Tales of remarkable birds
By: Dominic Couzens
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9781408190234
Subjects: Popular works; Birds; Behavior; Pictorial works
Other titles: Remarkable birds
Description: Throughout the bird world, examples of strange and seemingly inexplicable behaviours abound. For example: Why do Male Fairywrens bring flowers to females as a nuptial gift in the pre-dawn darkness? Especially when the gift-givers are not the official mates of the females concerned, but visitors, and furthermore they may give these gifts in full view of the official mate. Why do gangs of White-winged Choughs 'kidnap' their neighbours' fledglings and then keep them in their 'gang'. Which bird is so big, strong and fierce that stories abound of it killing humans? This book looks at accounts of murderous Cassowaries and explains just what might have happened. What happens in an albatross 'divorce'? This book divides the world by continent and takes a series of extraordinary stories from each to illustrate a great diversity of bird behaviour. Each continent will have around five or six stories, each described in 1500 to 2000 words and examining the truths and the mythology behind each example. An intriguiguing book from an author with an ability to engage with his audience.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (page 220) and index.
Table of contents: title: Europe. Northern wren : roost site available, not everyone need apply ; Great spotted cuckoo : a cuckoo, yes - but not as we know it ; Great grey shrike : catching on to a neat idea ; Common crossbill : a bird with leftist tendencies ; Eurasian oystercatcher : the oystercatcher's trade unions; title: Africa. Sunbirds : hovering might be catching ; Ostriches : the benefits of sharing a nest ; Straw-tailed whydah and purple grenadier : the strange case of the avian stalker ; Boubous : it takes two ; Widowbirds : a tale of two tails; title: Asia. Greater racket-tailed drogo : the life of a professional agitator ; Yellow-browed warbler : the wrong-way migrant ; Pheasant-tailed jacana : children of the lily-pads ; Arabian babbler : keeping its friends close ; Swifts and swiftlets : living in the dark; title: Australasia. White-winged chough : our family group needs some extra help ; Fairywrens : what is the significance of the flower gift? ; Great bowerbird : stage managing a nuptial bower ; Southern cassowary : don't mess with this big bird ; Varied sittellas : the benefits of working together; title: North America. White-throated sparrow : a tale of two sparrows ; Black-capped chickadee : memories of garden birds ; Cliff swallow : unnatural selection ; Harris's hawk : the hunter-gatherer ; Marbled murrelet : breeding in a different world; title: South America. Andean cock-of-the-rock : working together with its friends ; Toucans : why a big bill pays ; Antbirds : following the ants ; Tanagers : The crown jewels ; Hummingbirds : when the humming stops; title: Antarctica. Rockhopper penguins : the most unloved egg ; Albatrosses : masters of the oceans ; Emperor and Galapagos penguins : a tale of two penguins ; Sheathbills : the basement cleaners ; Wandering albatross : a slow dance to success; title: Islands. Swallow-tailed gull : making the most of dark nights ; Megapodes : the patter of great, big feet ; New Caledonian crow : the world's cleverest bird? ; Blue bird-of-paradise : figs and fruits turn paradise upside down ; Extinctions : islands : lands of lost birds.