Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds

Journey with Christopher Cokinos to a time when flocks of Passenger Pigeons blocked the sun and Carolina Parakeets colored the sky -- according to one pioneer -- "like an atmosphere of gems.

Driven by a desire to understand the lives of these now-extinct birds and how and why they vanished, Cokinos excavates crumbling newspapers and forgotten reports. From Bird Rock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Louisiana's tangled bayous, he searches for those who loved the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet, and the Labrador Duck; for the people who stalked the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the Heath Hen, and the Great Auk; and for those who tried to save them.

A compelling blend of science, history, politics, and memoir, Hope Is the Thing with Feathers draws on previously unpublished photograph and original documents to make these long-vanished birds come alive. Cokinos delves into the mysterious sighting of Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers in April 1999; the incredible plan to create new Heath Hens on Martha's Vineyard; and the astonishing possibility that these extinct birds could be resurrected through the science of cloning. Published to mark the 100-year anniversary of the shooting of the last wild Passenger Pigeon, Hope Is the Thing with Feathers is a wonderfully textured and ultimately uplifting narrative.