As the Condor Soars
Susan M. Haig, Daniel D. Roby, and Tashi A. Haig
Illustrations by Ram Papish. Foreword by John A. Wiens.
As recently as the 1970s, few dared imagine that Oregon would ever welcome back the majestic California Condor. Nobody would have predicted record numbers of Snowy Plovers on the coast. Oregon’s raptors and fish-eating birds were almost decimated. Yet, thanks to Oregon’s ornithologists, the birds are returning. As the Condor Soars presents a series of engaging essays about the efforts these scientists have made, and continue to make, to reduce the decline of Oregon’s bird species and restore their habitats.
As the Condor Soars focuses on the role that ornithologists have played in research, management, and conservation across the state over the past century. Contributors to this volume discuss new developments in the study of birds, from sophisticated tracking devices to the evolving connections between ornithologists and artists. Readers also learn about the important role of citizen scientists in saving our treasured birds. These essays convey that there is hope for species recovery—despite environmental threats— when scientists and the public work together. They also offer to other regions examples of adaptive management learned through these efforts.
This full-color book is beautifully illustrated by noted Oregon artist Ram Papish and includes over eighty stunning photographs by some of the state’s finest nature photographers. Fifty capsule biographies of noted avian scientists round out the inspirational stories about the monumental efforts that have taken shape in recent decades. Accessibly written for scientists and laypeople alike, As the Condor Soars is a gift to everyone who cares about the conservation and restoration of Oregon’s birds.
About the author
Susan M. Haig is a professor of wildlife ecology at Oregon State University and retired senior scientist at the US Geological Survey’s Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center in Corvallis, Oregon and a long-time research associate of the Smithsonian Institution. She is one of four women to have achieved the rank of Senior Scientist (ST) in USGS and was the first woman wildlife faculty member at OSU. She is a former president of the American Ornithologists’ Union and former president of the Audubon Society of Corvallis. She and her graduate students have studied endangered species in Micronesia, Brazil, Australia, etc., and in Oregon have worked on Spotted Owls, Snowy Plovers, California Condors, and many wetland species across the state.
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Daniel D. Roby is a professor of wildlife ecology (retired) at Oregon State University and the the former leader-wildlife for the US Geological Survey’s Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Corvallis, Oregon. He is an internationally renowned seabird biologist and has worked on seabird physiological ecology and conservation in Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland, and China, among other places. In Oregon, his lab group has focused on research, conservation, and management of Caspian Terns, Double-crested Cormorants, and other fish-eating colonial waterbirds. He has served as chair of the Pacific Seabird Group and has been awarded for his research and conservation efforts by the American Ornithologists’ Union and the Pacific Seabird Group.
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Tashi A. Haig Tashi A. Haig is the Coordinator of Programs and Partnerships at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. She is a recent graduate of Lawrence University where she studied the relationships between art and religion, principally in Nepal. Tashi specializes in translating complex cultural concepts to children of various backgrounds and traditions. She has been on a number of ornithological expeditions with her aunt, Susan Haig, in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America, among others places. She was responsible for developing the 50+ biographies in As The Condor Soars. She previously authored the children’s book, Aislinn’s Tale: The Broken Pact.
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