As usual, my reading material pile is growing faster than I can keep up.  Believe it or not, I now have 12 books waiting to be read, and am looking at them in dismay, thinking, “How did I ever let this pile grow to such epic proportions?”  After all, I have had plenty of time on my hands! Now that it is too hot to bird or hike, I have been able to begin tackling “THE PILE”.  The first book on the list was On Thin Ice by Richard Ellis.  I attended a program given by Mr. Ellis at the Explorer’s Club this past winter, which was so interesting and engaging that I immediately booked him for our September program and bought his book.  Although it had taken me some time to get around to reading the book it was worth the wait!  Mr. Ellis is as impressive an author as he is a speaker.

On Thin Ice by Richard Ellis

Polar bears.  Who doesn’t love a polar bear?  Cute, fluffy and roly poly as cubs, majestic and beautiful as adults:  they are the quintessential poster child for wildlife and not many are indifferent to them.  When I picked up this book, I thought I knew all there was to know about ursus maritimus.  After all, bears (especially brown bears) have been my favorite animal since I was 10 and I already own 30 books about these magnificent creatures. As  I dug into this absorbing book, I found myself learning about the long (and for the bear, deadly) relationship between humans and polar bears.   On Thin Ice offers a remarkable glimpse into the life of the polar bear, both past and present.

Ever since man first encountered polar bears, the big white bear has received the short end of the stick.  Unfairly persecuted, hunted and harassed, early explorers killed, maimed and captured bears indiscriminately.  It is painful to read these accounts of the suffering mankind has inflicted on polar bears.   Ellis takes these accounts and stories and weaves them into a sad but intensely interesting timeline of history.  Starting in the year 1056, we journey with Ellis until present day, learning about the natural history of this great bear along the way.  We also learn the detrimental impact climate change is having on polar bears and their habitat.

Globally, there are 19 sub populations of polar bears.   Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland and Norway all are home to these ice bears.  Scientists have studied them for many years and thanks especially to the easily accessible population in Churchill, Alaska there is much we know about the species.

Polar bears are among the largest carnivores on earth, surpassed only by another bear, the Kodiak (Ursus arctos middendorffi), a subspecies of the brown bear.  An adult female can reach 700 pounds, while a male can top the scales at 1500 pounds.   Because they are only found in polar regions, polar bears are superbly adapted to their icy living conditions.  Thick fur, covering even their feet (for traction), along with a layer of blubber (up to 40% of the animals weight can be fat) allows this predator to be the master of its domain and reign supreme at the top of the food chain.  Because their habitat is surrounded by water, these marine bears are excellent swimmers.  On land, they might look large and ungainly, but don’t let that fool you.  Like all bears, polar bears are capable of running at speeds up to 35mph.  Of course, in order to conserve energy and prevent overheating, the bears do not spend their time running about.  When you are the biggest and baddest in the neighborhood, you can afford to relax.  So they spend a lot of time sleeping.  They will wait, immobile, for hours at a breathing hole, biding their time until the precise moment a hapless seal pops out to take a breath.  Then, with one powerful blow of their forepaw, dinner is served.  An adult polar bear is massively muscled, strong and able to haul prey over 600 pounds.  One swipe of that deadly paw can easily kill a 500 pound seal.   Although they will take advantage of other food sources, such as beluga whales, sea birds and their eggs, young walrus and fish, their diet consists mainly of seal.  Two species to be exact: the mainstay, ringed seal and to a smaller degree, bearded seals.

Mating takes place from March through June and the female bear then experiences what is known as delayed implantation.  During this process, the fertilized ovum divides itself several times and then floats freely in the uterus until, after about six months, it reattaches itself to the uterine wall to resume development.  If the bear has had a poor time of it and she has not put on enough fat reserves, the embryo will not implant. Only a pregnant female will hibernate and if the embryo is viable, the cubs will be born in their den between November and January and will stay with their mothers for a couple of years.

Ellis discusses the various populations around the world in great detail.  It is fascinating to learn about the remarkable relationship that many native peoples have with the bear and to learn how human impact, most notably climate change, is pushing the polar bear to the brink.    Because they are dependent on sea ice as a hunting platform, as the polar ice melts into the sea, so does the bear’s ability to successfully hunt.  Polar bears are excellent swimmers, but that is not how they stalk and capture their prey.  They do it by waiting on the ice for the perfect moment to grab their food source as it surfaces to breathe.  Because of ice melt, seals have been forced to move into more inaccessible areas, thereby depriving bears of their prey.  In addition, as our temperature warms, there is less snow for females to dig dens. Currently, there are only about 22,000 bears left in the wild, down about 50% in just 20 years.

After reading this book, I thought about all the "Global Warming Naysayers" out there.  I thought, how can they deny this is happening? The Arctic is one of the regions that will show the results of climate change most rapidly.  It is the perfect petri dish in which to demonstrate what is happening to our planet while the polar bear is an ideal specimen, illustrating with unfortunate clarity what happens to a species when the environment that it was superbly suited for undergoes a swift and severe change. No longer the dominant species in polar regions (for man has taken on that mantle and is thus destroying its habitat, livelihood and future), the polar bear now struggles to survive.

For hundreds of years, we have harassed, killed and conquered this remarkable animal.  What we are inflicting on it now, through our impact on climate, is just the final indignity.  We can change this.  We must change this.  The polar bear is not the only animal on the edge of extinction thanks to climate change.  But, he is surely one of our most well known and beloved and thus, the perfect ambassador for why we need to take action now!  It is not too late, but at the rate we are going, it will not be too long before it is.  This is an important as well as entertaining book and I was captivated by it.  I hope you will be too.

Note:  Richard Ellis will be our September speaker.  Please check our program page for details about the program and to read his biography.  We hope to see you there!

After a whirlwind summer and autumn filled with birding and hiking, I have finally been able to crack the books and start digging into some of the reading material that is starting to pile up in my living room.

I recently finished two very different books and enjoyed them both. The first is Wesley the Owl by Stacy O’Brien, a delightful and remarkable memoir about a barn owl and the woman who was his caretaker for almost 20 years. It is a fascinating look into the mind of an owl and the relationship that can form between two species.

Stacy O’Brien, a biologist, adopted Wesley as a non releasable four day old owlet and lived with him for almost two decades. During that time, they forged an incredible bond, a bond that transcended their interspecies differences. This wonderful memoir is filled with humor, important life lessons, compassion and interesting facts.

Stacey was a research student when she took Wesley home. He, of course, became imprinted on her. Imprinting is when an animal takes its identity from whatever it perceives to be its parent. Many birds of prey in captivity are imprints and as a result, they can never be released into the wild. The danger to humans is too great and the chances of survival without proper training from a raptor parent is slim. Wesley thought of Stacey as his mother, and then his mate. His various sexual overtures towards her are a hoot (sorry, I couldn’t resist) to read about and her discomfort is priceless as she tries to explain Wesley’s “affection” to her professor.

This book carries you through the 19 years that they spent together. Some of it is very funny, and I especially enjoyed reading about Stacey’s various suitors and their reactions to Wesley. Perhaps my favorite anecdote is the one about the night Stacy was feeding wild barn owls and was approached by some rather sketchy characters. As she explained what she was doing, the boys were transformed into assistants as they became excited about her efforts and eagerly helped her out. Proof that education and awareness are key and I would bet that after that experience, every one of those boys developed a little bit of appreciation and compassion towards owls. Just as this book leads us into the mind of Wesley, and teaches us the “Way of the Owl”, these boys’ lives were probably changed for the better that night. Stacy’s life was absolutely changed for the better through her relationship with Wesley.

I think you will adore this book. Sweet, funny, heartbreaking, engaging and informative, you will not be able to put it down!

Switching gears, I also recently finished Birdwatcher, The Life of Roger Tory Peterson and enjoyed that a great deal too. This book is written by Elizabeth Rosenthal and is a terrific and thorough look into the life of Roger Tory Peterson. To me, Peterson was always an abstract and revered figure. Who hasn’t owned a Peterson field guide? It was the first one I owned, a gift from my mother for my 21st birthday, along with my first pair of binoculars. It took me a very long time to actually delve into birding, but I always had my Peterson Field Guide handy if I did need to ID something through the years!

Roger Tory Peterson was born in 1908 in Jamestown, NY. From an early age he was enthralled by birds and nature. In 1934 his Field Guide to the Birds revolutionized the world of birding and he is credited with bringing bird watching to the forefront of American interests. Thanks to his field guides, millions of people now had the tools to go out into the field and definitively identify what they were seeing. His influence and knowledge helped spur a national past time that can now boast over 48 million participants, with one in five Americans stating that they watch birds. This book is so much more than just a narrative about Roger the “birding legend”. What Rosenthal does is tear down the myth and legend and offer us a wonderful glimpse into the real person. His marriages, his relationships with his children, and with others in the field: it is all covered here. The love of nature that had begun as a small child had morphed into a force to be reckoned with. When he died in 1996, at the age of 87, as the father of modern birding, he left behind a lifetime of achievement and had influenced and helped to educate millions of people. This is terrific book and I recommend it!

Life List by Olivia Gentile
This is the story of a woman named Phoebe Snetsinger, who, after a devastating cancer diagnosis, was determined to see as many species of birds in the world as she could. But this book is much more than just a narrative of her life. It also asks the questions: at what point does passion become obsession? At what point do we stop enjoying the experience in pursuit of the goal, and is it ever worth it to allow relationships to suffer in our quest to fulfill our dreams and passion? This book also reminds the reader that life is short and anyone of us, at any time, could suddenly be told we have only limited time left.

Phoebe was a housewife, living a life in which she felt seriously miscast. Stifled in the traditional married lifestyle of the time, she found salvation in birding. A friend brought to her attention a blackburnian warbler and from that moment on, Phoebe was hooked. This blackburnian warbler was Phoebe’s trigger bird and her eyes were opened up to a whole new world, a world to which she could escape the banality of her everyday existence. She joined local birding clubs and might have lived the rest of her life out as “just” an avid birder. However fate had a different plan for Phoebe. At the age of 49 she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just about a year to live.

Therein began the obsession. Determined to see as many species of birds as she could before she died, Phoebe focused on her quest with steely determination and grit. Traveling the world (she was lucky enough to have a sizable inheritance from her wealthy ad agency father), Phoebe defied the doctor’s dire prediction and birded another 18 years. Each passing year, each subsequent battle with the recurring cancer, fired her up with even more determination. Missed family funerals and weddings, along with the near destruction of her marriage, did not slow her down. Even the brutal gang rape she endured while on an expedition did not cause her to skip a beat. With the characteristic stoicism of some rape victims, she brushed the incident under the proverbial rug and carried on.

Ms. Gentile brings a fresh perspective to the world of birding, and it is amusing to read her explanations of lingo that most birders consider part of their everyday language. She neither judges nor places Phoebe on a pedestal; instead she narrates this fascinating woman’s life in a matter of fact manner, leaving it up to the reader to decide if it was all worth it.

For Phoebe, being the first person in the world to see 8,000 birds was absolutely worth it. Worth the heartache, the physical pain, the fractured family relationships. Her quest defined her as a person, and perhaps gave her the will to live on. Or, maybe it was just sheer luck that she lived on for so many more years. Without a doubt, it was the fire that lit her from within and altered her life forever.

We are all living on borrowed time (Phoebe’s own memoir is called “Birding on Borrowed Time”). After reading this book I reflected on my own life, my own dreams and goals. If I was given a death sentence tomorrow, would I regret the things I haven’t done? It helped me to recognize my own restless spirit and I felt a kindred spirit in Phoebe. We all want a life well lived. It is up to us to define what that means to us as individuals. Abe Lincoln said it best: “It is not the years in your life, but the life in your years.”

I think Phoebe reached out, grabbed life by the horns and took it home in a spectacular manner. In the end, it wasn’t cancer that took Phoebe’s life. It was a vehicular accident while she was on a birding expedition. Phoebe died on her own terms, doing what she loved. In the end, she died with her boots on. Or, in this case, her binoculars.

I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it to non birders and birders alike. I also recommend a visit to the book’s website oliviagentile.com. The introduction is filled with gorgeous bird illustrations with such fun music that I find myself viewing it over and over!!!