Review of "Endangered Hummingbirds" by Anthony Lujan

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

Some books wow us with their writing. Some books wow us with their illustrations. Other books, like Endangered Hummingbirds by Anthony Lujan, wow us with their passion and purpose.

Endangered Hummingbirds: Seeing the Crisis Through My Lens is a very special book, shining a light on some of the most fragile, dazzling, and heartbreakingly overlooked birds on Earth. It features breathtaking photography from Lujan, brought together through a monumental effort by the author/photographer via his excursions in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.

And let us just say it: that effort shows. It's painstaking!

Lujan's passion oozes from the pages. It's contagious!

This is not the kind of book you throw together from a few decent snapshots and a vague appreciation for birds. This is a labor-intensive, heart-driven, deeply intentional project. Anthony Lujan is not just presenting hummingbirds as pretty little flashes of color. He is presenting them as living jewels under threat, tiny marvels of creation whose survival is far less secure than many readers probably realize.

That is what gives the book its punch.

The photography is excellent, of course. It had to be. A book like this lives or dies in part by whether the images can stop you in your tracks, and many of these do. Hummingbirds already have an almost unreal quality to them. They look like mythical creatures disguised as wildlife, all iridescence, precision, speed, and attitude. Lujan captures that beauty well. But what makes the photography meaningful is that it is attached to a cause bigger than aesthetics. These images are not merely attractive. They are persuasive. They are asking you to look, and then asking you not to look away.

That is a different thing entirely.

Every other page of this book is like the cover of a wildlife calendar! There are dazzling photographs of hummingbirds in mid-flight, their wings flared and outstretched. There are adorable photographs of the hummingbirds in perched, humming, and in mid-song.

Some of our favorites include the Vervain Hummingbird (with its right-foot raised as if waving hello), the Marvelous Spatuletail (with its one-of-a-kind split wings, like something out of a sci-fi movie), and the White-tailed Sabrewing (with wings like a stealth fighter). You also get heartwarming images of the hummingbirds feeding on nectar from flowers, which is highlighted throughout the book as necessary for their survival.

How could you not be emotionally compelled by these incredible creatures after seeing these photographs? A picture is truly worth a thousand words, and the author/photographer understands this.

We appreciated that the book does not simply celebrate hummingbirds in the abstract. It narrows its focus to endangered species and conservation concerns, which gives the project real specificity and urgency. That matters. A broad hummingbird photography book could still be lovely, sure, but this one has a sharper soul. It is not content to admire. It wants to alert. It wants to awaken. It wants to preserve.


And honestly, that gives the whole work a faint ache beneath the beauty.

Every especially gorgeous image here carries a kind of shadow meaning. You are not just looking at a marvelous bird. You are, in some cases, looking at a creature whose habitat is shrinking, whose population is declining, and whose future depends on people caring quickly enough and seriously enough. That tension between wonder and warning gives the book emotional resonance. It stops this from feeling like a simple nature gallery and turns it into something more memorable.

We also liked the spirit behind it. Lujan comes across as sincere. Invested. Burdened by the subject in the right way. This does not read like someone hopping onto an environmental theme because it sounds noble or marketable. It feels like the work of someone who spent real time in the field, real time behind the lens, and real time thinking about what these birds represent. There is affection here, yes, but also concern. Reverence. Advocacy. That combination works.

Another plus is accessibility. Conservation-related books can sometimes get bogged down in technical language, dense data presentation, or a tone so clinical that the emotional significance evaporates. This book appears to understand that if you want people to care, you have to connect with them first. Beauty is the doorway. Concern is the next room. Action is the hoped-for destination. That is a smart structure.

Lujan does a very good job at explaining the difference between terms like extinct, endangered, and critically endangered. He identifies many of the major threats to different hummingbirds. For example, he highlights how habitat loss, agricultural expansion, and land development can devastate species with already narrow ranges. The Chilean Woodstar is a particularly sad case, not only because its habitat has been reduced so severely, but because it also faces added pressure from competition with the more aggressive Peruvian Sheartail. In other words, some of these birds are not just fighting one problem. They are getting hit from multiple directions at once.

The Juan Fernández Firecrown is another especially memorable example. Because it exists in such an isolated island environment, it is extraordinarily vulnerable to invasive species, habitat degradation, and predation. That is one of the recurring strengths of this book: it helps readers understand that the more specialized and geographically limited a species is, the less room it has for error. A slight ecological shift for us can be catastrophic for them.

Lujan also does a strong job discussing climate change without making the material feel abstract or detached. He explains how shifting flowering cycles can disrupt food availability, how elevation changes can squeeze species into shrinking habitat zones, and how extreme weather events can hit already vulnerable hummingbird populations even harder. That kind of material helps give the book substance. It is not just emotional. It is informative.

We also found the sections on pollution, pesticides, competition, and predation worthwhile. These chapters reinforce the uncomfortable truth that conservation problems rarely come one at a time. A hummingbird population may be dealing with contaminated water, degraded plant life, invasive competitors, and predators all at once, all while climate conditions continue changing around them. That cumulative pressure is part of what makes the situation so serious.

And then there is the emotional side of the book, which should not be overlooked. Lujan is not writing like a detached observer peering down from an academic tower. He writes like someone who has seen beauty up close and feels a genuine ache over what is happening to it. That gives the book warmth. It gives it humanity. It also keeps the conservation message from feeling sterile.

We especially appreciated that the book is not all doom and gloom. There are sections that touch on rediscovered species, conservation programs, habitat restoration, and local and international efforts to protect these birds. That matters, because a book like this needs some sense of hope. Otherwise, readers may leave impressed but defeated. Lujan wisely gives us reasons to care and reasons to believe that caring still matters.

The message resounds throughout this book:

"...awareness is the first step, and silence is how species disappear."

"Rediscovery opens a door, but only active protection keeps it from closing."

"Rediscovery gives us a second chance, but a second chance means nothing if the conditions that caused the decline remain the same. Protecting these hummingbirds is the only way to ensure that they are not lost again."

“Their survival depends on more than just research and policy. It depends on awareness, which grows when people can see what they stand to lose. Photography gives these species a voice when their numbers are too small to speak.”

“Awareness matters. Public engagement is important. When people understand what is at stake, they contribute, advocate, and push for decisions that make a difference.”

By shining a light on these remarkable creatures, helping the public to discover/rediscover them, and raising awareness, the author is helping open doors toward saving these precious birds for years, decades, and centuries to come.

Check it out on Amazon!