Month: May 2023

(the rest of the subtitle says: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing) This book doesn’t really get into the mind of birds, like the title might lead you to believe. For that, read something like The Genius of Birds or Bird Brain. Instead, it’s a book full of beautifully clear illustrations and facts about birds- their physiology, mating behavior, nest building, migration strategies and so on. As some other readers have pointed out, the organization is a bit strange, and it’s not really meant to be read straight through cover to cover, but that’s what I did and I actually enjoyed it. Sometimes I just want to sink into a bunch of facts about animals. This one was an easy read, and plenty interesting.

The first section has a lot of general information about physical attributes and behavior particular to birds. Main part of the book is double spreads on individual species or closely related species- some of these pages highlight facts specifically about those birds, most however use the single bird to give an example of details that could apply to any bird. So I was kind of starting to wonder why it didn’t mention things I think are important to know about particular birds, like that european starlings are considered invasive and outcompete native birds in our country (some people hate them for it). But then at the end you get to a spread of pages that lists all the birds mentioned in the book, and gives more details on them in particular. Eh.

So what did I learn? Well, a lot of it was review for me, honestly. Still enjoyable. Loved the illustrations. I tried hard to understand the stuff about how feather structure causes the brilliant colors we see in birds, but even though it seemed to be clearly explained, I couldn’t quite grasp it. The info about how birds navigate and how they produce two sounds at once, that was easier to get. I was surprised and curious to learn that coots (which my brain lumps with grebes) are more closely related to cranes than to ducks, and that grebes themselves are most closely related to flamingos! Did you know that while adult gulls will readily eat human trash, they don’t take that back to their offspring, but feed the chicks only nutritious food like fresh fish. Cedar waxwings have yellow-tipped tail feathers, the color comes from a chemical in fruits they eat. But if they eat berries from alien asian honeysuckle, which has a different chemical that influences color, their tail edges turn orange. (I think I read this in another book before). Also, a fact I may have vaguely been aware of before but it was never really pointed out to me: birds that have strong sexual dimorphism, with males brightly colored and females simple or dull colors, are usually migratory birds. The males arrive first on territory in spring, compete with other males, and then have to show off to the females to win a mate. So the females select for prettiest males (or most impressive songs) and they just get more beautiful every year. In many of those species, the male leaves after mating and the female raises the offspring alone. In contrast, birds that stay in the same place all year, the males and females look the same, and also share the parenting duties pretty equally. Interesting. I feel like I have to think about this more, there might be more implied there.

Borrowed from the public library.

This book by a wildlife photographer is about the nineteen different owl species that live in the US and Canada. It’s arranged by season- so one section will describe what owls do and struggle with in the fall, the spring chapter is about finding and holding territories, courtship and mating. Summer chapter describes how the young are raised, what they feed on, successful fledging etc. And the winter segment tells how young owls face their first winter, overall their survival strategies including migration or dispersal to wider ranges to find enough food. There’s quite a bit of overlap (some of it feels repetitive) but each section has good details on how the different owls lead their lives. Especially about how they utilize different parts of habitat and their very specific needs for certain tree types or age of the forest. From the impressive great grey owls and snowy owls, the famed northern spotted owl (at least it is in my mind, for controversy over reducing timber harvest to protect habitat this species needs) to diminutive pygmy owls and elf owls. Then there’s northern hawk owls (a species I didn’t know about), the cute and gregarious burrowing owls, and the swift-flying short-eared owl. And more. A lot of the info about their predatory habits and chick-raising methods felt really familiar since I just read a book about hawks (or buzzards as they’re called in Europe) and both types of birds are, of course, raptors. Especially the part about how some owls (and the buzzards) raise large broods with staggered hatching times. This means that the oldest chicks are a lot larger than the youngest, and commandeer most of the food. It might seem cruel, but is a survival strategy. If suddenly there’s not enough food- such as from a rodent population crash- the younger and weaker chicks soon starve, and what little food is available goes to the older ones, so at least one of those may survive. Some owls (and those buzzards) will even feed the dead offspring to the living ones, making the older chicks cannibals.

But what really makes this book is the photographs. They’re just stunning. Large, excellent, beautiful focus and pose, capturing tender moments, battles between rivals (or between owls and other birds of prey), owls poised in flight, snagging prey, the awkward and endearing fluffiness of young ones just out of the nest, clinging to branches. I went through the book entirely all over again a second time, turning every page to look long at the pictures. The alien-looking angular faces of half-feathered barn owl chicks. The curiously wrinkled eyelids on young flammulated owls. The scowling visage of three great-horned owl nestlings in a cave. The wide-eyed startled-looking cuteness of burrowing owls, all lined up in a row.

Similar read: The Hidden Life of Owls.

Borrowed from the public library.