In the Shadow of the Bridge - by Dick Evans (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Experience the wild beauty of birds around the Bay.

"Gives voice to a piece of California that nourishes an astonishing array of birds who deserve celebration." --Chris Johns, Former Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic

Having explored San Francisco neighborhoods in three celebrated books, Dick Evans turns here to the avian species that call the Bay Area home. With his photographer's eye, he finds art and drama in the lives of birds, from the smallest sparrows to long-legged Great Blue Herons. He captures the pockets of wilderness in our cities that make the area a birder's paradise: from a marsh full of endangered birds wading in the reeds near the Oakland Airport to the isolated refuge of the Farallon Islands, home to a quarter-million seabirds and a handful of visiting scientists; from Crissy Field, flocked with egrets, to the pasturelands birds share with cattle. His vibrant images are interspersed with text by Hannah Hindley that weaves us more deeply into relationship with our avian neighbors, introducing readers to the natural history of the region, to themes of interdependence and ecology, and to the evolving challenges for birds in a densely settled urban environment. At the heart of these images and stories is love for the living descendants of dinosaurs as they soar and parade, and awe at their ephemerality and endurance. Evans's photos highlight the wonder of a world on the wing and the rich biodiversity of Bay Area birds.

Review Quotes

"Anchored by Hannah Hindley's liquid and radiant prose, the portfolio of Dick Evans attains something transcendent. His photography isn't just about birds, it is about grace in evolution, its diversity, and its poetry." --Obi Kaufmann, author of The California Field Atlas and the California Lands Trilogy

"A celebration not only of the wonderful and varied birds of the Bay Area but also of the collaborative efforts to study and protect them. Photographer Dick Evans and essayist Hannah Hindley have beautifully captured the wonder and mystery of birds, the fascinating research to better understand them, and the joy of birding itself." --Wayne Klockner, Executive Director, American Birding Association

"In the Shadow of the Bridge is a spectacular book, capturing the dance of light and color that can only be seen on the feathers of a bird. The Bay Area is a truly astonishing place for birds, and this photographic compendium celebrates its diversity of species, habitats, and behaviors in crystalline detail. From the mundane to the extraordinary, every scene in this book tells a story of wild beauty, patience, and discovery." --John P. Dumbacher, Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Institute of Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences

"As graceful and impressive as the Golden Gate Bridge is, the natural world it spans is even more enchanting. This is the bay Dick Evans is drawn to and cannot turn away from. With his camera in hand, he seeks birds who grace air, sea and shore--from elegant Snowy Egrets to cartoonish Hooded Mergansers--as they thrive in a scene like no other. Dick's passion for this place where ocean meets land is shared by Hannah Hindley whose words are as powerful as Dick's photographs. Together they create a book, In the Shadow of the Bridge, that gives voice to a piece of California that nourishes an astonishing array of birds who deserve celebration." --Chris Johns, Former Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic

"In the Shadow of the Bridge beautifully weaves the lives of Bay Area birds into the region's natural and urban landscapes, revealing how their presence shapes our sense of place. With lyrical prose and vivid observation, it celebrates the resilience, grace, and enduring connection between birds and the dynamic environment they inhabit." --Glenn Phillips, Executive Director, Golden Gate Bird Alliance

About the Author

Dick Evans became interested in photography as a graduate student at Stanford University and continued his practice throughout a forty-seven-year career in the global metals industry that took him all over the world. San Francisco always remained home base, though, and he now lives in the city with his wife, Gretchen. Evans is the author or coauthor of the photography books San Francisco and the Bay Area: The Haight-Ashbury Edition, The Mission, and San Francisco's Chinatown.

Hannah Hindley is a wilderness guide and the recipient of the Thomas Wood Award in Journalism, the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, and the Barry Lopez Prize in Nonfiction. She graduated from Harvard with degrees in English and evolutionary biology; she holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from University of Arizona. Her environmental essays can be found in Bay Nature, The Sun, Hakai, and more. Hannah writes about small creatures, big landscapes, and the scientists who love them.

Mary Ellen Hannibal is an award-winning environmental author of five books including The Spine of the Continent and Citizen Scientist, and frequent writer for many publications, including the New York Times and Science. She also teaches at the California College of the Arts and the Fromm Institute in San Francisco. She is a creator and writer of "Nature in the City," a spatio-temporal map of San Francisco, which synthesizes more than 40 maps of the terrain and tells stories of change over time. She has received an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship and a Stanford University Media Fellowship, and received the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science and Society Award and Stanford University's Knight-Risser Prize.