What Is a Bird?

What Is a Bird?

Author: Tony D. Williams

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-12-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0691200165

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"There are some 10,000 bird species in existence today, occupying every continent and virtually every habitat on Earth. The variety of bird species is truly astounding, from the tiny bee hummingbird to the large flightless ostrich, making birds one of the most diverse and successful animal groups on the planet. Taking you inside the extraordinary world of birds, What Is a Bird? explores all aspects of these remarkable creatures, providing an up-close look at their morphology, unique internal anatomy and physiology, fascinating and varied behavior, and ecology. It features hundreds of color illustrations and draws on a broad range of examples, from the familiar backyard sparrow to the most exotic birds of paradise. A must-have book for birders and armchair naturalists, What Is a Bird? is a celebration of the rich complexity of bird life"--Dust jacket.


What It's Like to Be a Bird

What It's Like to Be a Bird

Author: David Allen Sibley

Publisher: Knopf

Published: 2020-04-14

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0525520295

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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

Bird Sense

Author: Tim Birkhead

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-01-17

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 140883054X

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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.


A Bird Is a Bird

A Bird Is a Bird

Author: Lizzy Rockwell

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2015-02-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0823430421

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What is a bird? And how is it different from a mammal or a reptile? Some birds are huge and some are tiny. Some birds are fantastically colorful and some are plain. But what do all birds share? Early nonfiction expert Lizzy Rockwell explains that birds have beaks, wings, and feathers, and hatch from eggs. Other animals might have some of these features in common, but only a bird has them all. Only a bird is a bird! A clear text and beautiful illustrations cover dozens of different birds and their shared characteristics, as well as the unique qualities of unusual birds, such as penguins and peacocks.


How to Make a Bird

How to Make a Bird

Author: Meg McKinlay

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Published: 2021-04-20

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13: 1536215260

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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.


What Makes a Bird a Bird?

What Makes a Bird a Bird?

Author: May Garelick

Publisher: Mondo Publishing

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781572550087

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What makes a bird a unique creature is not singing or flying, nest-building or egg-laying, but having something no other animal has--feathers.


What is a Bird?

What is a Bird?

Author: Bobbie Kalman

Publisher: New York ; Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. : Crabtree Pub.

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13: 9780865058804

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What makes birds different from other animals? Do all birds fly? How are the bodies of birds different? Where do they live and how do they build their nests? These questions are answered in this fascinating new book on what makes a bird.


Common Birds and Their Songs

Common Birds and Their Songs

Author: Lang Elliott

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780395912386

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Presents the songs and calls of fifty North American birds that are common to residential settings, city parks, and urban areas.


The Meaning of Birds

The Meaning of Birds

Author: Simon Barnes

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1681776952

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One of our most eloquent nature writers offers a passionate and informative celebration of birds and their ability to help us understand the world we live in. As well as exploring how birds achieve the miracle of flight; why birds sing; what they tell us about the seasons of the year and what their presence tells us about the places they inhabit, The Meaning of Birds muses on the uses of feathers, the drama of raptors, the slaughter of pheasants, the infidelities of geese, and the strangeness of feeling sentimental about blue tits while enjoying a chicken sandwich.From the mocking-birds of the Galapagos who guided Charles Darwin toward his evolutionary theory, to the changing patterns of migration that alert us to the reality of contemporary climate change, Simon Barnes explores both the intrinsic wonder of what it is to be a bird—and the myriad ways in which birds can help us understand the meaning of life.


Bird Talk

Bird Talk

Author: Lita Judge

Publisher: Flash Point

Published: 2012-03-13

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 1466808683

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A gorgeously illustrated tribute to birds of all kinds and the fantastic, funny, fascinating things that they do. Birds have lots of ways of communicating: They sing and talk, dance and drum, cuddle and fight. But what does all of the bird talk mean? Filled with gorgeous illustrations, this fascinating picture book takes a look at the secret life of birds in a child-friendly format that is sure to appeal to readers of all ages - whether they're die-hard bird-watchers or just curious about the creatures in their own backyards.