Antbirds and Ovenbirds

Antbirds and Ovenbirds

Author: Alexander F. Skutch

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-07-22

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 029278581X

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Western Books Exhibition, Rounce and Coffin Club Antbirds and ovenbirds, two of the five largest families of birds found only in the Western Hemisphere, have been among Alexander Skutch's favorites for more than six decades. In this book, he draws on years of observations to describe the life cycle of these fascinating birds, which inhabit Latin America from tropical Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. Skutch covers all aspects of the birds' lives, including the various species in each family, food and foraging, daily life, voice, displays and courtship, nests and incubation, and parental care. He also recounts anecdotes from his own experiences, creating vivid pictures of antbirds foraging for the insects Skutch stirs up on walks through the rainforest and of ovenbirds repairing the observation holes that he opens in their elaborate nests. As some of tropical America's least studied birds, antbirds and ovenbirds surely merit the extensive treatment given them here by one of our most distinguished senior ornithologists. Over fifty line drawings by noted bird artist Dana Gardner make this book a delight for both armchair and field naturalists.


Antbirds & Ovenbirds

Antbirds & Ovenbirds

Author: Alexander Frank Skutch

Publisher:

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780292776999

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Voice, displays and courtship, nests and incubation, and parental care. He also recounts anecdotes from his own experiences, creating vivid pictures of antbirds foraging for the insects Skutch stirs up on walks through the rainforest and of ovenbirds repairing the observation holes that he opens in their elaborate nests. As some of tropical America's least studied birds, antbirds and oven birds surely merit the extensive treatment given them here by one of our most.


How Birds Evolve

How Birds Evolve

Author: Douglas J. Futuyma

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-10-29

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0691264635

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"Why are male birds often so brightly colored? Why do some birds lay more eggs than others? Will bird species adapt to climate change? In How Birds Evolve, Douglas Futuyma invites readers into the amazing world of bird evolution to answer these and other questions. Futuyma's goal in this book is not to offer a comprehensive evolutionary history of birds, but to explore how the processes of evolution produced the distinctive features and behaviors we observe in birds today as well as their impressive diversity. Using one or two birds per chapters as a lens into broader questions, Futuyma explores how a bird's evolutionary history helps us understand the diversity of species and the bird tree of life and how natural selection explains most of the characteristics of birds from how populations adapt to sexual selection and birds' amazing social behavior. Futuyma concludes by discussing the future of birds, particularly patterns of extinction and whether they can adapt to a changing climate. Ultimately, Futuyman wants readers to see that evolutionary biology helps us to better understand birds, and that the reverse is also true: studies of birds have informed almost every aspect of evolutionary biology, from Darwin to today"--


Feathered Marvels

Feathered Marvels

Author: Dominic F. Sherony

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2024-01-22

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1476650535

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From the discovery of the fossil Archaeopteryx to more than 10,000 different documented species today, birds have become the second most diversified class of vertebrates on Earth. Birds have evolved extensively since they first emerged in prehistoric times--but that diversity could dwindle and even vanish unless we take steps to conserve their habitats, ensuring that they sustain their numbers and their variety. This natural history of birds starts in the distant past--going back to the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene periods--in order to get a broader understanding of the birds that we see today. Chapters cover their lives, breeding, flight, migration and more, while also highlighting some especially unique bird fossils, such as the Pelagornis Sandersi, which had a wingspan of more than 20 feet. Also included are chapters on the loss of needed habitats, the current decline of native birds, and what can be done to reverse it.


Birds of Costa Rica

Birds of Costa Rica

Author: Carrol L. Henderson

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-02-15

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 0292719655

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A must-have guide to more than 300 birds that visitors are most likely to see in Costa Rica, includes 464 color photos, including many taken in the wild, and 308 range maps. Original.


Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide

Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide

Author: Miguel Lentino

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-01-23

Total Pages: 2689

ISBN-13: 1472981618

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The first comprehensive identification guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this region. It covers all the species, including vagrants, found in Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Aruba, CuraƧao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. More than 2,300 species are described in depth in the text, describing geographical variation, identification, status, habitat, voice and taxonomy. This authoritative book will not only be an indispensable guide to the visiting birder, but also a vital tool for those engaged in work to conserve and study the avifauna of this region, which is of such importance to both the indigenous species and those which pass through on migration. This book is a companion to Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide - Plates and Maps, which forms Volume II of the set.


The Birds of Africa: Volume IV

The Birds of Africa: Volume IV

Author:

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-06-25

Total Pages: 660

ISBN-13: 1472986547

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Universally recognised as by far the most authoritative work ever published on the subject, The Birds of Africa is a superb multi-contributor reference work, with encyclopaedic species texts, stunning paintings of all species and numerous subspecies, hundreds of informative line drawings, detailed range maps, and extensive bibliographies. Each volume contains an Introduction that brings the reader up to date with the latest developments in African ornithology, including the evolution and biogeography of African birds. Diagnoses of the families and genera, often with superspecies maps, are followed by the comprehensive species accounts themselves. These include descriptions of range and status, field characters, voice, general habits, food, and breeding habits. Full bibliographies, acoustic references, and indexes complete this scholarly work of reference. This fourth volume in the series deals comprehensively with broadbills, pittas, larks, swallows and martins, wagtails, pipits and longclaws, cuckoo-shrikes, bulbuls, waxwings, dippers, wrens, accentors, and chats. The editors and artists have worked closely with other authors - all acknowledged experts in their field - to produce a superb reference in which comprehensive texts on every species are complemented by accurate and detailed paintings and drawings of the birds themselves.


A Field Guide to Mexican Birds

A Field Guide to Mexican Birds

Author: Roger Tory Peterson

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1999-03

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9780395975145

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With more than 700 color paintings arranged by families for quick comparison of similar species, and with detailed information on range, habitat, size, and voice, this field guide describes and illustrates 1,038 species of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador.