Book Review - A Pocket Guide to Birds of Galápagos - Princeton University Press

      When I think of these legendary islands my mind turns to the luminaries associated with them. Uppermost in my thoughts is a young divinity student named Charles Darwin whose visit changed the course of history. David Lack was surely one of the most important ornithologists of the twentieth century and he was greatly influenced by his discoveries there. And how could one not marvel at the incredible work done by Peter and Rosemary Grant? Graciously, the Grants have provided the foreword to the book.

     The fourth name that leaps into my consciousness is Tui De Roy, associated with Galápagos all her life, passionate about them, and arguably the person who knows them in greater detail than anyone else alive today. Who better to produce this field guide to their birds?

     A pocket guide, often, is a pared down version of a standard field guide, smaller and with less information and frequently featuring only the species most likely to be encountered. As the name implies, it is designed to slip easily into a pocket. For Galápagos it is possible to fit in all of the resident birds and some of the principal migrants into this format. Not only that, but informative text is provided about the islands, their geographic setting, physical character and the underpinnings of the endemism of species, and the role of Galápagos as a laboratory of evolutionary study.

     Each species receives a full treatment, with the keys necessary to identify it, and notes on its status and natural history. Tui De Roy's award-winning photographs accompany each species account, adding allure and gob-smacking illustrations. 

     Whose heart does not skip a beat when studying Darwin's finches? A special chart explains their distribution at a glance, followed by an examination of their origin and evolution and the impact of natural selection and adaptive radiation. Concise, accurate, beautifully presented - and all in a guide that slips easily into a pocket.

     This is a first rate publication from front cover to back and is destined to become the default bird guide for the visitor to these enchanted isles. 

     No one will leave home without it!

A Pocket Guide to Birds of Galápagos - Princeton University Press

Tui De Roy

Paperback - US$17.95 - ISBN: 9780691233635

136 pages - 4.75 x 6.25 inches (11.875 x 15.625 cm)

616 colour photographs - 33 maps

Publication date: 29 November, 2022     

Book Review - Penguins, The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition - Princeton University Press

 

I have often had the impression that, to penguins, man is just another penguin - different, less predictable, occasionally violent, but tolerable company when he sits still and minds his own business.

Bernard Stonehouse

          I have eight books on penguins on my shelf, including the first edition of this work, plus coverage of penguins in books on Antarctic wildlife,  and a couple others dealing with Roger Tory Peterson's fascination with these birds, and had you asked me whether I need another volume on penguins I might have answered, "No!" How wrong I would have been, and where good reference books are concerned what you need and what you value and cherish are two different things entirely!

     I have long been a great admirer of Tui De Roy and it always strikes me that she and her colleagues possess that rare quality that enables scientists to combine their technical proficiency with the sheer love of nature, with no conflict between the two. 

     The text throughout the book weaves this thread of intermingled biology and science, with an irrepressible joy for penguins. And, oh my goodness, the pictures! The pictures! Every single page is illustrated with stunning portraits of these most enchanting of birds, loved universally. 

     The fact that they are so admired, however, has not prevented the desperate plight of all penguin species, some of which are perilously teetering on the precipice of extinction. To refer to the wisdom of Bernard Stonehouse (surely one of the most under-rated Antarctic biologists) again, "Today it is impossible to think of animals without  concern for man's impact on them."

     To cite from this book, on African Penguins, "However, all does not bode well for their future. From an estimated original population of around 1.5 million, a century ago, today a mere 25,000 breeding pairs remain, and even these numbers are still dropping."

     This dire condition may be extrapolated to all eighteen penguin species worldwide. 

     Rising sea temperatures are reducing their food supply, adults have to travel farther and farther to feed their young, global warming is depleting sea ice so critical to many species, introduced predators such as feral cats, rats, ferrets, stoats etc terrorize penguin colonies, and direct human expropriation of shoreline habitat is a death knell for some.

     There are dedicated penguin conservationists such as Shireen and Francis Helps, who should be an inspiration to us all (p. 112), but it will require more than the commitment of a small number of concerned humans to save some species. 

     In addition to a species-by-species account, entire sections are devoted to Science and Conservation, and as Tui De Roy succinctly states, "Life Between two Worlds."

      One is reminded that anything we can do to ameliorate the status of penguins in our ever more polluted oceans helps every other organism at the same time. Improved fish stocks for penguins means more food for albatrosses, petrels and other seabirds, to say nothing of cetaceans, pinnipeds, fish and other marine organisms. Ultimately, if we can bring ourselves to stop driving food stocks to extinction we too can benefit from better stewardship of the oceans.

     We are indeed part of an integrated web of life, but uniquely we are the only species capable of inflicting damage that may be permanent, or at a minimum endure for centuries.

    If we really cherish these birds that remind us so much of ourselves, then let's extrapolate those sentiments to a commitment to all do our part in the restoration of nature.

     Thank you Tui, Mark and Julie, and all the other contributors for an exceedingly fine book. Its focus is penguins, its message is universal. Let us all pay heed.

Penguins, The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition

Tui De Roy, Mark Jones and Julie Cornthwaite

Hard Cover - US$35.00 - ISBN 9780691233574

240 pages - 9.25 x 11.5 inches (23.125 x 28.75 cm)

Publication date: 19 April, 2022

 

Book Review - A Lifetime in Galápagos - Princeton University Press

        I will probably never visit Galápagos. Many times have I thought about it and two reasons mitigate against it. First, it is expensive! Second, and most importantly, this fabled place has become over-loved by humans and is suffering from environmental degradation due to the sheer volume of visitors that flock there each year. Not only is the landscape subjected to too many trampling feet, but the danger of alien seeds, and even pathogens, brought in on the soles of shoes, is ever present.
     But Galápagos remains a legendary place in my consciousness.  It is not without reason that it is known popularly as the birthplace of evolution; it has a resonance unmatched for naturalists the world over.
     It was pure serendipity that thrust Galápagos, this often harsh and unforgiving place, into the spotlight. It could just as easily have been Hawaii, known in the nineteenth century as the Sandwich Islands, where evolution was equally on display. Captain Fitz Roy of The Beagle, and the young naturalist, Charles Darwin, made landing on Galápagos, however, not on the Sandwich Islands, and the rest as they say, is history. From Darwin, to David Lack, to Roger Tory Peterson, to Peter and Rosemary Grant, these fabled isles have drawn the aristocracy of the natural and scientific world to their shores.
     Tui De Roy, whose acquaintance I first made when she wrote eloquently about albatrosses, has lived a good part of her life on Galápagos, arriving there on her second birthday. She writes about this enchanted place with a passion generated by deep and abiding love, all the while recognizing that it is not a "Garden of Eden" but in many respects a brutally demanding location, where Darwinian principles are played out every day.  She is in effect  part of the Galápagos ecosystem, not imposed upon it. Nurtured by her naturalist parents, her very first memories are of the environment she simply called home. Not for her the teeter-totters and swings of a manufactured urban park; as De Roy states, "Mangroves were my childhood playgrounds." 
     She developed a commitment to, and curiosity about, all that she experienced every day, and from an early age became a skilled photographer, enabling us to see the natural world through her lens. From the remarkable picture she took in 1969 of a Great Blue Heron at its nest through every other remarkable picture in this book, it is clear that she views the world with a naturalist's eyes. 

     The photographs are in many instances breathtaking and form a body of work encompassing every aspect of life on Galápagos. The coverage is nothing short of amazing. It is the photographs that form the principal part of this work, connected by an introductory text for each section, but the visual record tells the story. And each photograph is accompanied by a text that does not simply extol the photograph but explains its context. Nothing escapes the keen eye of Tui De Roy, from cacti to iguanas, from penguins to seals, from mockingbirds to tortoises. It is all there.

     Despite the magnificence of the pictures - and they ARE magnificent - I was amused at De Roy's comment about photographing diving seabirds - "But the ideal shot, though seen a million times, still evades me." For most of us lesser mortals we think you have nailed it, Tui!

     In short, this is a fabulous book. And I do not use that word lightly. I may not physically set foot on Galápagos, but I will visit often through the pages of this outstanding photographic record. And you can too!

     Let me leave you with the words of Tui De Roy herself:

          "So I ask, in today's world, can't we truly commit to leaving a few places completely untouched? Is it possible that we could ever be content just observing, appreciating, learning and wondering?"

     I hope so!

A Lifetime in Galápagos

Tui De Roy

Hardcover - US$35.00 - 9780691194998 - 240 pages - 9 1/4" x 11 1/2"

Publication date: 21 July 2020