Blog Archives
Endangered Hummingbirds: Seeing the Crisis Through My Lens
Anthony Lujan’s Endangered Hummingbirds: Seeing the Crisis Through My Lens is part visual record, part conservation primer, and part personal witness statement. It moves from the broad ecological reality, including the sobering fact that most hummingbird species are now trending in the wrong direction, into intimate portraits of birds living at the edge of disappearance, then outward again into habitat loss, climate pressure, invasive species, restoration work, technology, and public action. What gives the book its shape is that constant braid of beauty and precarity. A Chilean Woodstar flashing purple in a wash of yellow bloom, a Juan Fernández Firecrown stranded on an island with no alternate refuge, a Short-crested Coquette made suddenly real through photographs that refuse to let it remain an abstraction. It’s a book about crisis, yes, but also about attention, and the moral weight of truly looking.
Lujan is openly invested, and that conviction gives the work its pulse. The early poem and dedication could have tipped the whole thing into sentimentality, but for me they mostly set the emotional terms honestly: this is a book written by someone who has stood in these habitats and felt alarm harden into responsibility. When he writes about the Chilean Woodstar being displaced by the more aggressive Peruvian Sheartail, or about the Short-crested Coquette surviving in increasingly isolated fragments of forest, the facts land with extra force because they’re tethered to lived urgency. Even the rediscovery chapter carries that same ache. The Santa Marta Sabrewing, the Blue-bearded Helmetcrest, the Dusky Starfrontlet are not framed as triumphant miracles so much as fragile reprieves, and that restraint is one of the book’s real strengths. It understands that being found again isn’t the same thing as being safe.
The prose is clear and direct, especially in the explanatory chapters, and the argument is presented with a candor that gives the book a real sense of integrity. The best passages are the ones where the language tightens and the imagery does some of the thinking, as when climate change becomes a matter of flowers blooming too early, mountain species “running out of mountain,” or a single storm season undoing years of recovery on an island. I also liked that the book’s ideas stay grounded. It doesn’t drift into vague environmental piety. It keeps returning to specifics: mangroves cut for development, eucalyptus and invasive shrubs reshaping habitat, acoustic monitoring and climate modeling helping conservationists see risk sooner, local communities being essential rather than ornamental to the work. That practical streak kept my admiration from becoming merely aesthetic.
The photographs are stunning throughout, with high-resolution images that catch hummingbirds in midflight. The photographs are gorgeous, obviously, but the book’s better idea is that beauty alone isn’t enough unless it changes the terms of attention.
It’s a deeply sincere and often striking book, and its sincerity matters because the subject itself resists polish. Lujan has made something that feels less like a glossy celebration of hummingbirds than a record of witness under pressure. I finished it with a sharper sense of how thin the margin has become for some of these species, and with respect for the way the book insists that care must become action. I’d recommend it most to readers who love birds, wildlife photography, or conservation writing, and also to anyone who wants an accessible, emotionally engaged entry into what biodiversity loss actually feels like up close.
Pages: 166 | ASIN : B0GL797RDP
A Champion for Nature
Raccoons Go Rafting follows a group of mischievous and adventurous raccoons as they go on a rafting trip over the summer. What was the inspiration for your story?
This summer “tail” is based on my adventures as a NYS Whitewater Raft Guide on the Hudson River. The raccoons featured in Raccoons Go Rafting (RGR) are based on guide friends I formed amazing friendships with. Nugget was the nickname I was given on the water by Bandit, the rascally red-vested raccoon. In real life, Bandit was the one who taught me how to raft!
The art in this book is vibrant and entertaining, making readers wish they were right there on the river with the raccoons. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Anthony Richichi?
I have been very fortunate that the indie publisher, Saratoga Springs Publishing (SSP), has such talented illustrators available to her authors! While in the storyboarding process with SSP, we realized that RGR needed an illustrator with a passion for nature and animals as well as a sense of adventure. Anthony possesses all of those traits! During our collaborations, it was amazing to see my stick figure raccoons turn into the adorable furry adventurers featured on the pages of RGR.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
In my debut book, I wanted the Hudson River’s beauty and strength to shine. As a guide, I fell in love with the River and the animals that call it home, therefore I wanted to create an engaging and educational picture book that could grow with young readers. On the first read, this “tail” is very vibrant with short bursts of text but on your second, third, and later reads the different rapids and animals within the pages start to pop. The call of conservation as seen on the map’s signs “Take only memories” and “Leave only pawprints” is another aspect that I like to expand on during my author readings. It is very important that our youth begin to not only experience and fall in love with our vibrant Earth; our youth must also become active in conservation so that they can continue to be a champion for nature as they grow up.
What future adventures do readers have to look forward to with these mischievous raccoons, and when can they expect the next story?
This gang of raccoon friends isn’t done exploring yet! The Raccoons Go Rafting series will be expanding this summer with a trip down the Sacandaga River! This new adventure, Raccoons Ride the Dragonback, will be splashing onto shelves later this summer. Nugget and her friends still have many other river adventures ahead of them with the Moose River, Niagara Falls, and even rivers outside of Nugget’s home state, New York, on their TBR (standing for To Be Rafted) list! Follow our adventures on Facebook for the inside scoop!
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Amazon
