Silence of the Songbirds: How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them

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Overview

Wood thrush, Kentucky warbler, the Eastern kingbird—migratory songbirds are disappearing at a frightening rate. By some estimates, we may already have lost almost half of the songbirds that filled the skies only forty years ago. Renowned biologist Bridget Stutchbury convincingly argues that songbirds truly are the "canaries in the coal mine"—except the coal mine looks a lot like Earth and we are the hapless excavators.

Following the birds on their six-thousand-mile migratory journey, Stutchbury leads us on an ecological field trip to explore firsthand the major threats to songbirds: pesticides, still a major concern decades after Rachel Carson first raised the alarm; the destruction of vital habitat, from the boreal forests of Canada to the diminishing continuous forests of the United States to the grasslands of Argentina; coffee plantations, which push birds out of their forest refuges so we can have our morning fix; the bright lights and structures in our cities, which prove a minefield for migrating birds; and global warming. We could well wake up in the near future and hear no songbirds singing. But we won't just be missing their cheery calls, we'll be missing a vital part of our ecosystem. Without songbirds, our forests would face uncontrolled insect infestations, and our trees, flowers, and gardens would lose a crucial element in their reproductive cycle. As Stutchbury shows, saving songbirds means protecting our ecosystem and ultimately ourselves.

Some of the threats to songbirds:

• The U.S. annually uses 4-5 million pounds of active ingredient acephate, an insecticide that, even in small quantities, throws off the navigation systems of White-throated sparrows and other songbirds, making them unable to tell north from south.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservatively estimated that 4-5 million birds are killed by crashing into communication towers each year.

• A Michigan study found that 600 domestic cats killed more than 6,000 birds during a typical 10-week breeding season.

Wood thrush, Kentucky warbler, the Eastern kingbird—migratory songbirds are disappearing at a frightening rate. By some estimates, we may already have lost almost half of the songbirds that filled the skies only forty years ago. Renowned biologist Bridget Stutchbury convincingly argues that songbirds truly are the "canaries in the coal mine"—except the coal mine looks a lot like Earth and we are the hapless excavators.

Following the birds on their six-thousand-mile migratory journey, Stutchbury leads us on an ecological field trip to explore firsthand the major threats to songbirds: pesticides, still a major concern decades after Rachel Carson first raised the alarm; the destruction of vital habitat, from the boreal forests of Canada to the diminishing continuous forests of the United States to the grasslands of Argentina; coffee plantations, which push birds out of their forest refuges so we can have our morning fix; the bright lights and structures in our cities, which prove a minefield for migrating birds; and global warming. We could well wake up in the near future and hear no songbirds singing. But we won't just be missing their cheery calls, we'll be missing a vital part of our ecosystem. Without songbirds, our forests would face uncontrolled insect infestations, and our trees, flowers, and gardens would lose a crucial element in their reproductive cycle. As Stutchbury shows, saving songbirds means protecting our ecosystem and ultimately ourselves.

Some of the threats to songbirds:

• The U.S. annually uses 4-5 million pounds of active ingredient acephate, an insecticide that, even in small quantities, throws off the navigation systems of White-throated sparrows and other songbirds, making them unable to tell north from south.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservatively estimated that 4-5 million birds are killed by crashing into communication towers each year.

• A Michigan study found that 600 domestic cats killed more than 6,000 birds during a typical 10-week breeding season.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Consider this a work of gentle scholarship in the Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) tradition. The silence Carson greatly feared still looms: surveys suggest we may have lost half of the songbirds that filled the skies just 40 years ago. Cleverly organized around the return journey of migrant songbirds from Central America to northern breeding grounds, Stutchbury's (biology, York Univ., Toronto) book details the perils they face at every stage of the way: e.g., tropical deforestation, pesticides, and encounters with house cats and other predators. She sounds the alarm forcefully, arguing that songbirds are more than simply detectors of environmental malaise; they play "crucial ecological roles in our natural communities." Strangely hopeful, Stutchbury urges individual discretion as the best solution to the migratory birds' plight-e.g., buy shade-grown coffee, turn off the lights at night, and keep kitty indoors. It is clear she seeks a wider audience than that restricted to her peers, but rarely does her popular approach veer into triteness. Her work, along with Miyoko Chu's Songbird Journeys, is important and strongly recommended for academic and public collections. [Tie-in to International Migratory Bird Day, May 12.-Ed.]
—Robert Eagan

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Ornithologists have noticed a significant decline in the numbers of migratory songbird species. Here's an overview of the problem. Stutchbury (Biology/York Univ., Toronto) begins with the tropical forests of Central and South America, and many islands in the Caribbean: second homes to our familiar birds. There they adopt a different lifestyle, fattening up for the flight back to their breeding grounds in springtime. But their southern homes are under severe pressure. Deforestation is a significant threat, as the once-solid ranks of trees come down to make way for cash crops. Prime habitat is being lost, and, along with it, food sources the songbirds depend on. Worse still, in many of the countries where they winter, birds are subjected to heavy doses of pesticides. Some birds are killed outright; others are simply so weakened that they cannot complete their migration north. Stutchbury offers positive suggestions, such as drinking shade-grown coffee, which minimizes deforestation, and buying organic food instead of pesticide-laced products. But there are other, less easily dodged problems. City lights and tall buildings are bird killers-many thousands of birds can crash into a TV tower or wind farm during the migration season. Domestic cats allowed to roam free are prolific bird killers, too-as are feral cats. Northern habitats are also under pressure-forest preservation not being the highest priority in North America. The result has been a steady and measurable decline in the populations of almost all the major migratory songbirds over the last several decades. Stutchbury emphasizes that birds are not the only threatened species: The loss of forest contributes to global warming, and thehuman population will inevitably suffer the consequences. She closes with a short list of countermeasures the average person can take to help save the birds. A powerful warning, very much in the vein of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780802716095
  • Publisher: Walker & Company
  • Publication date: 5/15/2007
  • Pages: 272
  • Product dimensions: 6.17 (w) x 9.84 (h) x 1.01 (d)

Meet the Author

Bridget Stutchbury completed her Ph.D. at Yale University, was a research associate at the Smithsonian Institute, and is now professor of biology at York University in Toronto. She lives in Woodbridge, Ontario, and in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania.

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