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@samerfarha@mastodon.social
2025-05-30 17:01:06

I finished reading Gísli Pšlsson’s “The Last Of Its Kind” recently, and if you want a great look at the Great Auk and the history of extinction, this book is fascinating, if a bit depressing in the end. Well worth reading, especially if you like to learn more about life in Iceland in the 1800s.

A screenshot from the Libby app of the cover of “The Last of Its Kind”. Is shows a drawing of a penguin-like bird on a blue-gray background with yellow lettering.
I’ve been fascinated with the great auk since stumbling on Todd McGrain’s five foot tall great auk sculpture, part of his Lost Bird Project, on Reykjaness in 2011. The sculpture, a patinated bronze great auk, looks out to sea, towards Eldey, where the last two living great auks were thought to have been killed (there’s credible evidence that great auks were seen later than that date off Newfoundland).