Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird
by Katie Fallon
From the publisher (Ruka Press):
In her new book Cerulean Blues, author Katie Fallon describes the plight of the cerulean warbler, a tiny migratory songbird, and its struggle to survive in ever-shrinking bands of suitable habitat. This elusive creature, a favorite among bird watchers (recently seen on the cover of Jonathan Franzen’s novel Freedom) and the fastest-declining warbler species in the United States, has lost 3% of its total population each year since 1966. This precipitous decline means that today there are 80% fewer ceruleans than forty years ago, and their numbers continue to drop because of threats including deforestation, global warming, and mountaintop removal coal mining.
With scientific rigor and a sense of wonder, Fallon leads readers on a journey of more than two thousand miles—from the top of the forest canopy in the ancient mountains of Appalachia to a coffee plantation near troubled Bogotá, Colombia—and shows how the fate of a creature weighing less than an ounce is vitally linked to our own.
It’s hard to pick a favorite warbler, but if I had to, Ceruleans would be a strong contender. I’m looking forward to reading this!
Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird
by Katie Fallon
Paperback; 224 pages
Ruka Press; November 1, 2011
ISBN: 0983011117
Posted by Grant McCreary on November 17th, 2011.
I just finished Cerulean Blues and enjoyed it very much. I thought it was a nice mix of personal narrative/birding/travel with discussion of the warbler and the challenges it faces, plus it was a good mix of describing serious problems (such as loss of habitat in the Appalachians due to mountaintop removal mining) and more hopeful discussions of what people are trying to do to help.
That’s great to hear. I still haven’t had a chance to start it yet, but I’m looking forward to it even more now!