Silence Of The Songbirds - Hardcover

Stutchbury, Bridget

4.04

160 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002007282 ISBN 13: 9780002007283

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007

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Wood Thrush, Kentucky Warbler, Eastern Kingbird migratory songbirds are disappearing at a frightening rate. By some estimates, we may already have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies only 40 years ago. Bridget Stutchbury, in a narrative as colourful as the creatures she studies, demonstrates why this decline should concern us all. The expert ornithologist and naturalist convincingly argues that songbirds truly are the canaries in the coal mine except the coal mine looks a lot like Earth and we are the hapless excavators.

Following the birds on their 10,000-kilometre migratory journey, Stutchbury looks at the most threatening factors: pesticides, still a major concern decades after Rachel Carson first raised the alarm; the destruction of vital habitat, from the boreal forests of Canada to the tropical jungles of Brazil to the vast grasslands of Argentina; coffee plantations, which push birds out of their forest refuges so we can have our morning fix; the bright lights and structures in our cities, which prove a minefield for migrating birds; the notorious cowbirds that force songbirds to act as surrogate mothers to their own voracious young; and global warming. We may well wake up in the near future and hear no songbirds singing. We won’t only be missing their cheery calls, we’ll be missing a vital part of our ecosystem. Without songbirds, our forests face insect infestations, and our trees, flowers and gardens lose a crucial element in their reproductive cycle. What does this very real threat mean for our ecosystem, and ultimately, us?

A perfect full moon rose in the east as I paddled back to shore before it got dark, the martins safely tucked in for the night. Big storms had been brewing over land since late afternoon, and . . . a distant lightning bolt lit up the bottom of the clouds briefly. I was tired and heading home at day’s end, but as I paddled against a headwind, I thought about the hundreds of thousands of songbirds that must be hidden in the forests and fields around me, only minutes away from taking to the sky. One by one, the warblers, tanagers, thrushes and countless others would be in the air and heading southward with uncanny navigation skills, not knowing exactly where they would land, but driven by instinct born of the successful migration of their ancestors. fromSilence of the Songbirds

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About the Author:

Bridget Stutchbury completed her Master’s of Science at Queen’s University and her Ph.D. at Yale, and was a fellow and research associate at the Smithsonian Institute. She is now professor of biology at York University and is affiliated with more than a dozen organizations that seek to preserve bird habitats. In 2005, Stutchbury was named one of the Toronto Star’s “People to Watch” after her groundbreaking research into the sexual antics of birds made international headlines. Her book The Silence of the Songbirds was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Nonfiction. She lives in Woodbridge, Ontario.

Review:

“A thoroughly researched and elegantly written call to arms.” (The Globe and Mail)

“Silence of the Songbirds is not just another doom-and-gloom warning. It’s a fascinating treasure trove of information about birds and their migratory efforts.” (Winnipeg Free Press)

“Groundbreaking.” (CTV News)

“Page after page here recounts surprising details taken from the lives of birds pursuing their destinies within the grand yet heartbreaking drama of twenty-first-century migration.” (Audubon)

“A powerful warning, very much in the vein of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.” (Kirkus)

“Silence of the Songbirds is wonderfully informative of beautiful little things. This book is a must-read for anyone whose heart has thrilled to the song of a bird.” (Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers)

“A gripping revelation—both of the deeply fascinating biology of songbirds and the daunting challenges they face in a human-dominated world. Stutchbury makes it impossible to look at a songbird the same old way ever again. A joy for bird watchers and non–bird watchers alike.” (Thomas E. Lovejoy, president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment)

“Few scientists know migratory birds as intimately as Bridget Stutchbury . . . . She lays out how these miraculous creatures live, why they are disappearing, and how each of us can make the world safer for the birds that add such life and vitality to it.” (Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind)

“Stutchbury is a leading authority on the science of migratory songbirds, but she understands the magic, too, and knows how to express it in clear, rich prose. Silence of the Songbirds has heart as well as brains.” (Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America )

“Stutchbury argues that when birds begin disappearing, we may be next. This is an important book It is also beautifully written. Stutchbury’s obvious brilliance as a scientist is matched by her poet’s heart.” (B�a Gonzalez, author of The Mapmaker’s Opera )

“Nearly half a century ago, Rachel Carson warned us of the grim plight of songbirds, sparking an uproar that led ultimately to the banning of DDT. In Silence of the Songbirds, Bridget Stutchbury makes clear that the dangers migratory songbirds face are greater than ever.” (Tim Gallagher, author of The Grail Bird)

“If you care about birds, you owe it to yourself—and to the birds—to read this eye-opening book.” (Miyoko Chu, author of Songbird Journeys)

“An alarming, first-hand journey through the world of disappearing songbirds by a premier scientist. A must-read for anyone who cares about our planet and our place in it.” (Donald Kroodsma, author of The Singing Life of Birds)

“Bridget Stutchbury’s writing draws us deeply into the personal lives of the birds, where little-known calls are pregnant with meaning. How joyful it is to learn such intimate and steamy details about the secret language of the birds.” (Lang Elliott, author of The Songs of Wild Birds)

“Bridget Stutchbury’s writing draws us deeply into the personal lives of the birds, where little-known calls are pregnant with meaning. How joyful it is to learn such intimate and steamy details about the secret language of the birds.” (Steven R. Beissinger, Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of California, Berkeley)

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