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The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet
Survival for migratory birds is a challenge, but the tide is turning.
This is a book about optimism.
Across the world, scientists, conservationists and ordinary people are involved in groundbreaking, wide-reaching work to restore billions of lost birds – tackling the hollowing out of the springtime dawn chorus, and the withering away of once-great migration multitudes.
From a tiny island off the coast of Maine to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, from a hereditary estate in England to the deep Carpathian Mountains in Romania, from the middle of the Canadian boreal forest to a watery wilderness where you can hear the air raid sirens in Ukraine screaming at night, birds' fortunes are being reversed. Threatened bird such as herons and ospreys, peregrine falcons and bald eagles are replenishing at rates previously thought impossible.
From renowned natural history writer Scott Weidensaul, The Return of the Oystercatchers is the uplifting story of how that success means that all those involved are making progress for us, too. Because a world that works for birds, in all their complexity of movement and ecological need, will work for everything else. Including people.
This is a book about optimism.
Across the world, scientists, conservationists and ordinary people are involved in groundbreaking, wide-reaching work to restore billions of lost birds – tackling the hollowing out of the springtime dawn chorus, and the withering away of once-great migration multitudes.
From a tiny island off the coast of Maine to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, from a hereditary estate in England to the deep Carpathian Mountains in Romania, from the middle of the Canadian boreal forest to a watery wilderness where you can hear the air raid sirens in Ukraine screaming at night, birds' fortunes are being reversed. Threatened bird such as herons and ospreys, peregrine falcons and bald eagles are replenishing at rates previously thought impossible.
From renowned natural history writer Scott Weidensaul, The Return of the Oystercatchers is the uplifting story of how that success means that all those involved are making progress for us, too. Because a world that works for birds, in all their complexity of movement and ecological need, will work for everything else. Including people.
502 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publishers Weekly
I like to dip into non-fiction every now and again (especially if it concerns animal in any way), and books like Return of the Oystercatcher continue to reaffirm that decision.
Overall, this is a very compassionate, important, and considerate book that charts the waxing and waning of efforts to conserve bird populations worldwide. Contrary to what the title might suggest, the author involves himself in the recording of the conservation of myriad species, not just the Oystercatcher (which actually only makes a brief appearance in a single chapter). He also ensures every interaction with conservationists is personal and human, so that we the reader can see the real faces behind the wider effort to preserve avian life on this planet.
The book also refuses to shy away from the darker aspects of conservation. For example, in order to protect a couple of endangered Hawaiian seabird species, entire islands need to be wiped clean of invasive species (rats, wild cats, other birds) in exactly the way you’d assume. And, if conservation becomes too successful (which is possible), population control is required in order to prevent the birds from collapsing the ecosystem they live within.
Alongside providing the broad strokes of conservation, Weidensaul also zooms in on smaller, more personal and individual tales. Several examples include the efforts of Knepp Estate and its two owners to rewild its land and protect embattled hen harriers, the innovative methods devised by dedicated conservationists reintroducing breeding puffins to Eastern Egg Rock, and the efforts that go into tracking the movements of a remarkable Laysan albatross that is at least 75 years old (she’s called Wisdom, look her up).
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and appreciated how much fodder for falling into internet rabbit holes it gave me. I haven’t been inspired to google so many different things in a book in a long time.
Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy.
Overall, this is a very compassionate, important, and considerate book that charts the waxing and waning of efforts to conserve bird populations worldwide. Contrary to what the title might suggest, the author involves himself in the recording of the conservation of myriad species, not just the Oystercatcher (which actually only makes a brief appearance in a single chapter). He also ensures every interaction with conservationists is personal and human, so that we the reader can see the real faces behind the wider effort to preserve avian life on this planet.
The book also refuses to shy away from the darker aspects of conservation. For example, in order to protect a couple of endangered Hawaiian seabird species, entire islands need to be wiped clean of invasive species (rats, wild cats, other birds) in exactly the way you’d assume. And, if conservation becomes too successful (which is possible), population control is required in order to prevent the birds from collapsing the ecosystem they live within.
Alongside providing the broad strokes of conservation, Weidensaul also zooms in on smaller, more personal and individual tales. Several examples include the efforts of Knepp Estate and its two owners to rewild its land and protect embattled hen harriers, the innovative methods devised by dedicated conservationists reintroducing breeding puffins to Eastern Egg Rock, and the efforts that go into tracking the movements of a remarkable Laysan albatross that is at least 75 years old (she’s called Wisdom, look her up).
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and appreciated how much fodder for falling into internet rabbit holes it gave me. I haven’t been inspired to google so many different things in a book in a long time.
Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
In times when we are, or should be, making every effort to protect our fragile planet this book focuses on the world’s bird populations and their critical place within the wider world ecosystem. The author captures the hope, the opportunity and the optimism for the future. I enjoyed the geographical spread - New England USA, Knepp Wildland England, the Carpathians Romania and Kaua’i Hawaii to name a few, the many bird species, the historical details, the facts and the statistics.
I love birds myself. I have been enjoying hearing the dawn chorus recently and will always stop to listen when a blackbird is singing in the garden. Birdsong is such a joyful sound. I also love to see Canada geese in formation. So for me, this book was a delight - its detail of the work of recovery, the extraordinary research which the bibliography attests to and, despite the challenges, its positivity for the future.
I love birds myself. I have been enjoying hearing the dawn chorus recently and will always stop to listen when a blackbird is singing in the garden. Birdsong is such a joyful sound. I also love to see Canada geese in formation. So for me, this book was a delight - its detail of the work of recovery, the extraordinary research which the bibliography attests to and, despite the challenges, its positivity for the future.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews