The Life of Birds - Hardcover

Attenborough, Sir David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 069101633X ISBN 13: 9780691016337

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Based on the spectacular ten-part program on PBS, "The Life of Birds" is David Attenborough at his characteristic best: presenting the drama, beauty, and eccentricities of the natural world with unusual flair and intelligence. The renowned writer and filmmaker treks through rain forests and deserts, through city streets and isolated wilderness, to bring us an illuminating panorama of every aspect of birds' lives - from their songs to their search for food, from their eggs and nests to their mastery of the air. Beautifully illustrated with more than a hundred color photographs, the book will delight and inform both bird lovers and any general reader with an interest in nature. Attenborough begins at the beginning: reviewing ideas about how and when creatures first took to the air - and why ostriches, kiwis, and other flightless birds later returned to the ground. He introduces us to the marvels of flight. We encounter the albatross, which can soar for hours without flapping its wings; hummingbirds that beat their wings two hundred times a minute; and the swift, which eats, sleeps, and mates in mid-air. We read about birds' extraordinary methods of hunting and gathering - about crows that use twigs and leaves to hook and harpoon insects, and eagles that can stamp venomous snakes to death. Attenborough explains why and how birds sing and why many have such dazzling plumage. He reviews courtship and mating strategies, including the extravagant dances of cranes and the bizarre and ornate pavilions that male bowerbirds build to attract females. We learn how birds defend their young against predators. Attenborough explains how birds have colonized the globe more effectively than any other vertebrates, adapting to Antarctic winters and African summers, to vast oceans and the densest, most polluted cities. He also outlines the threat that humans pose to many species, showing how we have already driven many to extinction. The book presents birds in all their complexity and glory, revealing in clear and elegant prose Attenborough's infectious sense of wonder about the rich variety of life on Earth.

About this title

Review:

Frigatebirds balloon their bright red necks. Blue-footed boobies strut about in brilliant cobalt shoes. Great egrets sprout snow-white plumes. Whether it's a tiny hummingbird or a giant moa, no bird can escape the evolutionary pressure to impress, outwit and outdo in the struggle to survive. And when it comes to the ever-popular books about birds, a similar pressure seems to be operating. In this splendid accompaniment to the BBC TV series, natural selection has clearly carried the day.

Lyrical descriptions and colourful photos do our feathered friends ample justice--along with sightings of the hilarious and the downright bizarre. Take the drab potoo, for instance: positioning himself at the top of a snag--head raised, eyes closed--he all but disappears. Or the diversity of avian abodes: nests range from the barely discernible cliff scrape of the razorbill to the 6-ft-high penthouse of the hamerkop. Attenborough's quest for the most striking birds takes us from Pyrenees peaks to the ice of Antarctica, flushing bare-necked umbrella birds, torrent ducks and the brilliant orange, bunny-hopping cock of the rock. Bird lovers will flock to this exceptional book. --Martha Silano

Review:

"A highly readable and vibrantly photographed survey of bird behavior. . . . Ample color photos illustrate the quirks of evolution that Attenborough playfully describes and highlight the scope of his project. . . . This is not a long book. But it is an extraordinarily rich one."--Publishers Weekly

"Each chapter is an entertaining and chatty essay that rambles amiably through a series of observations from the ornithological literature. Nearly every page is graced with stunning photographs of wild birds in the most beautiful plumages or performing unusual postures or behaviors. The book is an easy read that covers an enormous amount of information on the biology of birds."--The Quarterly Review of Biology

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 069101633X
• ISBN 13: 9780691016337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320