Silence of the Songbirds: A distinguished scientist reveals how we are losing the world’s songbirds, why this predicts widespread environmental problems, and what we all can do to save the birds and their habitats.

By Bridget Stutchbury.

Published by Walker Books, 2007.

256 pp.

Cloth - $24.95

Almost half of the songbirds that filled the sky forty years ago are now lost. In Silence of the Songbirds, passionate bird lover and scientist Bridget Stutchbury explains How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do To Save Them.

Did you know that just drinking shade grown coffee could help? Or how switching to recycled paper not only saves trees but habitats as well? What would our world be like without the calls of the songbirds? Do we really want to find out?

Some of the threats to songbirds: The U.S. annually uses 4 to 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 estimates that 4-5 million birds are killed by crashing into communication towers each year.

Although some of the threats must be addressed through local and international policy initiatives, there are several things each one of us can do to help save birds, such as buying paper and wood products from sustainable forests, buying shade coffee, avoiding pesticides in our food and on our lawns and gardens, keeping our cats indoors, and much more. As Silence of the Songbirds shows, we ultimately protect ourselves and our children by taking steps to save songbirds and the environment.

Without songbirds, our forests would face more insect infestations and our trees, flowers, and gardens would lose a crucial link in their reproductive cycle. Wood thrush, Kentucky warbler, 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 migratory birds on their six-thousand mile journey from the tropics to North America, renowned biologist Bridget Stutchbury leads us on an ecological field trip to explore firsthand the lives of songbirds and the major threats they face. Pesticides are still a major concern decades after Rachel Carson first raised the alarm: The United States annually uses four to five million pounds of insecticides containing acephate, which even in small quantities can throw off the navigational systems of white-throated sparrows and other songbirds. Vital habitat for birds continues to be destroyed, from the boreal forests of Canada to the deciduous forests of the United States to the grasslands of Argentina. Sun-grown-coffee plantations push thousands of birds out of their tropical forest refuges; whereas shade-grown-coffee plantations in Latin America actually provide much needed habitat for birds and help regulate climate and water levels. Closer to home, the bright lights of tall buildings and communications towers prove to be a minefield for birds that migrate at night.

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, we 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.

EXCERPT:

Excerpted from: Paradise Not Yet Lost: The Tanagers and Warblers of Gamboa, Panama

It is almost impossible for a migratory bird to live outside its short life without coming face to face with our modern civilization and all the changes this has brought to the lands we share with them. Tropical forests are being cleared at the highest rate in the history of mankind, and grassland birds have had their tropical homes plowed to grow foods that we can eat. Migrants are forced to dodge their way over and around farms, cities, and suburban sprawl as they leapfrog north to their breeding grounds. When we see a beautiful bird singing in the park on a spring day, it is easy to forget that many others did not survive the long journey.

At our farm in Pennsylvania, a male American redstart pirouettes among the fresh buds of the maple trees that line our driveway, flashing black and orange as he goes. He pauses several times a minute to belt out a high-pitched tsee, tsee, see-see, see-you challenge to the male across the road. Forgotten for the moment is his winter territory in a lush mangrove forest along the southern coast of Jamaica, though he will return there when the summer days get shorter and signal that it is time to travel. High in a cherry tree near the edge of the pond a female Baltimore oriole hangs upside down, her yellow olive colours blending in subtly with the dried grasses she is busily weaving into her half-built nest. A few months earlier she was feeding on nectar from the bright orange flowers of an Erythrina tree in a coffee plantation in southern Mexico. The stunning colours of the male scarlet tanager singing in the giant oak tree back in the woods are purely for showing off. Earlier that year, he was in plain clothes as he gobbled down small fruits from a fig tree in the forested lowlands of Ecuador. Within the dark hemlocks that hug the stream a female Acadian flycatcher gives the chiff calls that she used far away in Panama to defend her winter home.

Migratory songbirds lead an intriguing double life. The birds that we welcome to our backyards, meadows, and forests in spring have just completed a marathon flight after living for many months in their tropical homes. These migrants are vulnerable to environmental threats that occur thousands of kilometres away from where they breed, in places many of us have never had the chance to see for ourselves. Whether or not particular species are in harm’s way depends entirely on the details of their natural history, including what they eat, where they live, and how they compete for the essentials of life: space, food, and mates. This variety among songbirds is what makes them so interesting for naturalists, bird watchers, and ornithologists, but it also makes it a difficult task to keep track of bird numbers from year to year and to pinpoint the cause of their declines.

REVIEWS

"Important [and] enlightening... Here is an essential primer for any person who cares about our planet as a whole, or about our immediate environment. It's an eye-opener, to bird watchers, and an introduction that once again illuminates how nature is subtle beyond our humble efforts to comprehend." -Irene Wanner, San Francisco Chronicle

"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, Windsor P.L., Ont.#-Library Journal, Starred Review ).

"Wonderfully informative of beautiful little things. This book is a must-read for anyone whose heart has thrilled to the song of a bird." -Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers

"Stutchbury argues that when birds begin disappearing, we may be next. This is an important book both for its exploration of a very troubling reality as well as for the solutions that it offers. It is also beautifully written. Stutchbury's obvious brilliance as a scientist is matched by her poet's heart." -Béa Gonzalez, author of The Mapmaker's Opera

"Few scientists know migratory birds as intimately as Bridget Stutchbury, who has followed them with wonder and passion from the jungles of Costa Rica and Belize to the hardwood forests of North America. She lays out how these miraculous creatures live, why they are disappearing, and how each of us-by making choices as simple as what coffee to drink, what toilet paper we buy, or when we turn off the lights in our offices-can make the world safer for the birds that add such life and vitality to it." -Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind and Return to Wild America

"Bridget Stutchbury is a leading authority on the science of migratory songbirds, but she understands the magic, too, and knows how to express it in clear, rich prose. Silence of the Songbirds has heart as well as brains, telling us not only what we risk losing but also why we should care." -Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America

"Nearly half a century ago, Rachel Carson warned us of the grim plight of songbirds, sparking an uproar that led ultimately to the banning of DDT. In Silence of the Songbirds, Bridget Stutchbury makes clear that the dangers migratory songbirds face are greater than ever. Her book is an eloquent plea on behalf of songbirds, and also gives practical suggestions on things we can all do to help-for the good of the birds as well as the human race." -Tim Gallagher, author of The Grail Bird

"Bridget Stutchbury takes us from the tropical forests of Panama to her farm in Pennsylvania, sharing her personal stories about birds as well as the latest scientific information explaining the disappearance of songbirds. The solutions are a win-win-win for birds, people, and the environment. If you care about birds, you owe it to yourself-and to the birds-to read this eye-opening book." -Miyoko Chu, author of Songbird Journeys

"An alarming, first-hand journey through the world of disappearing songbirds by a premier scientist. A must-read for anyone who cares about our planet and our place in it." -Donald Kroodsma, author of The Singing Life of Birds

"Bridget Stutchbury's writing draws us deeply into the personal lives of the birds, where little-known calls are pregnant with meaning. How joyful it is to learn such intimate and steamy details about the secret language of the birds." -Lang Elliott, author of The Songs of Wild Birds

"A gripping revelation-both of the deeply fascinating biology of songbirds and the daunting challenges they face in a human-dominated world. Bridget Stutchbury makes it impossible to look at a songbird the same old way ever again. A joy for bird-watchers and non-bird-watchers alike." -Thomas E. Lovejoy, president of the H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

"Highly accessible and engaging, Silence of the Songbirds provides a unique glimpse into the biology and natural history of songbirds. Bridget Stutchbury argues forcefully for the beauty of these birds, the important ecosystem services these species provide, and the everyday things that citizens can do to help conserve them." -Steven R. Beissinger, professor of conservation biology at the University of California, Berkeley

"'We will unravel the mystery of the disappearing songbirds by taking a journey with them.' Ornithologist Stutchbury so begins her exploration of the causes for the decline of migratory songbirds in the tropics, the wintering area for many of North America's birds. Migrants fit themselves into the local fauna, joining flocks or defending feeding territories until time to wing north for breeding. As the reader follows the birds, the author introduces the hazards they must face: fragmentation of habitat, which can range from simple road cuts to complete deforestation; replacement of natural vegetation with agricultural fields, typically "deserts" for birds; the ongoing problems with pesticides; light pollution, glass windows, communication towers, wind turbines, and other obstacles; and finally predators and introduced parasites, which have their greatest impact on the breeding grounds. She discusses the rapid decline of many songbird species and strategies for saving them. Stutchbury's colloquial writing style, bolstered with frequent references to her own and other scientists' research, makes complex population and ecological science easy to understand for the lay reader." -Nancy Bent,Booklist

ABOUT 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.