”  As plainly stated, Skutch’s interpretation is that the swallows were playing a game.  In the same chapter, he describes a scene involving herring gulls soaring in the breeze along the coast of Maine that was very similar to what I observed at Lake Michigan.  Being unable to suggest another motive for their activity, Skutch concludes that the gulls were playing.

    Of all the things that birds do, long distance migration from point to point across oceans or deserts impresses me the most.  Consider that an airplane pilot requires sophisticated navigational abilities and technology to know where he or she is located in three spatial dimensions plus time.  Yet a warbler, for instance, can fly off the Atlantic coast of North America, over the open ocean beyond sight of land, and arrive in South America!  The next spring, it can make its way back north to the same breeding area.  Of course, this is an example of inherited behavior; but still, behavioral flexibility allows birds blown off course to re-orient to the correct course.  Skutch states that the minds of birds must be highly developed for information processing and decision making in order to successfully solve all the variety of problems encountered during a long-distance migration.

    The Minds of Birds is a very readable and enjoyable book written by a man eminently qualified to interpret bird behavior.  I hope the book succeeds in bringing humans and birds closer together, to foster understanding on our part, so that we may all continue to coexist on our troubled an rapidly changing planet.

 

[This review was originally published in Illinois Audubon magazine, Spring 1997 issue, pages 20-21.]

 

Review by Thomas V. Lerczak, author of Side Channels, A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir.