Return of the Condor (Paperback)

John Moir

ISBN 10: 1493076655 / ISBN 13: 9781493076659

Published by Rowman & Littlefield, Guilford, 2024

About this Item

Paperback. Return of the Condor is far and away the best book on the subject. John Moir covered the condor recovery effort for magazines and newspapers for years and his extensive and award-winning journalism, including an investigative piece for Birding magazine, became this fine book. Moir presents a unique insider's view of the remarkable tale of saving a species from the brink of extinction. Down to a population of only twenty-two in the 1980s, the condor owes its survival and recovery to a team of scientists who flouted conventional wisdom and pursued the most controversial means to save it. John Moir's account shows the depth of their passion and courage and details the bitter controversy that led to a national debate over how to save America's largest bird. A gripping account of the dramatic race to preserve one of America's most imperiled birds. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781493076659

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Return of the Condor (Paperback)
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Guilford
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1493076655
• ISBN 13: 9781493076659
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

“A heart-stopping saga of the rescue from the very brink of extinction of one of the grandest of all birds.”—Thomas Lovejoy, president of the Amazon Biodiversity Center.

RETURN OF THE CONDOR is the riveting account of one of the most dramatic attempts to save a species from extinction in the history of modern conservation. Features a new Afterword by the author.

With the condor’s population down to only twenty-two birds in the 1980s and their very survival in doubt, the condor recovery team flouted conventional wisdom and pursued a controversial strategy to pull the bird back from the brink of extinction. Thus began the ongoing, decades-long program to reestablish America’s largest bird in its ancient home in Western skies.

Award-winning science writer John Moir takes readers into the backcountry to get to know the recovery program scientists as well as some of the individual condors. These are stories of peril, uncertainty, and controversy. Woven throughout these tales of heartbreak and triumph is the extraordinary dedication of the humans who have sometimes risked their lives for this charismatic, intelligent, and social bird.

Despite the program’s remarkable successes, the condor’s narrative is still unfolding with a number of challenges remaining. This includes the dilemma of lead poisoning among free-flying condors that is a major obstacle to the bird’s recovery.

The new Afterword presents a compelling examination of the progress and continuing adversity facing the condor recovery effort since the first edition of the book was published.

Finalist for the William Saroyan International Writing Prize

from the Stanford University Libraries

Honorable Mention from the National Association of Science Writers

About the Author

John Moir is an environmental journalist who has been reporting on the condor’s story for more than 20 years. Moir has written for the New York Times, Smithsonian, Washington Post,Audubon, and many other publications. He is the author of two nonfiction books, has contributed to four anthologies, and has received more than two dozen writing awards.