Rare photographs and engaging text celebrate the endangered spotted owl.

Roosting on the branch of a Douglas-fir or gliding over the forest floor, the spotted owl depends on the stable conditions of the old-growth forest. As these ancient stands are increasingly lost to logging, the spotted owl population is declining precipitously in both Canada and the United States. It most likely will be extirpated in Canada by 2010. In British Columbia, only three breeding pairs and ten single owls remain, and in Washington State, the owls are continuing to decline at a rate faster than predicted by scientists.

This celebration of the spotted owl, with stunning photographs by wildlife photographer Jared Hobbs and an authoritative text by biologist Richard Cannings is a must for anyone who cares about the preservation of nature and the fate of this emblem of the old-growth forest. The very rare photographs capture these nocturnal hunters in midflight with wings spread, peering out of three cavities, or tending to their young. The engaging text by master birder and esteemed biologist Cannings describes the natural history of the owls and the threats to their survival.

Jared Hobbs works as a biologist and a photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia. Since graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1994, Hobbs has worked on many of British Columbia's species at risk, including Spotted Owls, and has recently completed his master's degree studying rattlesnakes. His photographs have appeared in calendars, government publications, and magazines such as Canadian Geographic, Hobo, and British Columbia.

Richard Cannings works as a consulting biologist in Naramata, British Columbia, and teaches field ecology at the University of British Columbia, and works at Bird Studies Canada. He is the author of An Enchantment of Birds, The Rockies: A Natural History, and, with Sydney Cannings, British Columbia: A Natural History. He holds a Master of Science degree in Biology from Memorial University in Newfoundland. He lives in Naramata, British Columbia, Canada.

02/26/07