Feathers
Feathers

Author: Robert Clark

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2016-04-12

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1452148929

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The award-winning National Geographic photographer captures the stunning variety and mystery of bird feathers in this acclaimed monograph. Robert Clark’s fascinating and brilliantly colorful images reveal the beauty and myriad functions of a seemingly simple thing: the bird feather. Each exquisitely detailed close-up is paired with informative text about the utility and evolution of the feather it depicts, making this handsome marriage of art and science the ideal gift for bird lovers, natural history buffs, and photography enthusiasts. “Art meets science in a poetic celebration of Earth’s astonishing diversity. Feathers is an intensely beautiful visual taxonomy and a photographic love letter to this poetic feat of evolution.” —Brain Pickings

Plumes from Paradise
Plumes from Paradise

Author: Pamela Swadling

Publisher: Sydney University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1743325460

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The natural resources of New Guinea and nearby islands have attracted outsiders for at least 5000 years: spices, aromatic woods and barks, resins, plumes, sea slugs, shells and pearls all brought traders from distant markets. Among the most sought-after was the bird of paradise. Their magnificent plumes bedecked the hats of fashion-conscious women in Europe and America, provided regalia for the Kings of Nepal, and decorated the headdresses of Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Plumes from Paradise tells the story of this interaction, and of the economic, political, social and cultural consequence for the island's inhabitants. It traces 400 years of economic and political history, culminating in the 'plume boom' of the early part of the 20th century, when an unprecedented number of outsiders flocked to the island's coasts and hinterlands. The story teems with the variety of people involved: New Guineans, Indonesians, Chinese, Europeans, hunters, traders, natural historians and their collectors, officials, missionaries, planters, miners, adventurers of every kind. In the wings were the conservationists, whose efforts brought the slaughter of the plume boom to an end and ushered in an era of comparative isolation for the island that lasted until World War II.

The Feather Thief
The Feather Thief

Author: Kirk Wallace Johnson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1101981628

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science Monitor A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief. On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

Birds of Paradise
Birds of Paradise

Author: Tim Laman

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1426209584

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this dazzling photo essay, Laman and Scholes present gorgeous full-color photographs of all 39 species of the Birds of Paradise that highlight their unique and extraordinary plumage and mating behavior.

Birds of Paradise
Birds of Paradise

Author: Clifford B. Frith

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 1998-07-09

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13: 9780198548539

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Birds of paradise have long played a central part in human mythologies and captured the imagination of collectors, scientists, and naturalists - and fashion designers. Birds of Paradise provides the first comprehensive, up-to-date, and scientifically accurate overview of the behaviour, biology, ecology, biogeography, and history of the most ornate and dramatic group of birds on earth. The book is illustrated by 12 superb, specially commissioned colour plates including all 42 species of birds of paradise, original line drawings of many behaviours never before recorded, maps, graphs, sonograms, and photographs. This stunning book will delight ornithologists and naturalists the world over.

Drawn from Paradise
Drawn from Paradise

Author: David Attenborough

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2013-04-16

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 0062275801

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the moment Europeans were introduced to the birds of paradise in the early sixteenth century, their unique beauty was recognized and commemorated in the first name that they were given - birds so beautiful they must be from paradise. Originally they were thought not to have legs and therefore never to land. Still very rarely encountered, even in their natural habitat of New Guinea, they are still birds that elicit sheer awe in those who are lucky enough to see them. Drawn From Paradise will showcase the magnificence and beauty of the birds of paradise as they have never before been seen, with more than two-hundred hand-painted images and sketches by the men who originally studied them and luminary artists such as Jacques Barraband, William Hart, John Gould, Rubens and Breughel, to name a few. The art comes from the private collections of the two authors and has been rarely if ever published. Not only will the book feature the beautiful Greater Bird of Paradise-a bird that was originally believed to have been sent from Paradise, and was thought to never touch the earth-but it will also present more than forty other distinct species currently recognized-each representing amazing differences in size, shape, and color patterning. The introduction provides a brief history into the discovery of these illustrious birds, from how they were originally perceived and idolized by the natives of New Guinea, to the arrival of Europeans, who were immediately captivated by their bright, vibrant colors. The chapters are ordered according to the sequence in which the birds representing the various genera made their appearance in Europe (thereby highlighting the books educational aspect). Within its pages, readers will catch a glimpse of these birds through vivid, highly-detailed painting, as well as learn more about each individual bird and genus-comparisons and contrasts between the males and females, as well as between the different genus's. A tour through art and history, with a good deal of ornithology thrown in, Drawn From Paradise is not only a must-have for ornithologists and bird-watchers, but also a beautiful collectible for students, artists, and aesthetes. Its central idea is to showcase the breathtaking beauty of these birds and the enormous interest that still surrounds them even today.