The Thing with Feathers

The Thing with Feathers

Author: Noah Strycker

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-03-03

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 159463341X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"[Strycker] thinks like a biologist but writes like a poet." -- Wall Street Journal An entertaining and profound look at the lives of birds, illuminating their surprising world—and deep connection with humanity. Birds are highly intelligent animals, yet their intelligence is dramatically different from our own and has been little understood. As we learn more about the secrets of bird life, we are unlocking fascinating insights into memory, relationships, game theory, and the nature of intelligence itself. The Thing with Feathers explores the astonishing homing abilities of pigeons, the good deeds of fairy-wrens, the influential flocking abilities of starlings, the deft artistry of bowerbirds, the extraordinary memories of nutcrackers, the lifelong loves of albatrosses, and other mysteries—revealing why birds do what they do, and offering a glimpse into our own nature. Drawing deep from personal experience, cutting-edge science, and colorful history, Noah Strycker spins captivating stories about the birds in our midst and shares the startlingly intimate coexistence of birds and humans. With humor, style, and grace, he shows how our view of the world is often, and remarkably, through the experience of birds. You’ve never read a book about birds like this one.


Among Penguins

Among Penguins

Author: Noah K. Strycker

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The year he graduated from college, 22-year-old Noah Strycker was dropped by helicopter in a remote Antarctic field camp with two bird scientists and a three months' supply of frozen food. His subjects: more than a quarter million penguins. Compact, industrious, and approachable, the Adélie Penguins who call Antarctica home visit their breeding grounds each Antarctic summer to nest and rear their young before returning to sea. Because of long-term studies, scientists may know more about how these penguins will adjust to climate change than about any other creature in the world. Bird scientists like Noah are less well known. Like the intrepid early explorers of Antarctica, modern scientists drawn to the frozen continent face an utterly inhospitable landscape, one that inspires, isolates, and punishes. With wit, curiosity, and a deep knowledge of his subject, Strycker recounts the reality of life at the end of the Earth--thousand-year-old penguin mummies, hurricane-force blizzards, and day-to-day existence in below freezing temperatures--and delves deep into a world of science, obsession, and birds. Among Penguins weaves a captivating tale of penguins and their researchers on the coldest, driest, highest, and windiest continent on Earth. Birders, lovers of the Antarctic, and fans of first-person adventure narratives will be fascinated by Strycker's book.


Lost Among the Birds

Lost Among the Birds

Author: Neil Hayward

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2016-06-07

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1632865807

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Early in 2013 Neil Hayward was at a crossroads. He didn't want to open a bakery or whatever else executives do when they quit a lucrative but unfulfilling job. He didn't want to think about his failed relationship with “the one” or his potential for ruining a new relationship with “the next one.” And he almost certainly didn't want to think about turning forty. And so instead he went birding. Birding was a lifelong passion. It was only among the birds that Neil found a calm that had eluded him in the confusing world of humans. But this time he also found competition. His growing list of species reluctantly catapulted him into a Big Year--a race to find the most birds in one year. His peregrinations across twenty-eight states and six provinces in search of exotic species took him to a hoarfrost-covered forest in Massachusetts to find a Fieldfare; to Lake Havasu, Arizona, to see a rare Nutting's Flycatcher; and to Vancouver for the Red-flanked Bluetail. Neil's Big Year was as unplanned as it was accidental: It was the perfect distraction to life. Neil shocked the birding world by finding 749 species of bird and breaking the long-standing Big Year record. He also surprised himself: During his time among the hummingbirds, tanagers, and boobies, he found a renewed sense of confidence and hope about the world and his place in it.


Birds Without Borders

Birds Without Borders

Author: Nancy Trautmann

Publisher:

Published: 2015-03-01

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 9780986178207

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Birds Without Borders, students analyze spatial and quantitative data, examine trends, make predictions, create management plans, and present and defend their results. Non-fiction texts and multimedia resources provide context and background for scientific exploration of real-world biodiversity data and issues in settings ranging from local to international.Wherever we live, birds share our environment. Birds provide compelling hooks to our local environment and links to foreign lands. They also provide essential ecosystem services, ranging from pollination and seed dispersal to garbage disposal and nutrient cycling.Birds Without Borders can be used as a module in biology, environmental science, general science courses, AP biology, or any other applicable science elective. The student readings and activities have been successfully used in courses ranging from seventh grade through advanced placement. This broad range is possible with differing types of scaffolding and levels of sophistication expected in data analysis and application of the results.


Birds of the Photo Ark

Birds of the Photo Ark

Author: Noah Strycker

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1426218982

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"This ... celebration of birds from around the world unites ... animal portraits from Joel Sartore's ... National Geographic Photo Ark project with ... text by up-and-coming birder Noah Strycker. It includes hundreds of species, from tiny finches to charismatic eagles; brilliant toucans, intricate birds of paradise, and perennial favorites such as parrots, hummingbirds, and owls also make colorful appearances"--Amazon.com.


To See Every Bird on Earth

To See Every Bird on Earth

Author: Dan Koeppel

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-04-25

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1440627037

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What drives a man to travel to sixty countries and spend a fortune to count birds? And what if that man is your father? Richard Koeppel’s obsession began at age twelve, in Queens, New York, when he first spotted a Brown Thrasher, and jotted the sighting in a notebook. Several decades, one failed marriage, and two sons later, he set out to see every bird on earth, becoming a member of a subculture of competitive bird watchers worldwide all pursuing the same goal. Over twenty-five years, he collected over seven thousand species, becoming one of about ten people ever to do so. To See Every Bird on Earth explores the thrill of this chase, a crusade at the expense of all else—for the sake of making a check in a notebook. A riveting glimpse into a fascinating subculture, the book traces the love, loss, and reconnection between a father and son, and explains why birds are so critical to the human search for our place in the world. “Marvelous. I loved just about everything about this book.”—Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman “A lovingly told story . . . helps you understand what moves humans to seek escape in seemingly strange other worlds.”—Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak “Everyone has his or her addiction, and birdwatching is the drug of choice for the father of author Dan Koeppel, who writes affectionately but honestly about his father’s obsession.”—Audubon Magazine (editor’s choice) “As a glimpse into human behavior and family relationships, To See Every Bird on Earth is a rarity: a book about birding that nonbirders will find just as rewarding.”—Chicago Tribune


The Big Year

The Big Year

Author: Mark Obmascik

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-09-27

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 145164860X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Follows the 1998 Big Year competition between Sandy Komito, Al Levantin, and Greg Miller, during which the three rivals risked their lives to set a new North American birding record.


Green Birding

Green Birding

Author: Richard Gregson

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0811726150

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explores practical advise for making your birding greener and offers insights into how you can bird "deeper" by sticking close to home and getting to know the birds in your local area better.


Kingbird Highway

Kingbird Highway

Author: Kenn Kaufman

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0618062351

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At 16, Kaufman dropped out of high school and started hitching across America in an effort to see the most birds in a year. "Kingbird Highway" is a unique coming-of-age story, combining a lyrical celebration of nature with wild adventures and some unbelievable characters.


The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots

The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots

Author: Bob Gress

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2008-03-05

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0700615652

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Kansas is a bird-watcher's paradise, with its key location at the hub of the hemisphere's migration corridors and exceptional habitat diversity; 470 avian species have been documented within its borders. From spectacularly beautiful birds like Painted Buntings to elegant migrants like Hudsonian Godwits, birders can find abundant rewards every time they take to the field. The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots focuses on 295 species that are most likely to be encountered in the state. It helps occasional day-trippers or backyard observers identify and learn about birds that regularly occur in Kansas, with stunning color photos that enable those new to the hobby to identify their discoveries, plus tips on where to search for these species with the greatest likelihood of success. Gress and Janzen have produced an exceptionally well-organized guide that divides birds into 18 groups based on similarity in appearance, habitat, or behavior, following taxonomic order only partially to make identification easier for the beginner. The entry for each bird gives its size, identifying features (including sexual and seasonal distinctions), and where and when it can be found. And each account includes a brilliant color photo of an adult of the species, with additional views of selected birds to illustrate male, female, or juvenile plumages. The authors point out the best birding locations in the state-more than two dozen hot spots of which they have intimate knowledge-that reflect utterly different bird communities thriving only a few hours apart. They also provide a checklist for all state birds, a calendar of Kansas bird activity, and recommendations for binoculars and other field guides.