Part of the new Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series, this accessible, handsomely illustrated guide to Aotearoa New Zealand's native bird species has wide appeal. Native Birds of Aotearoa describes sixty of our most interesting species - forest, garden, wetland, coastal, alpine and marine birds - reflecting the range of subtropical, temperate and subantarctic habitats across our islands. Written by Birds New Zealand editor, Michael Szabo, and with an introduction by Te Papa Curator Vertebrates, Alan Tennyson, it is published in collaboration with Birds New Zealand. Native Birds includes ornithologist notes on each species and insights into the museum's fieldwork and collections. Charming original illustrations from the 1930s have been complemented in the same style by illustrator Pippa Keel.

This book is a result of the authors' more than 40 years of study on the behavior, populations, and heavy metals in the colonial waterbirds nesting in Barnegat Bay and the nearby estuaries and bays in the Northeastern United States. From Boston Harbor to the Chesapeake, based on longitudinal studies of colonial waterbirds, it provides a clear picture of the toxic trends and effects of heavy metals in the aquatic environment. The authors take a food web, ecosystem approach to contaminants, using population dynamics, habitat selection, and inputs to the bay to examine metal levels. They also look at the human dimension, discuss what metals in birds tell us about human exposure, and describe stakeholder involvement in these issues. The book covers numbers and dynamics, colony sites and locations, and prey contaminant levels, and compares them to other comparable coastal estuaries. It uses colonial waterbirds as the focal point for an ecosystem approach to metals that begins with prey fish and goes through invertebrates to humans. Additionally, it provides information based on long-term integrative studies the authors have done on metal levels and bird species and compares the findings with data from the Harbor Estuaries Program, other Northeast bays, the Great Lakes, and the Wadden Sea.

For ten months of the year, the prairiechicken's drab colors allow it to disappear into the landscape. However, in April and May this grouse is one of the most outrageously flamboyant birds in North America. Competing with each other for the attention of females, males gather before dawn in an explosion of sights and sounds-"booming from the mists of nowhere," as Aldo Leopold wrote decades ago. There's nothing else like it, and it is perilously close to being lost. In this book, ecologist Greg Hoch shows that we can ensure that this iconic bird flourishes once again. Skillfully interweaving lyrical accounts from early settlers, hunters, and pioneer naturalists with recent scientific research on the grouse and its favored grasslands, Hoch reveals that the prairiechicken played a key role in the American settlement of the Midwest. Many hungry pioneers regularly shot and ate the bird, as well as trapping hundreds of thousands, shipping them eastward by the trainload for coastal suppers. As a result of both hunting and habitat loss, the bird's numbers plummeted to extinction across 90 percent of its original habitat. Iowa, whose tallgrass prairies formed the very center of the greater prairiechicken's range, no longer supports a native population of the bird most symbolic of prairie habitat. The steep decline in the prairiechicken population is one of the great tragedies of twentiethcentury wildlife management and agricultural practices. However, Hoch gives us reason for optimism. These birds can thrive in agriculturally productive grasslands. Careful grazing, reduced use of pesticides, wellplaced wildlife corridors, planned burning, higher plant, animal, and insect diversity: these are the keys. If enough blocks of healthy grasslands are scattered over the midwestern landscape, there will be prairiechickens-and many of their fellow creatures of the tall grasses. Farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and citizens can reverse the decline of grassland birds and insure that future generations will hear the booming of the prairiechicken.

During the nineteenth century, Britain maintained a complex network of garrisons to manage its global empire. While these bases helped the British to project power and to secure trade routes, they served more than just a strategic purpose. During their tours abroad, many British officers engaged in formal and informal scientific research. In this ambitious history of ornithology and empire, Kirsten A. Greer tracks British officers as they moved around the world, just as migratory birds traversed borders from season to season. Greer examines the lives, writings, and collections of a number of ornithologist-officers, arguing that the transnational encounters between military men and birds simultaneously shaped military strategy, ideas about race and masculinity, and conceptions of the British Empire. Collecting specimens and tracking migratory bird patterns enabled these men to map the British Empire and the world, and therefore to exert imagined control over it. Through its examination of the influence of bird watching on military science and soldiers' contributions to ornithology, Red Coats and Wild Birds remaps empire, nature, and scientific inquiry in the nineteenth-century world.

Designed for beginning birders and nature enthusiasts alike, this easy-to-use guide presents sixty-one of the most common species of birds in the greater Atlanta area.

The guide features large color photographs throughout for immediate identification and is conveniently organized by bird size, starting with very small birds, such as the ruby-throated hummingbird, and progressing to larger species, such as the great blue heron. Information for each bird species includes common and scientific names, distinguishing marks and characteristics, and descriptions of bird calls, typical habitats, and nesting and feeding behaviors. Accounts also show variations in plumage according to sex, age, and season. The perfect companion for every backyard birder, "Common Birds of Greater Atlanta" also serves as an excellent introduction to birding, bird identification, and conservation.

Renowned for their dazzling plumages and elaborate courtship displays, birds of paradise and bowerbirds exhibit some of the most astonishing behaviors in the natural world. Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds is the ultimate identification guide to these marvelous birds. This beautiful book features stunning color plates that depict all 108 recognized taxa in these two groups along with more than 200 color photos that showcase a broad range of racial and age-related plumage varieties. The comprehensive text covers identification, taxonomy, and ecology, and is accompanied by detailed distribution maps. Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds is the product of more than two decades of research and field observations, and is a must-have guide for birders, ornithologists, and anyone interested in these sensational birds. The ultimate identification guide to these marvelous birds of New Guinea and Australia Features stunningly illustrated color plates that depict all 108 recognized taxa Covers identification, taxonomy, and ecology Includes hundreds of color photos and detailed distribution maps Based on more than two decades of research and original field observations

The ultimate illustrated field guide to the birds of Argentina and the islands of the South-west Atlantic Argentina is one of South America's premier birding destinations, encompassing a range of habitats-from rainforests and pampas grasslands to the wetlands of the Ibera and the wilderness of Tierra del Fuego. Surprisingly, despite the strong interest in Argentina's rich avian population, the country has until now lacked a credible, modern field guide to its birds. Authoritative and up-to-date, Birds of Argentina and the South-west Atlantic provides detailed species accounts, a plethora of distribution maps, and close to 200 stunning color plates illustrating every species and many distinct plumages and subspecies. This essential book will satisfy researchers, birders, and conservationists alike. The only up-to-date English-language guide to the birds of Argentina and the islands of the South-west Atlantic More than 2,300 images illustrate 1,075 species, including all residents, migrants, and vagrants Close to 200 color plates depict every species and many distinct plumages and subspecies, including 28 endemics and 17 near-endemics Key identification features and plentiful distribution maps

Having both and Atlantic and a Mediterranean coastline, Frances diverse habitats support over 570 species of resident and migratory birds. The vast wetlands at Carmargue are one of the top spots in the world to view flamingoes! This beautifully illustrated guide highlights over 140 familiar and unique species and includes a map featuring prominent bird-viewing areas. Laminated for durability, this lightweight, pocket-sized folding guide is an excellent source of portable information for anyone interested in birds, and is ideal for field use by residents and visitors alike. Made in the USA.www.waterfordpress.com

What draws us to the beauty of a peacock, the flight of an eagle, or the song of a nightingale? Why are birds so significant in our lives and our sense of the world? And what do our ways of thinking about and experiencing birds tell us about ourselves? "Birdscapes" is a unique meditation on the variety of human responses to birds, from antiquity to today, and from casual observers to the globe-trotting "twitchers" who sometimes risk life, limb, and marriages simply to add new species to their "life lists."

Drawing extensively on literature, history, philosophy, and science, Jeremy Mynott puts his own experiences as a birdwatcher in a rich cultural context. His sources range from the familiar--Thoreau, Keats, Darwin, and Audubon--to the unexpected--Benjamin Franklin, Giacomo Puccini, Oscar Wilde, and Monty Python. Just as unusual are the extensive illustrations, which explore our perceptions and representations of birds through images such as national emblems, women's hats, professional sports logos, and a Christmas biscuit tin, as well as classics of bird art. Each chapter takes up a new theme--from rarity, beauty, and sound to conservation, naming, and symbolism--and is set in a new place, as Mynott travels from his "home patch" in Suffolk, England, to his "away patch" in New York City's Central Park, as well as to Russia, Australia, and Greece.

Conversational, playful, and witty, "Birdscapes" gently leads us to reflect on large questions about our relation to birds and the natural world. It encourages birders to see their pursuits in a broader human context--and it shows nonbirders what they may be missing.

This book presents the facet theoretical framework as a tool for facilitating the conception of complex animal behaviour research and the design of research procedures through employing mapping sentences. Using the facet theoretical framework, this book takes a holistic view of bird behaviour. Components of bird behavior are identified and then reassembled to facilitate an understanding of the behaviour in the context of its natural occurrence. This provides new insight on both the parts of the behaviour and how these interact as a whole. The multi-faceted approach to designing, evaluating and understanding bird behavior presented offers a template that is adaptable for investigating a wide variety of avian species and different forms of behaviour. Behavioural biologists, animal and comparative psychologists, other natural and behavioural scientists, as well as students of these disciplines will find this book to be an interesting and enlightening read.