Marina Richie, author of Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher, examines the birds of Cascadia, where she lives. The Marbled Murrelet is possibly the most mysterious of all the bird species she covers.
The Marbled Murrelet is a seabird that nests in trees, a fact that was unknown until the 1970s. Richie blends ornithology, conservation, and refugia with personal memories of growing up in wild spaces.
The daughter of two scientists, Richie often lived in or near National Parks, a fact that clearly inspired her work in conservation and nature writing. Throughout the book, Richie develops an extended analogy between birds and forests, linking the forests’ overstory, midstory, and understory to layers of bird plumage.
Just as a bird regrows feathers after its molt, the forest has its own way of renewing itself. Forest fires, both natural and man-made, attract new life--fire beetles and woodpeckers. Richie writes about the natural world’s complexity in a way that inspires and comforts, offering hope even as she discusses difficult environmental truths, e.g., declining natural habitats.