'Of Rare Birds': The painter and writer Anita Albus has written a bird thriller, a fascinating and moving book about extinct and endangered bird species, where natural history and crime report intertwine. Through her painting and writing, she compellingly illustrates that the extinction of species should not only be lamented as a loss of nature, but more importantly, as a loss of culture, because with each lost species, a "world" disappears that has been reflected in the human spirit - in the arts, mythology, and science. Exciting and vivid, provocative and entertaining, this book appeals to both the scientifically curious and the 'naive' bird lover. Another milestone in the remarkable essayistic oeuvre of Anita Albus.