**Florida Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award
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A portrait of a species on the brink
The only bird species that lives exclusively in Florida, the Florida
scrub-jay was once common across the peninsula. But as development over
the last 100 years reduced the habitat on which the bird depends from 39
counties to three, the species became endangered. With a writer's eye
and an explorer's spirit, Mark Walters travels the state to report on
the natural history and current predicament of Florida's flagship bird.
Tracing the millions of years of evolution and migration that led to the
development of songbirds and this unique species of jay, Walters
describes the Florida bird's long, graceful tail, its hues that blend
from one to the next, and its notoriously friendly manner. He then
focuses on the massive land-reclamation and canal-building projects of
the twentieth century that ate away at the ancient oak scrub heartlands
where the bird was abundant, reducing its population by 90 percent.
Walters also investigates conservation efforts taking place today. On a
series of field excursions, he introduces the people who are leading the
charge to save the bird from extinction--those who gather for annual
counts of the species in fragmented and overlooked areas of scrub; those
who relocate populations of scrub-jays out of harm's way; those who
survey and purchase land to create wildlife refuges; and those who
advocate for the prescribed fires that keep scrub ecosystems inhabitable
for the species.
A loving portrayal of a very special bird, Florida Scrub-Jay is also a
thoughtful reflection on the ethical and emotional weight of protecting
a species in an age of catastrophe. Now is the time to act, says
Walters, or we will lose the scrub-jay forever.
