Christie Palmer Lowrance
As the author of a definitive biography on 20th century naturalist and children’s author, Thornton W. Burgess, Christie Palmer Lowrance was moved to tears in reading his account of watching the last Heath Hen on Martha’s Vineyard, Booming Ben as the Vineyarders named him, emerge alone from scrub brush onto his species’ mating grounds in the final years of the 1920s. This was the sole bird of its kind, without a mate or even a companion to answer his questioning calls.
Burgess was a master storyteller, but the story of the last Heath Hen needed no imaginative touches because Burgess was an eye-witness to the tragic scene. In researching the survey work conducted by biologist Dr. Alfred Gross of Bowdoin College and his invitation to Burgess to join him on the Vineyard, Christie was powerfully struck by the realization that once the last Heath Hen, a male, was captured, his fate was entirely in the hands of those two men who banded and briefly held the bird: They could have the body preserved by taxidermy for future generations to see. They could send him to a zoo to live out his remaining days in captivity. Or they could release him.
Christie comments “That they chose the bird’s freedom will be a relief to readers as it was to me, but that this was Gross and Burgess’ decision alone to make was astonishing. I consulted Mark Madison, senior historian of U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife, was this possible? Yes, he said, in that day, it was. When I was pondering how I could possibly bring this subject of unmitigated loss to a child without causing despair, the book’s final message came to me: we make the effort because life, all life, in its grand and glorious diversity matters. It will always matter. ”
Children are familiar with the threat of extinction, from movies of fearsome dinosaurs to TV ads seeking financial support for endangered tigers. But The Last Heath Hen is a true story about a species of bird that vanished relatively recently on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. This book documents the lengthy and concerted effort to save the Heath Hen made by organizations, institutions, and individuals responsible for conservation. Why did they fail? Let children digest and understand how complicated conservation is: even on this small scale, with a small bird on a small island, the best efforts failed.
“Children learn soon enough the hardship of life,” author Thornton Burgess told critics who chastised him for consistently writing stories in which predators like Reddy Fox never caught prey like Peter Rabbit.
Two rich resources for her Heath Hen research were the Brunswick College Library Archives and Hope Is A Thing With Feathers by Christopher Cokinos. More information was provided by Mass. Audubon ornithologist, Wayne Petersen, and Vineyard authorities, Tom Chase, Linsey Lee, and Bow Van Riper.
Christie will be giving several readings and presentations on her book “The Last Heath Hen” beginning June 7th, 2024. More information on these is available on her website www.christielowrance.com.
The Last Heath Hen is available in both hard cover and paperback at bookstores and through Amazon.
Last Heath Hen Information:
Hard Cover ISBN: 978-0-9985725-6-7
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9985725-7-4
Heath Hen Book Launch Photos
The official launch of Christie’s educational history “The Last Heath Hen: An Extinction Story” took place on June 19, 2024 at Titcomb’s Book Shop in Sandwich, MA. Christie delighted a lawn full of children and adults with her presentation on the actions of well known environmentalist and children’s author, Thornton Burgess and biologist, Alfred Gross, as they worked to save this iconic gamebird species, then documented its last few days.
Christie was surprised as Arnie Carr, a longtime Martha’s Vineyard resident, had brought his family’s preserved heath hen to the launch. The taxidermist mount was set in a glass case a hundred years ago and passed down by Carr’s family.
The Launch party heralded the availability of the Heath Hen book both through bookstores nationwide and on Amazon.
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Christie also gave a talk at the Sandwich, Massachusetts Glass Museum in July of 2024 about the famous environmentalist and book author Thornton Burgess. Click Here to see a video recording.
