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In Birds and Us, award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim
Birkhead takes us on an epic and dazzling journey through this
mutual history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by
Ancient Egyptians to Renaissance experiments on woodpecker anatomy,
from Victorian obsessions with egg collecting to the present fight
to save endangered species and restore their habitats. Weaving in
stories from his own life as a scientist, including far-flung
expeditions to wondrous Neolithic caves in Spain and the bustling
guillemot colonies of the Faroe Islands, this rich and fascinating
book is the culmination of a lifetime's research and unforgettably
shows how birds shaped us, and how we have shaped them. 'Birds and
Us wings its way through 12,000 years of our species' engagement
with the avian world. Birkhead tells it all with delightful gusto,
plaiting personal encounters with challenging historical research
and bewitching scientific rigor' Tim Dee 'Thought-provoking at
every turn, this inspiring, shocking, wonder-filled exploration of
our relationship with birds from earliest times delivers a sobering
challenge to us living with birds today' Isabella Tree, author of
Wilding 'A fascinating book about the close and often surprising
relationship between birds and people, written by one of our
leading ornithologists' Stephen Moss
'I think that, if required on pain of death to name instantly the
most perfect thing in the universe, I should risk my fate on a
bird's egg' Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1862 How are eggs of
different shapes made, and why are they the shape they are? When
does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two
yolks? How are the colours and patterns of an eggshell created, and
why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt
end or the pointy end? These are just some of the questions A
Bird's Egg answers, as the journey of a bird's egg from creation
and fertilisation to its eventual hatching is examined, with
current scientific knowledge placed within an historical context.
Beginning with an examination of the stunning eggs of the
guillemot, each of which is so variable in pattern and colour that
no two are ever the same, acclaimed ornithologist Tim Birkhead then
looks at the eggs of hens, cuckoos and many other birds, revealing
weird and wonderful facts about these miracles of nature. Woven
around and supporting these facts are extraordinary stories of the
individuals who from as far back as Ancient Egypt have been fixated
on the study and collection of eggs, not always to the benefit of
their conservation. Firmly grounded in science and enriched by a
wealth of observation drawn from a lifetime spent studying birds,A
Bird's Egg is an illuminating and engaging exploration of the
science behind eggs and the history of man's obsession with them.
'This beautiful book is one to treasure forever' David Walliams,
comedian and children's author WINNER of The Margaret Mallett Award
for Children's Non-Fiction 2022 Have you ever wondered what it
would be like to fly? Or to live high in the tree tops? Or perhaps
you've wondered what birds do when no one is looking? Birds have
some of the most extraordinary - and peculiar - behaviours on the
planet. Ravens love PLAYING games. In winter, they sledge down
snow-covered rooftops on their bellies, getting faster and faster.
Partridges are SNEAKY and know just how to trick hungry foxes. And
honeyguides are HELPFUL. They help humans to find the sweetest
treat in the forest - honey. These are just some of the incredible
stories you'll read in this book. With fascinating factual detail
and playful storytelling from ornithologist Tim Birkhead and
vibrant, personality-filled illustrations from Cat Rayner, this
book captures what it's really like to be a bird.
What is it like to be a swift, flying at over one hundred
kilometres an hour? Or a kiwi, plodding flightlessly among the
humid undergrowth in the pitch dark of a New Zealand night? And
what is going on inside the head of a nightingale as it sings, and
how does its brain improvise? Bird Sense addresses questions like
these and many more, by describing the senses of birds that enable
them to interpret their environment and to interact with each
other. Our affinity for birds is often said to be the result of
shared senses - vision and hearing - but how exactly do their
senses compare with our own? And what about a birds' sense of
taste, or smell, or touch or the ability to detect the earth's
magnetic field? Or the extraordinary ability of desert birds to
detect rain hundreds of kilometres away - how do they do it? Bird
Sense is based on a conviction that we have consistently
underestimated what goes on in a bird's head. Our understanding of
bird behaviour is simultaneously informed and constrained by the
way we watch and study them. By drawing attention to the way these
frameworks both facilitate and inhibit discovery, it identifies
ways we can escape from them to seek new horizons in bird
behaviour. There has never been a popular book about the senses of
birds. No one has previously looked at how birds interpret the
world or the way the behaviour of birds is shaped by their senses.
A lifetime spent studying birds has provided Tim Birkhead with a
wealth of observation and an understanding of birds and their
behaviour that is firmly grounded in science.
'Birkhead has combined ingenuity and perseverance to produce an
evocative portrait of a great pioneer in the scientific study of birds'
Literary Review
Francis Willughby lived and thrived in the midst of the scientific
revolution of the seventeenth century. Along with his Cambridge tutor
John Ray, Willughby was determined to overhaul the whole of natural
history and impose order on its complexity. It was exhilarating,
exacting and exhausting work. Yet before Willughby and Ray could
complete their monumental encyclopaedia of birds, Ornithology,
Willughby died. In the centuries since, Ray's reputation has grown,
obscuring that of his collaborator. Now, for the first time,
Willughby's own story and genius are given the attention they deserve.
Tim Birkhead celebrates how Willughby's endeavours set a standard for
the way birds and natural history should be studied. Rich with glorious
detail, The Wonderful Mr Willughby is a fascinating insight into a
thrilling period of scientific history and a lively biography of a man
who lived at its heart.
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Elementum Journal 2018, 4: Edition Four (Paperback)
Jay Armstrong; Contributions by Tim Birkhead; Illustrated by Neil Gower; Contributions by Wyl Menmuir; Illustrated by Jackie Morris; Contributions by …
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R576
R474
Discovery Miles 4 740
Save R102 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our
imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science,
faith, art and philosophy. Looking to the skies above, we have
variously worshipped them as gods, hunted them for sustenance,
adorned ourselves in their feathers, studied their wings to
engineer flight and, more recently, attempted to protect them. In
Birds and Us, award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead
takes us on an epic and dazzling journey through this mutual
history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by
Ancient Egyptians to Renaissance experiments on woodpecker anatomy,
from Victorian obsessions with egg collecting to the present fight
to save endangered species and restore their habitats. Weaving in
stories from his own life as a scientist, including far-flung
expeditions to wondrous Neolithic caves in Spain and the bustling
guillemot colonies of the Faroe Islands, this rich and fascinating
book is the culmination of a lifetime's research and unforgettably
shows how birds shaped us, and how we have shaped them.
"Ten Thousand Birds" provides a thoroughly engaging and
authoritative history of modern ornithology, tracing how the study
of birds has been shaped by a succession of visionary and
often-controversial personalities, and by the unique social and
scientific contexts in which these extraordinary individuals
worked. This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of
the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based
discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and
classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s
pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, Ernst Mayr, and
Julian Huxley recognized the importance of studying live birds in
the field, and how this shift thrust ornithology into the
mainstream of the biological sciences. The book tells the stories
of eccentrics like Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a pathological
liar who stole specimens from museums and quite likely murdered his
wife, and describes the breathtaking insights and discoveries of
ambitious and influential figures such as David Lack, Niko
Tinbergen, Robert MacArthur, and others who through their studies
of birds transformed entire fields of biology.
"Ten Thousand Birds" brings this history vividly to life through
the work and achievements of those who advanced the field. Drawing
on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews, this
fascinating book reveals how research on birds has contributed more
to our understanding of animal biology than the study of just about
any other group of organisms.
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