On 2009-10-26 D. J. Nardi, Washington, DC wrote: Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds is a poignant biography of six extinct North American bird species. Christopher Cokinos seems to have the ideal blend of poetic prose and interest in natural history to bring these animals to life. Here are the birds he covers, as well a brief summary of each chapter:
1) Carolina Parakeet: Cokinos aptly describes this beautiful bird as out of place in the Kansas prairie. The chapter presents both the beauty of the bird, as well as the causes for its decline.
2) Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: This chapter focuses on the many sightings and alleged resurrections of the woodpecker. Every decade or so, some birders claim to have seen it, with the 2004 sightings being the most recent.
3) Heath Hen: For the Heath Hen, Cokinos focuses on the similarity to the Greater Prairie Chicken and efforts to introduce the Greater Prairie Chicken to Martha´s Vineyard and breed a new population of wild fowl.
4) Passenger Pigeon: As expected, this chapter focuses on the sheer abundance of passenger pigeons. Cokinos begins by citing an estimate that one flock contained over 2 billion birds. The chapter also provides the true story of the last wild passenger pigeon shot, as well as the story of Martha, the last to survive in the wild. The stories aren´t gripping, but it is nice to have the record straight.
5) Labrador Duck: Not much is known about the Labrador Duck, and appropriately Cokinos spends little time on the bird. Much of the chapter discusses the potential of bringing a Labrador Duck back to life through DNA technology (this section is probably a bit dated given advanced in DNA technology over the past decade). For more on Labrador Ducks, see Dr. Chilton´s The Curse of the Labrador Duck: My Obsessive Quest to the Edge of Extinction.
6) Great Auk: For the Great Auk, Cokinos traveled to Bird Island and describes the sheer hostility of the Auk´s habitat. It was interesting to hear how humans struggled so much in the area, yet they managed to hunt and kill the Great Auks there.
I was disappointed that the 2009 edition was not revised. It does contain a brief afterward, but the main text of the book remains unchanged. This leads to some awkward moments, like when the afterward disclaims a claim Cokinos had made earlier in the book. For example, after spending so much time reading about how a Greater Prairie Chicken living in Martha´s Vineyard could eventually evolve into a Heath Hen, the afterward reveals that more recent genetic research shows the two species are more distantly related than previously thought. Likewise, only in the afterward does the reader learn that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker may not be extinct after all.
I wish this book had color photographs of specimens of each bird. It´s too bad, because some of these birds were truly beautiful. If you want to see actual museum specimens, the Naturalis museum website has great 3D images (you´ll have to google it).
Overall, the book is a great gift idea for any birder. I like how it combines the stories of the 6 species. It´s particularly useful if - like me - you don´t have the time to read 6 separate books on each species.. And summed up by saying Sad stories of six extinct birds. Currently Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds has an overall rating of 10 over 10.
Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds can also be found in the following searches:
Tarcher claimed A prizewinning poet and nature writer weaves together natural history, biology, sociology, and personal narrative to tell the story of the lives, habitats, and deaths of six extinct bird species.
Item that are similar to Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds can be found at:
Buy Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds |