The Wonderful Mr Willughby

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 140883054X
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bird Sense written by Tim Birkhead and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0241990149
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Birds and Us written by Tim Birkhead and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2022-03-03 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes us on an epic and dazzling journey through this mutual history with birds. Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art and philosophy, from the ibises mummified by Ancient Egyptians and Renaissance experiments on the woodpecker to the Victorian obsessions with egg collecting and our present fight to save endangered species. Weaving in stories from his own life as a scientist, this rich and fascinating book is the culmination of a lifetime's research and unforgettably shows how birds shaped us, and how we have shaped them. 'Thought-provoking at every turn, this inspiring, shocking, wonder-filled exploration of our relationship with birds' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 'A fascinating book about the close and often surprising relationship between birds and people' Stephen Moss

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408137771
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Magpies: The Ecology and Behaviour of Black-Billed and Yellow-Billed Magpies written by Tim Birkhead and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two species of magpie feature in this book, the Black-billed Magpie, familiar to most Europeans, which occurs throughout much of the northern hemisphere, and the Yellow-billed Magpie, which is confined to California. Magpies are unmistakable in their appearance, voice and extrovert, arrogant manner. While their persecution at the hands of gamekeepers over the last hundred years has made them wary and difficult to approach, a number of recent field studies, both in Europe and North America, have successfully revealed the intricacies of the magpie way of life. Tim Birkhead has studied both species, and has produced a fascinating account of their ecology and behaviour. Many of the results from his ten-year study of magpies in northern England are published here for the first time. Particularly revealing however is his comparison of the two species and of their different races. Magpies occur in a wide range of habitats, including English farmland, the deserts of North America, the mountains of Saudi Arabia and the windswept plateaus of Tibet. As this book explains, magpies are able to exploit this diversity of habitats largely through their remarkably flexible social behaviour. The Magpies covers all aspects of their lives, including their marital relationships, food hoarding behaviour, longevity and survival, nesting behaviour, breeding success and their controversial relationship with man. The text is supported by numerous photographs, diagrams and tables, and superb illustrations by David Quinn.

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 140887850X
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Wonderful Mr Willughby written by Tim Birkhead and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Birkhead has combined ingenuity and perseverance to produce an evocative portrait of a great pioneer in the scientific study of birds' Literary Review Francis Willughby lived and thrived in the midst of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Along with his Cambridge tutor John Ray, Willughby was determined to overhaul the whole of natural history and impose order on its complexity. It was exhilarating, exacting and exhausting work. Yet before Willughby and Ray could complete their monumental encyclopaedia of birds, Ornithology, Willughby died. In the centuries since, Ray's reputation has grown, obscuring that of his collaborator. Now, for the first time, Willughby's own story and genius are given the attention they deserve. Tim Birkhead celebrates how Willughby's endeavours set a standard for the way birds and natural history should be studied. Rich with glorious detail, The Wonderful Mr Willughby is a fascinating insight into a thrilling period of scientific history and a lively biography of a man who lived at its heart.

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1632863715
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Most Perfect Thing written by Tim Birkhead and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bird's egg is a nearly perfect survival capsule--an external womb--and one of natural selection's most wonderful creations. Shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016.One of Forbes' Best Books About Birds and Birding in 2016. Renowned ornithologist Tim Birkhead opens this gripping story as a female guillemot chick hatches, already carrying her full quota of tiny eggs within her undeveloped ovary. As she grows into adulthood, only a few of her eggs mature, are released into the oviduct, and are fertilized by sperm stored from copulation that took place days or weeks earlier. Within a matter of hours, the fragile yolk is surrounded by albumen and the whole is gradually encased within a turquoise jewel of a shell. Soon the fully formed egg is expelled onto a rocky ledge, where it will be incubated for four weeks before a chick emerges and the life cycle begins again. THE MOST PERFECT THING is about how eggs in general are made, fertilized, developed, and hatched. Birkhead uses birds' eggs as wondrous portals into natural history, enlivened by the stories of naturalists and scientists, including Birkhead and his students, whose discoveries have advanced current scientific knowledge of reproduction.

Author : David Cram
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1351935879
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Francis Willughby's Book of Games written by David Cram and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Francis Willughby's Book of Games, published here for the first time, is a remarkable work and an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in early modern social history. Dating from the 1660s, it was left unfinished when the writer died in 1672 at the age of 36. Nevertheless, Willughby's manuscript, even in its unpolished form is a goldmine of detail providing a snapshot of mid seventeenth century life, language and culture. The manuscript itself lists a wide variety of sports, games and pastimes, including football, hurling, card games, tennis and children's games. As well as providing rules and a description of the various games (often with accompanying sketches to explain particular points) there are numerous fascinating snippets of related information (such as the care of fighting cocks), that bring the subject to life, whilst the section on children's games is particularly poignant. Besides the intrinsic interest of the subject matter, the fact that Willughby embarked on the project from a scientific perspective adds to the value of the book. Willughby had been admitted to the Royal Society in 1661 and for a number of years prior to that had been collaborating with the naturalist John Ray. It is clear that Willughby's Book of Games was highly influenced by his scientific pursuits and was an extension of his natural history work, utilising the same skills of systematic observation, description and classification. Providing not only a word-for word transcription of the Book of Games, this volume also contains a host of interpretative material to complement the original data. As well as a biography of Willughby and a detailed description of his manuscript, a substantial glossary of games and obsolete terms is provided, together with a bibliography of Willughby's literary remains and more general reference works. Taken together, this publication provides an unparalleled resource for scholars of early modern England.

Author : Tim Birkhead
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408849437
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Red Canary written by Tim Birkhead and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creation of Dolly the sheep in the 1990s was for many people the start of a new era: the age of genetically modified animals. However, the idea was not new for in the 1920s an amateur scientist, Hans Duncker, decided to genetically engineer a red canary. Though his experiments failed, they paved the way for others to succeed when it was recognised that the canary needed to be both a product of nature and nurture. This highly original narrative, of huge contemporary relevance, reveals how the obsession with turning the wild canary from green to red heralded the exciting but controversial developments in genetic manipulation.

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004285326
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby FRS (1635-1672) written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Francis Willughby transformed the study of natural history in the mid-1600s. Using previously unexplored archives and new discoveries we show that Willughby was a polymath, a true virtuoso, who made original contributions to many different fields of endeavor.

Author : Steve N. G. Howell
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400890039
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Birds of Chile written by Steve N. G. Howell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cutting-edge photographic field guide to the birds of Chile This is the first modern-style photographic field guide to the birds of Chile, an increasingly popular destination with birders and naturalists. Compact and easy to carry, pack, and use, Birds of Chile is ideal for curious naturalists and experienced birders alike, providing everything anyone needs to identify the birds they see. Clear photographs and brief, facing-page species accounts highlight what to look for and how to quickly identify species. The photos include both close-ups and birds-in-habitat images to further aid real-life identification. An introduction and maps provide an overview of Chile's geographic regions and their distinctive birdlife. Birds of Chile is also a great resource for birding in nearby countries, especially Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. The first field-friendly photographic guide to the birds of Chile More than 1,000 real-life photos and brief, facing-page text make bird identification easy Overview and maps describe the distinct bird regions of Chile Perfect for curious naturalists and experienced birders alike Compact and easy to carry and pack Also a great resource for birding in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru

Author : Tucker Malarkey
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1984801708
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stronghold written by Tucker Malarkey and published by Random House. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PNBA BESTSELLER • “A powerful and inspiring story. Guido Rahr’s mission to save the wild Pacific salmon leads him into adventures that make for a breathtakingly exciting read.”—Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia Editors’ Choice: The New York Times Book Review • Outside Magazine • National Book Review • Forbes In the tradition of Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Orchid Thief, Stronghold is Tucker Malarkey’s eye-opening account of one of the world’s greatest fly fishermen and his crusade to protect the world’s last bastion of wild salmon. From a young age, Guido Rahr was a misfit among his family and classmates, preferring to spend his time in the natural world. When the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline, Guido was one of the few who understood why. As dams, industry, and climate change degraded the homes of these magnificent fish, Rahr saw that the salmon of the Pacific Rim were destined to go the way of their Atlantic brethren: near extinction. An improbable and inspiring story, Stronghold takes us on a wild adventure, from Oregon to Alaska to one of the world’s last remaining salmon strongholds in the Russian Far East, a landscape of ecological richness and diversity that is rapidly being developed for oil, gas, minerals, and timber. Along the way, Rahr contends with scientists, conservationists, Russian oligarchs, corrupt officials, and unexpected allies in an attempt to secure a stronghold for the endangered salmon, an extraordinary keystone species whose demise would reverberate across the planet. Tucker Malarkey, who joins Rahr in the Russian wilderness, has written a clarion call for a sustainable future, a remarkable work of natural history, and a riveting account of a species whose future is closely linked to our own. Praise for Stronghold “This book isn’t just about fish, it’s about life itself and the fragile unseen threads that connect all creatures across this beleaguered orb we call home. Guido Rahr’s quest to save the world’s wild salmon should serve as an inspiration—and a provocation—for us all, and Tucker Malarkey’s exquisite book captures Rahr’s weird and wonderful story with poignancy, humor, and grace.”—Hampton Sides, author of In the Kingdom of Ice and Blood and Thunder “A crazy-good, intensely lived book that reads like an international thriller—only it’s our beloved salmon playing the part of diamonds or oil or gold.”—David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K