In the Shadow of the Bridge: Birds of the Bay Area [not yet published]

Forthcoming title expected late November 2025. Place a pre-order!
Dick Evans and Hannah Hindley will be at Buteo Books on Friday, December 12. Learn more and RSVP to this author talk here.

More than half of all avian species in the United States can be found in the long shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is here that the 4,000-mile avian superhighway known as the Pacific Flyway, converges. Stretching from Alaska to Patagonia, this massive migratory channel is trafficked by over a billion birds every year, making the greater San Francisco Bay Area one of the most remarkably biodiverse regions for birds, and a destination for bird lovers the world over. In the Shadow of the Bridge: Birds of the Bay Area captures the pockets of wilderness that make these Bay Area cities a birder’s paradise and gives voice to the environmental dilemmas that imperil it.

Featuring over 200 full color photographs by Dick Evans and poetic prose by award-winning writer Hannah Hindley, In the Shadow of the Bridge details the enduring abundance of avian biodiversity of the San Francisco Bay bioregion. A stunning array of native bird species roost among the nutrient-rich waters of the Bay and the sprawling California Delta that feeds it, ecosystems which also attract millions more winged visitors along their migratory journeys every year. This estuary is the largest of the Pacific Coast—and also among the most modified in the nation, causing habitat loss for both local and migratory species. Over the last half century, diminishing terrain combined with other shifting climatic conditions has caused over 3 billion birds to disappear from these skies.

Divided into three sections, Evans and Hindley explore the histories, communities, and complex conservation issues that intersect to make the greater Bay Area a remarkable place for the study of birds, and a potent catalyst for their preservation and protection. Informed and guided by the expertise of Point Blue Conservation Science, a nonprofit leader in climate-smart conservation, Evans and Hindley’s survey of this biodiversity hotspot extends for hundreds of miles in every direction of the Golden Gate Bridge—northward to Russian River, inland to Sacramento, southward to Monterey, and oceanward to the remote Farallon islands, accessible only by conservation scientists. With awe and admiration, the authors delight in the splendor of these winged wonders as well as in the human capacity to care for them.

“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