Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?
Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?

Author: Lev Parikian

Publisher: Unbound Publishing

Published: 2018-05-17

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1783524820

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At twelve years old, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He was also a fraud, a liar and a cheat. Those lists of birds seen and ticked off? Lies. One hundred and thirty species? More like sixty. Then, when he turned fifty, he decided to right his childhood wrongs. He would go birdwatching again. He would not lie. He would aim to see two hundred British bird species in a year. Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? is the story of that year, a story about birds, family, music, nostalgia, the nature of obsession and obsession with nature. It’s about finding adventure in life when you twig it’s shorter than you thought, and about losing and regaining contact with the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world. It’s a book for anyone who has ever seen a small brown bird and wondered what it was, or tried to make sense of a world in which we can ask, ‘What’s that bird?’ and ‘What’s for lunch?’ and get the same answer.

Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?
Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?

Author: Lev Parikian

Publisher: Unbound

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781783524839

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At twelve years old, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He was also a fraud, a liar and a cheat. Those lists of birds seen and ticked off? Lies. One hundred and thirty species? More like sixty. Then, when he turned fifty, he decided to right his childhood wrongs. He would go birdwatching again. He would not lie. He would aim to see two hundred species of British bird in a year. Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? is the story of that year, a story about birds, family, music, nostalgia, the nature of obsession and obsession with nature. It's about finding adventure in life when you twig it's shorter than you thought, and about losing and regaining contact with the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world. It's a book for anyone who has ever seen a small brown bird and wondered what it was, or tried to make sense of a world in which we can ask, 'What's that bird?' and 'What's for lunch?' and get the same answer.

Vesper Flights
Vesper Flights

Author: Helen Macdonald

Publisher: Grove Press

Published: 2020-08-25

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0802146694

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk explores the human relationship to the natural world in this “dazzling” essay collection (Wall Street Journal). In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing the massive migration of songbirds from the top of the Empire State Building, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2020-05-19

Total Pages: 747

ISBN-13: 1338635182

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price. It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute . . . and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Your Backyard Birds
Your Backyard Birds

Author: Grainne Cleary

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2019-03-04

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1760870811

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The remarkable relationships between our often cheeky birds and humans in Australian backyards all over the country are revealed with humour and charm. An ideal gift for any bird lover. A beautiful, inspiring and heartwarming book about our human relationships with the birds who share our backyards. 'Do you ever wonder what birds are talking about as they fly by you? The sounds and songs of birds constantly surround us as we go about our lives. But what are they talking about? Or are they even talking or just mindlessly squawking and chirping? Why are so many urban birds so loud? Is there a message in what the birds are telling each other?' Observing and interacting with all the different birds who visit Australian backyards leads naturally to questions about their behaviours, habits and needs. Why are they visiting? What do they want from us? For a bird, life in Australia means having mates: others who you can trust and work with to locate food and water, which can disappear as suddenly as it appears. As the humans who plant the gardens they live in and visit, what can we learn from Australia's often-cheeky birds? With a foreword by science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams AM, and chapters dedicated to discovering extraordinary information about Australia's innovative birds, Your Backyard Birds is a delightful and compelling read. With real stories from bird-loving citizen scientists, this fascinating book features new insights about the lives of our avian friends. Your Backyard Birds, written by a wildlife ecologist who is passionate about the vital role of citizen scientists, provides a fresh and lively perspective on human interaction with birds.

The Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon

Author: Errol Fuller

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 140085220X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A haunting, beautifully illustrated memorial to this iconic extinct bird At the start of the nineteenth century, Passenger Pigeons were perhaps the most abundant birds on the planet, numbering literally in the billions. The flocks were so large and so dense that they blackened the skies, even blotting out the sun for days at a stretch. Yet by the end of the century, the most common bird in North America had vanished from the wild. In 1914, the last known representative of her species, Martha, died in a cage at the Cincinnati Zoo. This stunningly illustrated book tells the astonishing story of North America's Passenger Pigeon, a bird species that—like the Tyrannosaur, the Mammoth, and the Dodo—has become one of the great icons of extinction. Errol Fuller describes how these fast, agile, and handsomely plumaged birds were immortalized by the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, and captured the imagination of writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. He shows how widespread deforestation, the demand for cheap and plentiful pigeon meat, and the indiscriminate killing of Passenger Pigeons for sport led to their catastrophic decline. Fuller provides an evocative memorial to a bird species that was once so important to the ecology of North America, and reminds us of just how fragile the natural world can be. Published in the centennial year of Martha’s death, The Passenger Pigeon features rare archival images as well as haunting photos of live birds.

Effin' Birds
Effin' Birds

Author: Aaron Reynolds

Publisher: Unbound Publishing

Published: 2019-10-17

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1783526971

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Have you ever looked a bird dead in the eye and wondered what it was thinking? With Effin’ Birds, the most eagerly anticipated new volume in the noble avocation of bird identification, you can venture into nature with confidence. This farcical field guide will help you identify over 200 birds, but more importantly, for the first time in history, it will also help you understand what these birds are thinking: The vainglorious grebe is acutely aware of its own magnificence. The hipster pelican thinks the world is a shitbarge. The overbearing heron wishes you better luck next time, fucknuts. The counsellor swallow wants you to maybe try not being a dickhead... and many, many more. Alongside beautiful, scientifically accurate illustrations and a whole lot of swearing is incisive commentary on modern life and the world we, as humans, must navigate. Or maybe it’s just some pictures of effin’ birds, okay?

The Rending and the Nest
The Rending and the Nest

Author: Kaethe Schwehn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1632869748

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A chilling yet redemptive post-apocalyptic debut that examines community, motherhood, faith, and the importance of telling one's own story. When 95 percent of the earth's population disappears for no apparent reason, Mira does what she can to create some semblance of a life: She cobbles together a haphazard community named Zion, scavenges the Piles for supplies they might need, and avoids loving anyone she can't afford to lose. She has everything under control. Almost. Four years after the Rending, Mira's best friend, Lana, announces her pregnancy, the first since everything changed and a new source of hope for Mira. But when Lana gives birth to an inanimate object--and other women of Zion follow suit--the thin veil of normalcy Mira has thrown over her new life begins to fray. As the Zionites wrestle with the presence of these Babies, a confident outsider named Michael appears, proselytizing about the world beyond Zion. He lures Lana away and when she doesn't return, Mira must decide how much she's willing to let go in order to save her friend, her home, and her own fraught pregnancy. Like California by Edan Lepucki and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Rending and the Nest uses a fantastical, post-apocalyptic landscape to ask decidedly human questions: How well do we know the people we love? What sustains us in the midst of suffering? How do we forgive the brokenness we find within others--and within ourselves?

Real Pigeons Peck Punches (Book 5)
Real Pigeons Peck Punches (Book 5)

Author: Andrew McDonald

Publisher: Yearling

Published: 2024-07-16

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0593427238

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

It's a bird! It's... another bird? Well, actually it's a whole flock of crime-fighting pigeons! The hilarity continues in this reluctant-reader favorite, perfect for fans of BAD GUYS and DOG MAN. With the Real Pigeons World Wild Network, more pigeons are fighting crime than ever before! But that doesn't mean the squad can rest. There are still thieves to catch and endangered birds to protect! But what will the Real Pigeons do when they find a traitor in their own nest?!

The Age of Miracles
The Age of Miracles

Author: Karen Thompson Walker

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012-06-26

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0679644385

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People ∙ O: The Oprah Magazine ∙ Financial Times ∙ Kansas City Star ∙ BookPage ∙ Kirkus Reviews ∙ Publishers Weekly ∙ Booklist NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A stunner.”—Justin Cronin “It’s never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass—it’s the ones you don’t expect at all,” says Julia, in this spellbinding novel of catastrophe and survival by a superb new writer. Luminous, suspenseful, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles tells the haunting and beautiful story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in a time of extraordinary change. On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world. “Gripping drama . . . flawlessly written; it could be the most assured debut by an American writer since Jennifer Egan’s Emerald City.”—The Denver Post “Pure magnificence.”—Nathan Englander “Provides solace with its wisdom, compassion, and elegance.”—Curtis Sittenfeld “Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.