The Great Auk PG25 But before he accepted the

But before he accepted the inevitable

and within them was imprisoned the last Light of the Two Trees of Valinor

When he was a struggling writer in his twenties

which tirelessly works to nourish and empower communities through sustainable farming

the butterflies in his tummy get bigger and bolder – they even flutter right up to his throat

The Great Auk PG25 But before he accepted theThe life, death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction, the Great Auk The great auk was a flightless, goose sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea. Fat, flush with feathers and easy to capture, the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once remote breeding colonies. Places like Funk Island, off north east Newfoundland, became scenes of unimaginable slaughter, with birds killed in their millions. By 1800 the auks of