Tracking an elusive seabird

How did a small, brown, web-footed bird, “a baked potato with a beak,” come to command a $13-million recovery plan by the Fish and Wildlife Service -- a plan that ignited a pitched battle in Humbolt County among conservationists, loggers, ornithologists, landowners and politicians?

First recorded by Capt. James Cook in 1778 in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the feisty “fog lark” remained a mystery for 185 years until birders and scientists finally unraveled its secret life and nesting place.

Maria Mudd Ruth’s engaging, scientific detective story bristles with humor, curiosity, frustration and passion as the accidental naturalist tracks the history of this elusive seabird, which flew from obscurity to star on the endangered species list and, in the process, rescued thousands of acres of old-growth Pacific Coast forest from the logger’s ax.

A fascinating avian odyssey, recounted with ferocity and grace.

-- Susan Dworski