Birds – Page 2

In 1980, the Lord Howe Island woodhen was considered to be highly endangered. Just 15 individuals were found when surveying the island, with the species facing multiple threats as the result of human colonization. Within 10 years of the captive breeding program, the numbers reached 200. This is fantastic success in any threatened species recovery, especially when you consider that 200-250 birds is the islands carrying capacity.

The author described this book as an historical and biological summary of the dramatic decline and
amazing resurrection of the world’s woodhen population. He definitely succeeded. The Woodhen is an important contribution to the literature surrounding threatened species recovery. It is, however, incredibly niche – and wont be useful for most readers.

A lot of time is spent establishing context.

About a half of the book is spent discussing the history of the island and of the rail family in general. This is necessary to help the reader understand just how many risks the woodhen faced. Humans brought with them a range of threats, including invasive species, that the woodhens had no defences against. In many ways, the history has many similarities with that of the night parrot. The main differences were the geographic isolation and the limited population of the island. This means that less time is spent discussing the woodhen. This is pretty normal for books that document threatened species recovery programs. These chapters can be incredibly useful when you compare the issues to those faced on other islands.

It does mean that there are four chapters dedicated the original demise of the woodhen population and the subsequent recovery efforts. This equals just 50 pages, or one third of the book. This is because the breeding program was so successful that it required more summarizing and documenting than analysis. This is brilliant for the recovery program and the species. It does mean that there is less to learn from the example. If you do read it, I would read similar books regarding threatened species on Australian islands such as A Bat’s End.

The writing is dry compared to similar books in the genre

I’m cautious about recommending books about threatened species recovery to beginner and intermediate naturalists due to the subject matter being quite dry. I do make the occasional exception based on how compelling the writing is. Some books about threatened species can be so captivating that they inspire you to seek out ways to help.

This isn’t one of those books. This is largely due to the success of the breeding program itself rather than any fault on behalf of the author. There were no major failures or deception on behalf of those involved with the program. Lord Howe Island also faced less environmental threats compared to Christmas Island. I was only able to finish reading the book because I’m fascinated by the ecology of Lord Howe Island and am keen to one day see the woodhen. I really had to push myself.

Do I recommend it?

No. I believe it this book is an important contribution literature surrounding threatened species. There is a lot that ecologists and others interested in threatened species recovery can learn from the success of the program. However the subject matter is so niche that it isn’t useful for most birdwatchers and naturalists. Their time would be better spent on a subject matter more relevant to their interests. I’d recommend it to those who, like myself, are fascinated by the bird and want to learn as much about it as they can.

Buy from Booktopia or your local bookshop

The rediscovery of the night parrot is one of the greatest achievements of modern birdwatchers. I had just returned to birdwatching when the news broke and was so excited. I followed the official announcements, had read the articles and thought I was pretty well informed.

I wasn’t.

Articles had referenced how the last living night parrot was sighted in 1912. Based on the lack of news, I presumed it was extinct. I didn’t think there was that much to learn about it.

I was so happy to be wrong. This book is one of those rare times where being new to birdwatching is a gift. The history of this elusive bird is really compelling. In this review, I’ll focus on the elements of the book that stood out.

Olsen is a meticulous researcher

I was impressed with the level of research that went into this book. Olsen scoured through old records to create a compelling narrative. It wouldn’t have been an easy task to explore the connections between the smattering of records that remained, let alone make it such an addictive read. I was hooked.

Occasionally, it felt like Olsen would go into unnecessary detail about some of the key figures. She’d unearthed some interesting facts about a persons history, but that history didn’t feel relevant to the night parrots journey. I would recommend skimming some sections if you find your attention wanes. You can always revisit those sections later.

Chapters were organized into States

The bulk of the book is devoted to the history of seeking and, in the rare case, documenting the presence of the night parrot. It does this grouping various chapters according to state and devoting each chapter to the key efforts in that period. For example, the Southern Australia section focused on the work of Charles Sturt, John McDouall Stuart and J. Harris Brown; Samuel Albert White and Ethel Rosina White; and Frederick Andrews .

I was initially against the idea of organizing the chapters into states. I wanted to learn more about the bird itself and read about the history chronologically. I was so glad to be wrong. The night parrot was always incredibly elusive, even in the areas it favoured. It’s habitat meant that searching for it was a huge endeavour that involved a lot of resources. Sighting reports did travel across states, especially as transportation became easier. Reading about these journeys as individual experiences did help me understand how all the sightings and discoveries were interconnected.I underestimated how fascinating it was. I didn’t know just how early cats were introduced to Australia, nor how early scientists would shoot the birds instead of observing them.

‘They say if enough are found’: Steve Murphy and John Young

This is the chapter I was most keen to read. John Young’s discovery of night parrot populations had caused a lot of excitement in the birding community – and also a lot of controversy. Olsen held little trust in John Young, something that was painstakingly repeated throughout the chapter. Later, it would be revealed that many facets his discovery of a population in South Australia would be fake. It is evident that Young has an interesting relationship with the truth, however this chapter still annoyed me.

After the book was published, there was a lot of commentary about whether John Young could be trusted. Peers and friends came out in support of his work and argued that the book didn’t accurately represent many of Young’s doubtful claims. As a casual birdwatcher, I didn’t know what or who to believe. This chapter explores past exaggerations and explores Murphy’s experiences of the work he undertook with Young. This was fascinating – it included information I wasn’t aware of – but it was also a bit disappointing. While I trust Murphy’s recollections, I felt like this section could have included perspectives from others who had worked with Young.

Olsen was also incredibly critical of many members of the birdwatching community – notable, considering as birdwatchers would be one of the key targeted readerships. She was incredibly critical of those who didn’t agree with the secrecy surrounding the rediscovery. I was, and still am, a member of several Facebook birdwatching groups and I felt this was an unfair representation.

The secrecy was a hot topic of debate, but the most critical were those who actually had the potential to discover other populations. They were concerned that the lack of calls to reference would mean that unknown populations would be subject to further risk. The topic was considerably more nuanced, something that went unacknowledged by Olsen. I was particularly annoyed at how she targeted. Mark Carter as a jilted twitcher. I was his Facebook friend before he abandoned the platform, and he was frustrated with the secrecy surrounding the birds call. At the time of their discovery, the reference calls were limited to those from Western Australia.

This chapter is fascinating and allowed me to learn so much more about the recent work with the night parrot. If you are active in online birdwatching communities, you may have similar feelings.

Would I recommend it?

Definitely.

I disagree with how Olsen approached the chapter on John Young and didn’t like some smaller parts of how the book was structured. It was still one of the best books I have read this year.

I’d recommend it for those who already have an existing passion for birds or conservation. It is accessible for beginners.

Book Review: The Woodhen: A Flightless Bird Defying Exinction