Download or read book Continental Birdlife written by and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book South American and Antarctic Continental Cenozoic Birds written by Claudia P. Tambussi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-25 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern birds (Neornithes) are represented by two big lineages, the Palaeognathae (Tinamiformes + Ratitae) and the Neognathae [Galloanserae + Neoaves (Metaves + Coronoaves)]. Both clades sum approximately 10,000 species of which 60% are Passeriformes (the most diverse clade of terrestrial vertebrates). A comparison between the past and the present reveals a complex and hallmarked evolutionary and biogeographic history which would have begun over 65 million years ago. For South America (SA) this includes: (1) the presence of taxa with uncertain affinities and the absence of Passeriformes during the Paleogene; (2) a progressive and accelerated increase of the species starting at the Neogene (Miocene); (3) important extinct lineages (e.g. Phorusrhacidae, Teratornithidae) that migrate to North America after the rising of the Panamá isthmus; (4) groups with major diversification in the Neogene that survives nowadays represented by scarce species endemic of SA (Cariamidae) or that inhabits mainly in the southern hemisphere (Anhingidae); (5) very diverse living groups with scarce (e.g., Passeriformes) or none (e.g., Apodiformes) fossil record in SA, which stem-groups are registered in Europe. Apparently, the changes in diversity of the south American Neornithes have been the result of successive radiation, biogeographic connections with North America and in a minor scale, some extinctions. The opening of the Drake ́s passage and the occurrence of the circumpolar Antarctic flow are not sufficient causes to explain the highly disparity between the weddelians penguins (Sphenisciformes) of Antartica and those of the patagonian Atlantic Ocean.

Download or read book Naturalized Parrots of the World written by Stephen Pruett-Jones and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The first book to look at naturalized parrots with a global perspective, with a wide range of chapters by 36 leading researchers"--

Download or read book Wildlife Review written by and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Advanced Birding written by National Audubon Society and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1990 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering thirty-five of the most difficult groups of birds, from winter loons to confusing fall warblers, jaegers to chickadees, accipiters to flycatchers, this clearly written and beautifully illustrated field guide tells exactly how to solve the most challenging bird identification problems of North America.

Download or read book Roger Tory Peterson written by Douglas Carlson and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with his 1934 Field Guide to the Birds, Roger Tory Peterson introduced literally millions of people to the pleasures of observing birds in the wild. His field guide, which has gone through five editions and sold more than four million copies, fostered an appreciation for the natural world that set the stage for the contemporary environmental movement. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sounded a warning about the threat to birds and their habitats in the 1960s, the Peterson field guides had already prepared the public and the scientific community to heed the warning and fight to save habitat and protect endangered species—a result that Peterson wholeheartedly approved. In this authoritative, highly readable biography of Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996), Douglas Carlson creates a fascinating portrait of the complex, often conflicted man behind the brand name. He describes how Peterson's obsession with birds began in boyhood and continued throughout a multifaceted career as a painter, writer, educator, environmentalist, and photographer. Carlson traces Peterson's long struggle to become both an accomplished bird artist and a scientific naturalist—competing goals that drove Peterson to work to the point of exhaustion and that also deprived him of many aspects of a normal personal life. Carlson also records Peterson's many lasting achievements, from the phenomenal success of the field guides, to the bird paintings that brought him renown as "the twentieth century's Audubon," to the establishment of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute to carry on his work in conservation and education.

Download or read book Hawaiian Birdlife written by Andrew John Berger and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Peacocks Picathartes written by Rupert Watson and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peacocks & Picathartes is a celebration of the diversity of African birds, focusing on families that occur only in Africa as well as iconic families and species that, despite having close relatives in other parts of the world, seem to embody something of Africa. Watson’s anecdotal style captures vividly his encounters with prized species, such the secretive White-necked Picathartes and the elusive Congo Peacock. He conveys the sheer delight mousebirds take in ‘being what they are’, and reveals the surprise discovery in 1991 of a new partridge in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains. Drawing on precolonial and current-day avian accounts, he offers his own insights based on a lifetime of personal observations in the wilds of Africa – recounting unforgettable expeditions, quirky bird behaviour, jittery taxonomy, moments of rare good luck – and much more. Both informative and entertaining, this book captures the essence of African birdlife, and will appeal to bird enthusiasts across the spectrum. Sales points: Delightful accounts of more than 40 bird families and species, filled with anecdotes and fascinating stories. Brilliant illustrations by a celebrated natural history artist; both informative and entertaining; excellent all-seasons gift for bird and nature enthusiasts.

Download or read book The Ascent of Birds written by John Reilly and published by Pelagic Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2018-04-16 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When and where did the ancestors of modern birds evolve? What enabled them to survive the meteoric impact that wiped out the dinosaurs? How did these early birds spread across the globe and give rise to the 10,600-plus species we recognise today ― from the largest ratites to the smallest hummingbirds? Based on the latest scientific discoveries and enriched by personal observations, The Ascent of Birds sets out to answer these fundamental questions. The Ascent of Birds is divided into self-contained chapters, or stories, that collectively encompass the evolution of modern birds from their origins in Gondwana, over 100 million years ago, to the present day. The stories are arranged in chronological order, from tinamous to tanagers, and describe the many dispersal and speciation events that underpin the world's 10,600-plus species. Although each chapter is spearheaded by a named bird and focuses on a specific evolutionary mechanism, the narrative will often explore the relevance of such events and processes to evolution in general. The book starts with The Tinamou’s Story, which explains the presence of flightless birds in South America, Africa, and Australasia, and dispels the cherished role of continental drift as an explanation for their biogeography. It also introduces the concept of neoteny, an evolutionary trick that enabled dinosaurs to become birds and humans to conquer the planet. The Vegavis's Story explores the evidence for a Cretaceous origin of modern birds and why they were able to survive the asteroid collision that saw the demise not only of dinosaurs but of up to three-quarters of all species. The Duck's Story switches to sex: why have so few species retained the ancestral copulatory organ? Or, put another way, why do most birds exhibit the paradoxical phenomenon of penis loss, despite all species requiring internal fertilisation? The Hoatzin's Story reveals unexpected oceanic rafting from Africa to South America: a stranger-than-fiction means of dispersal that is now thought to account for the presence of other South American vertebrates, including geckos and monkeys. The latest theories underpinning speciation are also explored. The Manakin’s Story, for example, reveals how South America’s extraordinarily rich avifauna has been shaped by past geological, oceanographic and climatic changes, while The Storm-Petrel’s Story examines how species can evolve from an ancestral population despite inhabiting the same geographical area. The thorny issue of what constitutes a species is discussed in The Albatross's Story, while The Penguin’s Story explores the effects of environment on phenotype ― in the case of the Emperor penguin, the harshest on the planet. Recent genomic advances have given scientists novel approaches to explore the distant past and have revealed many unexpected journeys, including the unique overland dispersal of an early suboscine from Asia to South America (The Sapayoa’s Story) and the blackbird's ancestral sweepstake dispersals across the Atlantic (The Thrush’s Story). Additional vignettes update more familiar concepts that encourage speciation: sexual selection (The Bird-of-Paradise's Story); extended phenotypes (The Bowerbird's Story); hybridisation (The Sparrow's Story); and 'great speciators' (The White-eye's Story). Finally, the book explores the raft of recent publications that help explain the evolution of cognitive skills (The Crow's Story); plumage colouration (The Starling's Story); and birdsong (The Finch's Story)

Download or read book Birds in Ireland written by Clive Hutchinson and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Birdwatching has become an increasingly popular pastime in Ireland as elsewhere. Nor is all of the birdwatching done by the Irish. Many professional ornithologists from Britain and Western Europe find good reason to study Ireland's birds, as do the numerous birdwatching visitors each year. Clive Hutchinson, a leading Irish ornithologist, has compiled this comprehensive review of birds in the Republic and Northern Ireland to coincide with the 21st anniversary year of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy's foundation and he has had the IWC's active support throughout. Knowledge about the status and distribution of birds in Ireland has increased greatly since the 1960s and this is reflected in the detailed species accounts which form the major part of the book. Factors which led to this greater knowledge, recent changes in bird distribution and status, and reasons for the absence of some species are topics discussed in the book's introductory chapters. Other subjects covered are Ireland's topography, climate and habitats, a review of ornithology and ornithologists in Ireland over the last 100 years, and conservation programmes of more recent times. John Busby's superb illustrations (more than 100) are a feature of the book, helping to set the Irish scene as well as depict its birds.

Download or read book The Birds of Leicestershire and Rutland written by Rob Fray and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2009-08-14 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new title in the successful County Avifaunas series, this is an in-depth study of the status and distribution of every birdspecies known to have occurred in the region, with a detailed review ofrarity records.

Download or read book The Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas written by Troy E. Corman and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines over 270 species of birds known to breed in Arizona, complete with color photos and nesting and migratory data.

Download or read book The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland written by Peter Lack and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This companion volume to The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Britain and Ireland is derived from surveys of birds present in Britain and Ireland during the three winters, 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84. The surveys were organised by the British Trust for Ornithology and the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, as were the earlier breeding birds surveys. The Winter Atlas maps 200 species, 192 of which have full-page two-colour maps faced by a page of text. The texts (written by over 100 specialists) comment on the survey results, the species generally and the distribution and abundance as mapped. In addition there are introductory chapters on the maps, the weather in the three winters, bird patterns and movements; and appendices describing the planning, organisation, field methods, and processing of the survey data from record cards to computer output and maps. A team of 23 artists, led by Robert Gillmor, has provided the line drawings which head the species accounts.

Download or read book Birds of Essex written by Simon Wood and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an essential reference for anybody who has watched birds in this amazing county. The County Avifaunas give full details of the status and range of every species recorded in the county in question. Each title covers all species on the county list, with a detailed breakdown of rarity records, and each has introductory sections describing the county's general ecology, climate, weather patterns, its ornithological history and conservation record. Essex is of national and international importance to many migrating and wintering wildfowl and waders, which can be found on the estuaries. Further inland, the Lea Valley harbours important populations of several species within the complex of reservoirs and gravel-pits. Elsewhere, the diverse habits of woodland and parkland, heaths and commons, agricultural land and urban areas mean that at all times of year there is the opportunity to see upwards of 100 species in a day with little effort. This book analyses and summarises all the data collated and documented over the last 200 years and includes available records to the end of 2004. Introductory chapters discuss the geology and habitats of Essex and the amazing fossil bird record. The individual accounts provide an up-to-date status of each species and patterns of occurrence within Essex. A distribution map is included for most breeding species. A breakdown and analysis are provided for all county rarities. Superb line drawings and photographs illustrate the book, all by talented local artists and photographers.

Download or read book Birds in Wales written by Roger Lovegrove and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume sets out for the first time the historical and current status of all the bird species found in Wales together with their present distribution. The rugged countryside of Wales has long been a destination for successive generations of naturalists, ornithologists, oologists and, latterly, birdwatchers. Since the pioneering days of Willoughby and Ray, Pennant and Edward Llwyd, a growing number of intrepid travellers have recorded the wildlife and other natural riches of the mountains and coastlines of Wales. Despite these beginnings and the more recent twentieth century vogue for birdwatching, no volume on the birds of Wales has been produced until now to serve the increasing need for scientifically valid information for conservation purposes. In the years that have passed since the first naturalists visited Wales, changes of unimaginable scale have taken place in the Welsh countryside which have had equally dramatic impacts on the native bird communities. A succession of bird species have either been eliminated deliberately by the hand of man - mainly birds of prey - or have been dispossessed by changes in land use, the spread of industrialisation, urbanisation and pollution, trends which continue today to the increasing detriment of even some of our most familiar countryside birds. Much fine habitat remains however, and new species have come in to colonise Wales and add to the magic of its countryside. The three authors, all staff of the RSPB in Wales, have between them an accumulated experience of some 80 years of first-hand knowledge of birds in the Principality. Their knowledge and love of the birds and Wales itself makes this authoritative volume a landmark both in Welsh and ornithological publishing.

Download or read book Birds in Scotland written by Valerie M. Thom and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The most important work on the birds of Scotland ever published' - British Birds This comprehensive study and review of the birds in Scotland follows on from where the celebrated two volumes of The Birds of Scotland (1953), by Dr Baxter and Miss Rintoul, left off. It does more than that, however, since not only has there been a profound increase in ornithological coverage and data (as reflected in the species accounts), there have also been great changes in habitat and environment since the days of Baxter & Rintoul. These aspects form the themes of the ten preliminary chapters reviewing the Scottish scene today in terms of habitat, conservation, birdwatching and the changes in species status and distribution. The species accounts, the backbone of the book, review the period 1950-83 but include, where practicable, records of rarities and details of counts up to the spring of 1985; there are also brief summaries of earlier data based on the researches of Baxter & Rintoul. In all, 497 species are dealt with. The texts of major species accounts are complemented by 173 distribution maps and many tables of relevant data, and there are 129 species drawings by a team of artists under the editorship of Donald Watson, who also contributes chapter head pieces and other drawings. A section of photographs illustrates the varied habitats typical of Scotland today. There are, further, appendices and an extensive bibliography. The book will be of great interest to all birdwatchers in Scotland but of special value, too, to the many thousands of birdwatching visitors from elsewhere in these islands and from countries abroad. The Scottish Ornithologists' Club, for whom the book is published, and all whose records and researches made the author's work possible, have reason to be proud of Valerie Thom's achievement.

Download or read book RSPB Handbook of British Birds written by Peter Holden and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling RSPB Handbook of British Birds is the most comprehensive reference for birdwatchers of all levels of interest and experience. Now in its fifth edition, it remains the most accessible field guide to more than 300 bird species likely to be encountered in Britain and Ireland. Alongside artworks depicting all common plumages, the detailed text describes each bird's behaviour, habitat, voice, breeding biology, longevity and seasonal movements, as well as other useful information. The guide also includes UK population trends and up-to-date distribution maps. Completely revised and updated, this fifth edition also features new artwork and comparison spreads, additional rarities and the most recent taxonomic order, as well as each species' conservation status, a summary of the threats UK species are currently facing and details of what conservationists are doing to help. A new lay-flat binding has also been used, creating easier access to the species accounts at home or in the field.