Author: David Allen Sibley
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525520295
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The bird book for birders and nonbirders alike that will excite and inspire by providing a new and deeper understanding of what common, mostly backyard, birds are doing—and why: "Can birds smell?"; "Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year?"; "Do robins 'hear' worms?" "The book's beauty mirrors the beauty of birds it describes so marvelously." —NPR In What It's Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds—blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees—it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin. David Sibley's exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. (For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized.) And while the text is aimed at adults—including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes—it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action. Unlike any other book he has written, What It's Like to Be a Bird is poised to bring a whole new audience to David Sibley's world of birds.
What It's Like to Be a Bird
Author: David Allen Sibley
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525520295
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The bird book for birders and nonbirders alike that will excite and inspire by providing a new and deeper understanding of what common, mostly backyard, birds are doing—and why: "Can birds smell?"; "Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year?"; "Do robins 'hear' worms?" "The book's beauty mirrors the beauty of birds it describes so marvelously." —NPR In What It's Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds—blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees—it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin. David Sibley's exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. (For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized.) And while the text is aimed at adults—including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes—it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action. Unlike any other book he has written, What It's Like to Be a Bird is poised to bring a whole new audience to David Sibley's world of birds.
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525520295
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The bird book for birders and nonbirders alike that will excite and inspire by providing a new and deeper understanding of what common, mostly backyard, birds are doing—and why: "Can birds smell?"; "Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year?"; "Do robins 'hear' worms?" "The book's beauty mirrors the beauty of birds it describes so marvelously." —NPR In What It's Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds—blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees—it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin. David Sibley's exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. (For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized.) And while the text is aimed at adults—including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes—it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action. Unlike any other book he has written, What It's Like to Be a Bird is poised to bring a whole new audience to David Sibley's world of birds.
Bird Sense
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 140883054X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
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.
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 140883054X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
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.
What It's Like to be a Bird
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1526604124
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 26
Book Description
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.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1526604124
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 26
Book Description
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.
How to Make a Bird
Author: Meg McKinlay
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536215260
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33
Book Description
To make a bird, you'll need hundreds of tiny, hollow bones, so light you can barely feel them on your palm, so light they can float on air. Next you'll need feathers, for warmth and lift. There will be more besides - perhaps shells and stones for last touches - but what will finally make your bird tremble with dreams of open sky and soaring flight? This picture book shows how even the smallest of things, combined with wonder and a steady heart, can transform into works of magic.
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536215260
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33
Book Description
To make a bird, you'll need hundreds of tiny, hollow bones, so light you can barely feel them on your palm, so light they can float on air. Next you'll need feathers, for warmth and lift. There will be more besides - perhaps shells and stones for last touches - but what will finally make your bird tremble with dreams of open sky and soaring flight? This picture book shows how even the smallest of things, combined with wonder and a steady heart, can transform into works of magic.
The Bird Way
Author: Jennifer Ackerman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223033
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. “There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries –– What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223033
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. “There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries –– What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.
Sky Dance of the Woodcock
Author: Greg Hoch
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609386272
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 193
Book Description
Woodcock are one of the oddest birds in North America. They are a shorebird that got lost and ended up in the scrubby parts of the forest, and look like they were put together with the leftover parts of other birds. Oddities aside, each spring they rise to great beauty with their sky dance at dusk. Greg Hoch combines natural history, land management, scientific knowledge, and personal observation to examine this little game bird. Woodcock have a complex life history and the management of their habitat is also complex. The health of this bird can be considered a key indicator of what good forests look like.
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609386272
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 193
Book Description
Woodcock are one of the oddest birds in North America. They are a shorebird that got lost and ended up in the scrubby parts of the forest, and look like they were put together with the leftover parts of other birds. Oddities aside, each spring they rise to great beauty with their sky dance at dusk. Greg Hoch combines natural history, land management, scientific knowledge, and personal observation to examine this little game bird. Woodcock have a complex life history and the management of their habitat is also complex. The health of this bird can be considered a key indicator of what good forests look like.
What It's Like to Be a Bird (Adapted for Young Readers)
Author: David Allen Sibley
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0593430212
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 415
Book Description
In this edition for young readers adapted from the bestselling work written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley, readers will find a unique treasure trove of fascinating facts about birds, paired with more than 300 full-color illustrations—some life-size! The extraordinary world of birds is brought to life on the page. Did you know that many species of birds have sensory abilities that surpass those of humans? Or that some birds spend the entire winter in the air, and even sleep while flying? Have you ever wondered why birds have feathers? Or why they are a particular color? Have you noticed that some birdsong sounds like a musical scale? Maybe you’re more interested in “how” questions: How do birds actually fly or swim? How and why do some birds migrate? How do they find food? How do they take care of their offspring? Birds are not only beautiful and fascinating, but they also serve an essential role in our ecosystem. This book shows how birds and humans are intrinsically connected, sometimes helping and sometimes hindering each other. Perfect for dedicated birdwatchers—or for anyone who simply delights in noticing birds in their neighborhood. Readers can explore, share, and return to the pages again and again, each time gaining a broader appreciation for our enchanting feathered friends.
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0593430212
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 415
Book Description
In this edition for young readers adapted from the bestselling work written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley, readers will find a unique treasure trove of fascinating facts about birds, paired with more than 300 full-color illustrations—some life-size! The extraordinary world of birds is brought to life on the page. Did you know that many species of birds have sensory abilities that surpass those of humans? Or that some birds spend the entire winter in the air, and even sleep while flying? Have you ever wondered why birds have feathers? Or why they are a particular color? Have you noticed that some birdsong sounds like a musical scale? Maybe you’re more interested in “how” questions: How do birds actually fly or swim? How and why do some birds migrate? How do they find food? How do they take care of their offspring? Birds are not only beautiful and fascinating, but they also serve an essential role in our ecosystem. This book shows how birds and humans are intrinsically connected, sometimes helping and sometimes hindering each other. Perfect for dedicated birdwatchers—or for anyone who simply delights in noticing birds in their neighborhood. Readers can explore, share, and return to the pages again and again, each time gaining a broader appreciation for our enchanting feathered friends.
Evolution and Victorian Musical Culture
Author: Bennett Zon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108326269
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
This engaging book explores the dynamic relationship between evolutionary science and musical culture in Victorian Britain, drawing upon a wealth of popular scientific and musical literature to contextualize evolutionary theories of the Darwinian and non-Darwinian revolutions. Bennett Zon uses musical culture to question the hegemonic role ascribed to Darwin by later thinkers, and interrogates the conceptual premise of modern debates in evolutionary musicology. Structured around the Great Chain of Being, chapters are organized by discipline in successively ascending order according to their object of study, from zoology and the study of animal music to theology and the music of God. Evolution and Victorian Musical Culture takes a non-Darwinian approach to the interpretation of Victorian scientific and musical interrelationships, debunking the idea that the arts had little influence on contemporary scientific ideas and, by probing the origins of musical interdisciplinarity, the volume shows how music helped ideas about evolution to evolve.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108326269
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
This engaging book explores the dynamic relationship between evolutionary science and musical culture in Victorian Britain, drawing upon a wealth of popular scientific and musical literature to contextualize evolutionary theories of the Darwinian and non-Darwinian revolutions. Bennett Zon uses musical culture to question the hegemonic role ascribed to Darwin by later thinkers, and interrogates the conceptual premise of modern debates in evolutionary musicology. Structured around the Great Chain of Being, chapters are organized by discipline in successively ascending order according to their object of study, from zoology and the study of animal music to theology and the music of God. Evolution and Victorian Musical Culture takes a non-Darwinian approach to the interpretation of Victorian scientific and musical interrelationships, debunking the idea that the arts had little influence on contemporary scientific ideas and, by probing the origins of musical interdisciplinarity, the volume shows how music helped ideas about evolution to evolve.
Talking Sense in Science
Author: Douglas P Newton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134525532
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
Talking Sense in Science is a highly practical guide to getting the most out of primary science lessons through talking with children. This clearly written and straightforward book helps teachers to support understanding by developing their own interaction in the classroom. Each idea is described, illustrated and followed by a short task to develop teaching skills. This book looks at ways of understanding in science, and scientific language as well as how talk can support practical activities. Douglas Newton also addresses the ideas of what to say, when to say it and how to say it, with a view to developing understanding through science conversation. Examples given in the book span the range of primary school science topics, and provide an ideal sourcebook for lesson ideas. Talking Sense in Science is an essential buy for primary teachers who want an accessible way to improve their practice and their pupils' understanding in science. It is also an ideal learning tool for student teachers.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134525532
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
Talking Sense in Science is a highly practical guide to getting the most out of primary science lessons through talking with children. This clearly written and straightforward book helps teachers to support understanding by developing their own interaction in the classroom. Each idea is described, illustrated and followed by a short task to develop teaching skills. This book looks at ways of understanding in science, and scientific language as well as how talk can support practical activities. Douglas Newton also addresses the ideas of what to say, when to say it and how to say it, with a view to developing understanding through science conversation. Examples given in the book span the range of primary school science topics, and provide an ideal sourcebook for lesson ideas. Talking Sense in Science is an essential buy for primary teachers who want an accessible way to improve their practice and their pupils' understanding in science. It is also an ideal learning tool for student teachers.
A Bird's Eye View a Different Take on Love, Relationships, the Celebrity Life-Style and Sports
Author: Stephanie Dolce
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1435790464
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
This novel is taken from my experiences, from other people's experiences, and from any thought-provoking idea that crosses my path. Throw in how Television, radio, and even sports plays a role in how we live our lives and you got yourself a very interesting take on love, relationships, and the American obsession with the Celebrity world. So ask yourself, "Do fairy tales really exist or are we kidding ourselves by believing that we all will someday find that "happily ever after" ending in our lives?" And after you ask that question, read A Bird's Eye View and find out.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1435790464
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
This novel is taken from my experiences, from other people's experiences, and from any thought-provoking idea that crosses my path. Throw in how Television, radio, and even sports plays a role in how we live our lives and you got yourself a very interesting take on love, relationships, and the American obsession with the Celebrity world. So ask yourself, "Do fairy tales really exist or are we kidding ourselves by believing that we all will someday find that "happily ever after" ending in our lives?" And after you ask that question, read A Bird's Eye View and find out.