Reviewed by Ian Carter
I tried very hard to like this book and, in the end, despite the rather relentless ‘chatty’ style of writing, I think I just about got there.
It’s certainly a hard book to categorise. In part, it’s a history of recently extinct birds in the USA and the individuals involved in documenting (and in some cases overseeing) their demise. Interwoven with these accounts is the story of the author’s developing interest in birds as he starts to notice them first in his garden and then, further afield, through his involvement in the Wisconsin birding community.
The book also deals with some of the notable characters, past and present, in Wisconsin ornithology, something that is likely to appeal most to those familiar with this part of the US. I felt that the various threads didn’t always sit together entirely happily. In one chapter, for example, we leap back and forth between the purported rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the depressing exploits of his parents’ newly-acquired African Grey Parrot.
It might seem odd that a complete birding novice (an assistant professor of English) would write a book about extinct birds. He sets out with lots to learn about the subject matter and this necessitates much delving into dusty archives, museum visits and interviews with a wide diversity of different people. As a novice though, at least he has no ingrained, preconceived views and so the journey of exploration described in the book has a genuine ring to it. Overall, I think it works quite well.
Although many extinct American species get a mention he uses the well-known Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Passenger Pigeon as his two primary examples, both species whose stories (I am reliably informed) have been told elsewhere. Just for fun I compared his account of a visit to the memorial of the last Passenger Pigeon shot in Wisconsin with the one in Message from Martha. Mark picks a warm day in late May, has the place to himself and is moved to quote the wise words of Aldo Leopold before strolling away and securing two life ticks in the same pine tree. B.J. Hollars visits in the depths of winter and has to run through deep snow to ensure that his car parking ticket doesn’t expire, but he too thinks of Aldo Leopold and he too is moved by the visit – ‘the echo of emptiness is deafening’.
The book finishes as the various strands of thought and investigation are brought together and he seeks to learn lessons from the past. Yes, we have lost some enigmatic species, and that is desperately sad, but perhaps we didn’t know any better back then. Now we do and we still have time to prevent the same thing from happening to birds like the Whooping Crane and the California Condor (and the Turtle Dove). His message echoes the final imagined Message from Martha: ‘Please care. Please do better. Please start now.’
Flock Together: A Love Affair with Extinct Birds by B.J. Hollars is published by University of Nebraska Press.
Remarkable Birds by Mark Avery is published by Thames and Hudson – for reviews see here.
Inglorious: conflict in the uplands by Mark Avery is published by Bloomsbury – for reviews see here.
Behind the Binoculars: interviews with acclaimed birdwatchers by Mark Avery and Keith Betton is published by Pelagic – here’s a review and it’s now out in paperback.
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