The Condor's Shadow

I had gotten this book at The Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles many months ago, and all the while it has been patiently sitting on my bookshelf, watching on as I kept buying more and picking out others.

Anyways, I am currently in a phase where I need to read anything regarding natural history, that is, ecology, botany, geology, etc. While I am specifically interested in information related to California, I thought it would be beneficial to revisit my aging tomes and get a good primer on conservation ecology in the US as a whole.

This book attempts to lay out our relationships with nature throughout our history of America. “Our”, in this case, referencing the colonizers of recent Americas and their arrogance wrought upon the lands, as opposed to the “our” of yore of the Indigenous, who in large had a much more harmonious understanding of our environments, their homes.

These relationships are divvied up based on major ecological landscapes that characterize the United States, such as the prairie grasslands, forests, oceans, rivers, etc, which seems a logical way of going about it.

Each chapter dives into what humans have done to the environment and its inhabitants, and it is quite a grim history that is spun. For example, through the actions of our ancestors, we have completely wiped out the Passenger Pigeon from existence. Flocks passing by would instantly transform the day into night, so thick and widespread was the bird, that it is a wonder, initially, to think that this outcome was ever possible. But the author promptly teaches us that perhaps it was due to the immensity of their population that led to their downfall, each death feeding hunting and hubris. The infinite was whittled down to the finite, and by the time we realized, it had slipped away into zero.

It pains one to think about other complete losses of life here and the world beyond, experiences irreversibly stolen from the world and caged forever in fading words. But fortunately, we are also given hope in this penumbra. With time, we are learning more about the world, our role in it, and the complexity that Nature shrouds itself in. As stated previously, there are a couple of bird populations that have been extirpated from the earth. But it seems we should have expected more extinctions in light of the widespread culling of Eastern forests - instead, bird populations have been quite resilient, and many are on the rise again as our forests are healing from centuries of forest harvesting. This message, shining forth in many other places throughout the book, reminds us that not all is lost. We must look forward and work together to protect the denizens of whose homes we have unjustly invaded and razed, which in turn will protect us and harbor a greater societal zenith for the human population we have yet to achieve.

Furthermore, these motifs strewn hither and thither are strengthened by the amount of facts and details I was yearning to learn about. Our destruction, our learning, ecological research and understandings, organizations and influential individuals, it was extremely illuminating to learn about the stories developing through time, the land and us indelibly interwoven. It is important to know all the relevant specifics of a case, so that we may better understand the contexts which have developed into the current context we live in today, and how to utilize this contextual history and develop ourselves to better attain knowledge of who we are, where we are, and what we can do in light of this information.

Thus, it was a pleasure to read every word of the book. I learned so much information, applicable to myself and the world as I hike under the swaying trees, the tender flutes fluttering through the canopy. I stand and take it all in, the dappled specks filtering betwixt the needles and leaves upon my face, pondering upon the flora, fauna, and what my life is in relation to them. I realize I am not separate but integral, and I, we, have no choice in that. It is our duty to appreciate what we have and do everything we can to make the world a better place for everyone, for the birds, the mammals, the trees, the insects, the fish, the mountains, everyone. We are their voices, and we must not ignore their cries.

So yes, the book is very good, especially if you want an introductory primer on the ecological history throughout the climes of the US. Apparently some rated the book lower because it didn’t say much about condors, in which case the metaphor must have flown past them; perhaps reading the subtitle or any other piece of information of the book would have illuminated the shadow they fell into.

I could have provided more fascinating examples, but that is for the reader to unveil. Apologies for rambling passionately about the state of humanity, I like to write at lengths in a grandiloquent manner but at times garish.

In all, a 5/5.

Thanks for reading, dear reader!