Bird Bonds

Author: Gisela Kaplan
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
ISBN: 1760788554
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Book Description
Some Australian native birds become childhood sweethearts and court for years before they get 'married'. Others divorce because of personality clashes and different skill levels. Many negotiate their parenting duties. But how do these personal life events link to long-lasting bonds, long life-spans and exceptional overall intelligence? Professor Gisela Kaplan, an eminent voice in animal behaviour, and particularly bird behaviour, draws on the latest insights in the evolution of particular cognitive and social abilities. She uncovers motivations and attractions in partner choice that are far more complex than was once believed. She shows how humans and birds may be more alike in attachment and mating behaviour than we think - despite the enormous evolutionary distance between us. Based on a wealth of original research and complemented by illustrations and colour photographs, Bird Bonds is a valuable resource and a beguiling insight into the world of the birds around us.

The Nesting Season

Author: Bernd Heinrich
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674061934
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
One of the world’s great naturalists and nature writers, Bernd Heinrich shows us how the sensual beauty of birds can open our eyes to a hidden evolutionary process.

The Bluebird Effect

Author: Julie Zickefoose
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547727429
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 389

Book Description
Julie Zickefoose lives for the moment when a wild, free living bird that she has raised or rehabilitated comes back to visit her; their eyes meet and they share a spark of understanding. Her reward for the grueling work of rescuing birds—such as feeding baby hummingbirds every twenty minutes all day long—is her empathy with them and the satisfaction of knowing the world is a birdier and more beautiful place. The Bluebird Effect is about the change that's set in motion by one single act, such as saving an injured bluebird—or a hummingbird, swift, or phoebe. Each of the twenty five chapters covers a different species, and many depict an individual bird, each with its own personality, habits, and quirks. And each chapter is illustrated with Zickefoose's stunning watercolor paintings and drawings. Not just individual tales about the trials and triumphs of raising birds, The Bluebird Effect mixes humor, natural history, and memoir to give readers an intimate story of a life lived among wild birds.

The Real James Bond

Author: Jim Wright
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780764359026
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An illustrated biography of the ornithologist James Bond, the author of the book Birds of the West Indies and the namesake of Ian Fleming's fictional British spy.

Featherhood

Author: Charlie Gilmour
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501198505
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
“I loved every single page.” —Elton John “The best piece of nature writing since H is for Hawk.” —Neil Gaiman In this moving, critically acclaimed memoir, a young man saves a baby magpie as his estranged father is dying, only to find that caring for the mischievous bird saves him. One spring day, a baby magpie falls out of its nest and into Charlie Gilmour’s hands. Magpies, he soon discovers, are as clever and mischievous as monkeys. They are also notorious thieves, and this one quickly steals his heart. By the time the creature develops shiny black feathers that inspire the name Benzene, Charlie and the bird have forged an unbreakable bond. While caring for Benzene, Charlie learns his biological father, an eccentric British poet named Heathcote Williams who vanished when Charlie was six months old, is ill. As he grapples with Heathcote’s abandonment, Charlie comes across one of his poems, in which Heathcote describes how an impish young jackdaw fell from its nest and captured his affection. Over time, Benzene helps Charlie unravel his fears about repeating the past—and embrace the role of father himself. A bird falls, a father dies, a child is born. Featherhood is the unforgettable story of a love affair between a man and a bird. It is also a beautiful and affecting memoir about childhood and parenthood, captivity and freedom, grief and love.

Thinking like a Parrot

Author: Alan B. Bond
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022624878X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Book Description
From two experts on wild parrot cognition, a close look at the intelligence, social behavior, and conservation of these widely threatened birds. People form enduring emotional bonds with other animal species, such as dogs, cats, and horses. For the most part, these are domesticated animals, with one notable exception: many people form close and supportive relationships with parrots, even though these amusing and curious birds remain thoroughly wild creatures. What enables this unique group of animals to form social bonds with people, and what does this mean for their survival? In Thinking like a Parrot, Alan B. Bond and Judy Diamond look beyond much of the standard work on captive parrots to the mischievous, inquisitive, and astonishingly vocal parrots of the wild. Focusing on the psychology and ecology of wild parrots, Bond and Diamond document their distinctive social behavior, sophisticated cognition, and extraordinary vocal abilities. Also included are short vignettes—field notes on the natural history and behavior of both rare and widely distributed species, from the neotropical crimson-fronted parakeet to New Zealand’s flightless, ground-dwelling kākāpō. This composite approach makes clear that the behavior of captive parrots is grounded in the birds’ wild ecology and evolution, revealing that parrots’ ability to bond with people is an evolutionary accident, a by-product of the intense sociality and flexible behavior that characterize their lives. Despite their adaptability and intelligence, however, nearly all large parrot species are rare, threatened, or endangered. To successfully manage and restore these wild populations, Bond and Diamond argue, we must develop a fuller understanding of their biology and the complex set of ecological and behavioral traits that has led to their vulnerability. Spanning the global distribution of parrot species, Thinking like a Parrot is rich with surprising insights into parrot intelligence, flexibility, and—even in the face of threats—resilience.

Letters from Eden

Author: Julie Zickefoose
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618573080
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
A frequent commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered," Zickefoose now presents paintings of scenes from her beloved southern Ohio home, illuminated in well-crafted essays based on her daily walks and observations.

Birds of the West Indies

Author: James Bond
Publisher: Ishi Press
ISBN: 9784871876476
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Book Description
This book is the only complete identification guide to West Indian birds from Grand Bahama Island in the North to Granada in the South - a tropical north avifaunal region which includes such species as the tiny Bee Hummingbird (only 2 1/2 inches long), parrots, honey-creepers and toadies. For every species (except vagrants, rare winter visitors or transients, listed on pp. 240-3) there are notes on diagnostic characters, local names, voice, habitat, nidification and range. Eighty are illustrated by Don Eckelberry, 56 by Arthur Singer and 186 Black and White by Earl Poole. This book was enlarged to include Arthur Signer's extra plates and the text has been revised again for this edition. This illustrated guide will be a great boon to professional and amateur even traveler with the most casual interest in birds. Mr. Bond's volume is intended for quick reference and is planned to enable the birds of the West Indian islands to be identified with the minimum of trouble and minimum of description. For purposes of identification the plates in this volume could not be bettered.

The Bird Sisters

Author: Rebecca Rasmussen
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307717976
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
In Spring Green, Wisconsin, spinster sisters Milly and Twiss have spent their lives listening to heartbeats and heartaches, nursing birds and the people who bring them back to health. Back in the summer of 1947, Milly and Twiss knew nothing about trying to mend what had been accidentally broken. Milly was known as a great beauty with emerald eyes and Twiss was a brazen wild child who never wore a dress or did what she was told. That was the summer their golf pro father had an accident that cost him both his swing and his charm, and their mother, the daughter of a wealthy jeweler, finally admitted that their hardscrabble lives wouldn't change. It was the summer their priest, Father Rice, announced that God didn't exist and ran off to Mexico, and a boy named Asa finally caught Milly's eye. Most unforgettably, it was also the summer their cousin Bett came down from a town called Deadwater and changed the course of their lives forever. Rebecca Rasmussen's masterful debut novel is full of hope and beauty, heartbreak and sacrifice, love and the power of sisterhood, offering wonderful surprises at every turn.

Bird Love

Author: Wenfei Tong
Publisher:
ISBN: 1782407480
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Book Description
Exploring the sex life of birds and their wide range of fascinating mating and parenting habits, this comprehensive study gives you a detailed insight into bird family life. Discover the amazing array of courtship techniques employed by birds around the world, such as ospreys bringing gifts of food in exchange for sex, male skylarks performing aerial acrobatics to impress females, or long-tailed widowbirds showing off their tails to advertise the quality of their genes. But it's not all about males seeking to impress or dominate females: sex roles can be reversed, and the book includes examples such as the black coucal, whose females leave the males to perform all childcare duties. The essential guide to bird family life, Bird Love is richly illustrated with stunning colour photographs, and regular Backyard Bird boxes in each chapter showcase familiar species from around the world. There is also an index and further reading at the back of the book for those wanting to learn more about the many different species of birds in this book! Bird Love covers a whole host of unique bird mating and parenting habits, from practical to peculiar, and is divided into sections on: Ecology and Mating Systems, Courtship, Nests and Eggs, Raising Chicks, Sex Role Reversals, Group Breeding, Brood Parasitism. From female hornbills who seal themselves in to their tree hollow nests, relying on their mates to deliver food through a narrow slit, to the eclectus parrots of Melanesia, whose females fight each other to secure a home due to the limited availability of nesting spots, and who can if succesful enjoy up to seven mates, this book is filled with wild stories of the lengths birds will go to survive and thrive in the wild. Varying levels of parental care are revealed, from both parents having to provide constant care to allowing an insurance chick to die to ensure at least one survives. And either sex can desert the nest in search of further matings to secure another clutch of chicks and the continuation of their family line. Brood parasitism, where birds such as cuckoos and cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests, takes absentee parenting to the extreme and the book explores how these species have evolved to delegate all parental care. Alongside, it also shows how host species have cleverly developed a wide range of tactics to defend their nests and their own families. This complete guide is the ultimate study in the mating and parenting lives of birds of all kinds, and is the perfect gift for either a seasoned ornithologist or an amateur bird fancier. Stunning photographs accompany the deep scientific knowledge of author Wenfei Tong, making this a must have for anyone interestered in avian life!