As the human population skyrockets and the toxic impact of human society spreads, the natural habitats of birds degrade and diminish and the bird populations decline. Two hundred years ago, when the United States and Canada were home to less than 5 million people, they were also home to some 650 species of birds. Today, more than 280 million people live there, and 33 bird species have already been driven to extinction and well over 150 are in danger of extinction in all or parts of their range. This book, organized and written by the authors of The Birder's Handbook, and enriched by 191 strikingly beautiful color paintings illustrating all of the birds treated, is the first concise, authoritative review of the status of the birds currently imperiled in the United States and Canada - those that are federally listed as Endangered or Threatened and those that are listed by the National Audubon Society as suffering local or regional or widespread decline. It also treats the birds that have been driven to extinction in the past two centuries, since the stories of their somber fates can help us learn how to save the other birds that are in jeopardy. Because birdwatchers and others are showing increased interest in the tropical birds that survive in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, the book includes separate sections on imperiled and extinct birds of those areas. Hawaii is of special importance: because it has seen so many extinctions just in the years since Cook's arrival, it provides a laboratory for studying the impact of civilization on birds in the wild.<
Introduction Scope and organization of the book 1. Birds that are officially threatened or endangered 2. Birds that are not officially listed in the U.S. 3. Birds that have become extinct since 1776 4. Commentaries on imperilment 5. Regional quick check of birds in jeopardy 6. Reference material.
'This important book should be read by every nature-oriented citizen. The texts are crammed with information, and the birds come alive in Darryl Wheye's portraits. The ingeniously organized book is not just another essay on the plight of the environment. To document the declining numbers and their causes, the authors have sifted through innumerable and often conflicting reports of biologists, federal agencies, and vested interests. Although only a handful of North American birds have become extinct within our time, well over 150 others are in trouble, either endangered or vulnerable. In most cases the root causes are there for us to see, and wherever birds are in trouble, so is the land on which they and innumerable other living things depend. This evocative presentation alerts us to events we must deal with.' Roger Tory Peterson
