Some of Richie’s stories involve “spirit birds” who inspire characters and stories with wisdom and loveliness beyond the human world and beyond human perspectives.
Story: Species
Cycle of Life: Swainson’s Thrush
River Sun Warblers: Prothonotary Warbler, Brown Thrasher
Injun Joe and Princess Wenonah: Passenger Pigeon
Removal :Peregrine Falcon
The Howls behind the Waves: Tufted Puffin
Otter Jack: Osprey, Steller’s Jay
Indian Pictures: Western Meadowlark
Tide and Sorrow: Raven, Pelagic Cormorant
How the World was Stolen: Western Gull
Creator Bird: Black Oystercatcher
Richie couldn’t have written the stories without the presence of these miraculous bird species in his life. Richie laments that the Passenger Pigeon is already extinct, and all his other “Spirit Birds” and many other species suffer population declines that must be reversed, so they too do not vanish from Earth.
You can read these stories at the Novels, Creation Stories, River Fictions and Coast Fiction tabs on this website.