Eric Wagner presents 'Seabirds as Sentinels'

Third Place Books welcomes Puget Sound Institute staff writer Eric Wagner to our Lake Forest Park store for a conversation about his new book . Interspersing accounts of research expeditions with inspired science writing, Wagner shows how the health of seabird populations forecasts the health of the Pacific Ocean as a whole.

"Trust Eric Wagner to see the poetry in science—and the future of the ocean in these tenacious and singular seabirds."
—Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction

This event is co-sponsored by the North Cascades Institute, a nonprofit conservation organization working to inspire environmental stewardship through transformative learning experiences in nature. Learn more at ncascades.org.

Tickets are free. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

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This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.

Every spring, thousands of rhinoceros auklets return to Destruction Island off Washington's coast, where they dig burrows, lay eggs, and raise their chicks. Small, gray, and adorned with a curious horn on their bill, these funny-looking birds have become an unlikely but vitally important indicator for the health of oceans and the Pacific ecosystem as a whole.

In Seabirds as Sentinels, Eric Wagner joins a team of scientists who have been tracking the lives of auklets and other seabirds to gauge the effects of climate change in the region. The North Pacific--sometimes called the Blue Serengeti--is one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, supporting salmon, whales, seals, and countless other species, including people. Yet its waters are changing in unprecedented ways. Mass die-offs of birds, hordes of jellyfish blanketing beaches, and the sudden appearance of tropical species all point to an ocean in flux.

Wagner intersperses accounts of research expeditions with deep dives into phytoplankton, forage fish, lighthouses, ocean currents, and other important elements in the Pacific Ocean's tangled ecological web. Readers travel into auklet burrows by fiber-optic camera and witness the eerie arrival of seabirds under cover of night, seeing firsthand how these birds have tried to adapt to widespread environmental upheaval. Weaving together natural history, marine science, and the myriad stories that humans tell about their environments, Seabirds as Sentinels helps us keep a close watch on the uncertain future of the oceans that sustain us all.

Eric Wagner is a staff writer with the Puget Sound Institute at University of Washington, Tacoma, and author of After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events

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