by Elissa J. Hoffman

Congratulations to Katie Fallon on her new book, “Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird!” It will be released by Ruka Press on October 18th in paperback and Kindle e-book editions. The book has gotten high praise from writers such as Scott Weidensahl and David Gessner, and Katie dubbed “a rising star among contemporary nature writers.”

Katie first became interested in the cerulean blue warbler about ten years ago when, as a graduate student here in creative nonfiction, she attended a talk about mountaintop removal’s effect on forest birds. She learned how the numbers of cerulean warblers have been declining rapidly, at 3% per year, the population now 80% smaller than in 1966. However, the estimated population of 300,000 is still considered too large for the tiny 9 gram bird to be granted either endangered or threatened status. Haunted by its plight, Katie began studying the cerulean warbler and the links between human action and the decline of a species.

Multiple ecological problems impact the cerulean warbler’s survival. Katie’s research led her throughout Appalachia and finally to The Third Annual Cerulean Warbler Summit in Bogota, held, interestingly, at the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers headquarters, the group of “Juan Valdez” fame. Why there? Because the loss of forest habitat to non-shade-grown coffee production in South America is destroying the winter habitat of cerulean warblers in the Northern Andes. And the Juan Valdez Federation says “We do not want to be known as the destroyers of birds.” The cerulean warbler also faces problems on its migratory routes from resort development in the Yucatan Peninsula and worsening storms over the Gulf of Mexico. And, as Katie learned from the start, mountaintop removal mining deals yet another blow to hopes for the preservation of this songbird, for 80% of the cerulean warbler global population breeds in central Appalachia, with about 30% breeding in West Virginia. This beautiful but elusive bird lives among us in areas such as Coopers Rock, Wetzel County, and the New River Gorge. Katie hopes her book will keep the cerulean warbler in the public eye. And I’m sure it will!

For more information about Cerulean Blues visit Amazon.