Nature : Birds & Birdwatching

Few maps show the location of Bird Island -- a lonely outcrop in the South Georgia group where Antarctic waters push against the Atlantic east of Cape Horn. Its forbidding flanks invite few human visitors. But for those who reach its shores there are rich more...

Price: $67.50

Highly illustrated, biological explanation of how and why birds communicate with elaborate bird songs. more...

Price: $64.00

An essential reference to the 400 species of birds found in Minnesota, including information on abundance, location, and seasonality. more...

Price: $60.00

Like his first book, A Parrot Without a Name, Birdsong is a compelling narrative that blends personality, adventure and science, and follows two of the worlds most celebrated experts in birdsong - Don Kroodsma of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Greg Budney of Cornell University's Library of Natural Sounds - through a season of studying and recording for posterity bridsong. The first book completely dedicated to the subject, Birdsong is a revelation. As we follow the two scientists through Martha's Vineyard, Maine, Florida, the Sierra Nevadas, and on to Costa Rica, we find out that birds must learn their songs much like human babies learn speech from their parents. We also discover that although biologists and naturalists have written birdsong off as mere expressions of territory or attracting a mate, these simplistic rationales don't explain why the marsh wren sings over 200 songs and chipping sparrow only one. Nor do they explain why the chestnut-sided warbler sings one song one week during the spring breeding season and a different song the next week. We also learn the incredible difficulty of capturing "aural specimens" with heavy, sensitive equipment in harsh circumstances; the evolution of song birds and their unusual anatomy; how much information birds transmit in a 2 to 3 second song; the biological function of songs and calls; song learning; geographic variation or "dialects" in the songs; a history of the obsession of birdsongs for humans; and the influence of birdsong on music. more...

Price: $17.99

The bowerbirds are confined to Australia and New Guinea and, due to the difficulty in accessing certain areas of their distribution, the study of their habits has been challenging. The 20 existing species are almost equally divided between the two regions, with eight species endemic to Australia, 10 to New Guinea and two species occurring in both. Bowerbirds condenses published knowledge into a format that will suit natural history enthusiasts at any level. While the emphasis is on Australian members of the family, with detailed accounts on each of the 10 species, the New Guinea representatives are discussed in general chapters and are included in a supplemental section that covers key areas such as breeding, identification and distribution. This book also includes more than 50 illustrations, including colour pictures of each Australian species, their bowers, displays and distributional maps. more...

Price: $31.95