Download or read book Understanding Bird Behavior written by Wenfei Tong and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid, eye-opening view of why birds behave the way they do Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviors—from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from species around the world, Understanding Bird Behavior presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context. We discover how birds find food, relying on foraging techniques, tools, and thievery. We learn about the courtship rituals through which birds choose, compete for, woo, and win mates; the familial conflicts that crop up among parents, offspring, and siblings; and the stresses and strains of nesting, including territory defense, nepotism, and relationship sabotage. We see how birds respond to threats and danger—through such unique practices as murmurations, specific alarm calls, distraction displays, and antipredator nest design. We also read about how birds change certain behaviors—preening, migration, breeding, and huddling—based on climate. Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them. Drawing on classic examples and the latest research, Understanding Bird Behavior offers a close-up look at the many ways birds conduct themselves in the wild. Compelling insights into bird behavior Classic examples and the latest research, including work by citizen scientists Fascinating vignettes about the private lives of birds, from finding food and family life, to coping with climate and other threats 150 detailed color illustrations and photographs

Download or read book Peterson Reference Guide to Bird Behavior written by John Kricher and published by Peterson Reference Guides. This book was released on 2020 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look at what birds do and why they do it Both casual and serious birdwatchers can take their skills to the next level with this detailed consideration of bird behavior. This book makes it possible to move beyond identifying birds to understanding some of the underpinning and meaning to what birds do, how they do it, and why they do it. Written in an easy-to-understand style, with an abundance of photos illustrating the behaviors, the book shows how flight, molt, migration, feeding, predation, social behavior, courtship, and nesting shape birds' behaviors. Birds are everywhere, and easy to observe; this introduction to elements of bird behavior will connect readers more intimately with these remarkable and beguilingly perceptive animals.

Download or read book The Complexity of Bird Behaviour written by Paul M. W. Hackett and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-20 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the facet theoretical framework as a tool for facilitating the conception of complex animal behaviour research and the design of research procedures through employing mapping sentences. Using the facet theoretical framework, this book takes a holistic view of bird behaviour. Components of bird behavior are identified and then reassembled to facilitate an understanding of the behaviour in the context of its natural occurrence. This provides new insight on both the parts of the behaviour and how these interact as a whole. The multi-faceted approach to designing, evaluating and understanding bird behavior presented offers a template that is adaptable for investigating a wide variety of avian species and different forms of behaviour. Behavioural biologists, animal and comparative psychologists, other natural and behavioural scientists, as well as students of these disciplines will find this book to be an interesting and enlightening read.

Download or read book Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour written by Mike Hansell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-08-31 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour provides a broad view of our understanding of the biology of the nests, bowers and tools made by birds. It illustrates how, among vertebrates, the building abilities of birds are more impressive and consistent than for any other builders other than ourselves, yet birds seem to require no special equipment, and use quite uncomplicated behaviour. In doing so, the book raises general issues in the field of behavioural ecology including the costs of reproduction, sexual selection and the organisation and complexity of behaviour. Written for students and researchers of animal behaviour, behavioural ecology and ornithology, it will nevertheless make fascinating reading for architects and engineers interested in understanding how structures are created by animals.

Download or read book Understanding Bird Behaviour written by Stephen Moss and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The way birds behave is one of the vital keys to accurate identification and this book provides the experienced instruction needed to understand and get the most out of watching birds. The guide covers all the fundamental types of bird behaviour, including movement, feeding, breeding, migration, navigation, distribution, range, life and death, all of which are illustrated with beautiful photographs. There is a whole section dedicated to the behaviour of different species groups, from divers and grebes through to sparrows, buntings and finches.

Download or read book Bird Minds written by Gisela Kaplan and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2015-08-03 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be. She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels. The author brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds. Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds. In this fascinating volume, the author also presents recent changes in our understanding of the avian brain and links these to life histories and longevity. Following on from Gisela’s well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, as well as two earlier titles on birds, Bird Minds contends that the unique and often difficult conditions of Australia's environment have been crucial for the evolution of unusual complexities in avian cognition and behaviour.

Download or read book Nest Building and Bird Behavior written by Nicholas E. Collias and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a comprehensive study of nest-building behavior in birds. A much-needed synthesis of the previously scattered literature on this central aspect of avian biology, it is organized by behavior problems and focuses on evolution as its unifying theme. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Download or read book Weather and Bird Behaviour written by Norman Elkins and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-01-29 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic Poyser title, now in its third revised edition, discusses in depth the various ways in which weather conditions influence bird behaviour. Weather conditions affect food and water availability, decisions about when and how to migrate, timing and success of reproduction, flight style, and physical comfort. Birds display many adaptations in form and behaviour that help them to cope with changing weather conditions, and this fascinating book uses a great variety of examples to explore the subject in depth. The text is enhanced throughout with evocative line drawings, there are many useful tables and figures, and there is also an 8pp colour photograph section.

Download or read book The Sibley Guide to Bird Life Behavior written by David Allen Sibley and published by Alfred a Knopf Incorporated. This book was released on 2009 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides basic information about the biology, life cycles, and behavior of birds, along with brief profiles of each of the eighty bird families in North America.

Download or read book A Guide to Bird Behavior written by Donald W. Stokes and published by Little Brown & Company. This book was released on 1989 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the life histories, courtship and territorial behavior, songs and displays of twenty-five North American species

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.

Download or read book Birds written by Jonathan Elphick and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the avian world with this comprehensive and fully illustrated guide to every aspect of bird life. From anatomy, plumage, calls and songs, to breeding, habitats, migration, flight techniques, food and feeding, ornithologist Jonathan Elphick explains each of the significant elements of bird biology and behavior.

Download or read book Identifying Birds by Behaviour written by Dominic Couzens and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2005 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A companion to standard field guides which helps you identify birds by the way they fly, feed and flock Most traditional bird guides rely on you identifying birds by their colour and other physical features. But what if you cannot get good enough views to make a firm identification? This highly original guide by Dominic Couzens acts as a companion to standard identification guides, designed to provide a definitive answer for just these situations. Five of the very best bird artists have been specially commissioned to illustrate birds as you will actually see them behaving in the field. Arranged according to family, Identifying Birds by Behaviour helps you distinguish between different species by their size, shape, where they can be found and how they behave. Each family section begins with an overview of their habitat and distribution and then focuses on different aspects of bird behaviour, thereby allowing direct comparison between easily confusable species. Not only does this book help with identification, it also provides a unique visual insight into bird behaviour. Identifying Birds by Behaviour marks an important innovation in bird guides, and is one that no birder can afford

Download or read book The Bird Way written by Jennifer Ackerman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. “There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries –– What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

Download or read book Bird Behavior written by Robert Burton and published by Alfred A. Knopf. This book was released on 1985 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the interplay of instinct, intelligence and learning that governs the lives and habits of feathered species.

Download or read book The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America written by Donald Stokes and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2010-10-25 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The culmination of many years of research, observation, and study, the new STOKES FIELD GUIDE includes more species, more photographs, and more useful identification information than any other photographic field guide. The guide features 853 North American bird species and more than 3,400 stunning color photographs. And yet it's portable enough to fit in your pocket! The photographs cover all significant plumages, including male, female, summer, winter, immature, morphs, important subspecies, and birds in flight. Also included * the newest scientific and common names and phylogenetic order; * special help for identifying birds in flight through important clues of behavior, plumage, and shape; * detailed descriptions of songs and calls; * important behavioral information; * key habitat preferences of each species; and * the newest range maps, detailing species' winter, summer, year-round ranges, and migration routes. * a special downloadable CD with more than 600 bird sounds (from Lang Elliott and Kevin Colver) and 150 photographs: the calls and songs of 150 common North American species.

Download or read book Songs of Love and War written by Dominic Couzens and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A naturalist's journey to explore and understand the birds that fill the air with their music. The dawn chorus: a single voice cutting through the darkness heralds a breaking wave of sound at the very beginning of the day. It is an iconic natural phenomenon with many familiar performers, yet it is a mysterious event for which there is no complete explanation. A mass of starlings gathers at the end of the midwinter day. As the sun sets, wave upon wave of bodies rolls in and embarks upon another of nature's great attempts to show off. The murmuration is another much-admired spectacle, but again its purpose is obscure and defies our understanding. From dawn until dusk, birds do things that are surprising and mystifying. Songs of Love and War delves into bird behaviour and uncovers its purpose and meaning. More than just an inside look at bird behaviour, this book also represents a personal journey of discovery. What starts as a desire to learn more about the birds encountered on a regular father-and-son walk through the woods leads to a realisation that a bird's life is very far from the idyllic scene that can often be glimpsed by the casual birdwatcher. Actually a bird's life is often unusual and surprising, but above all it is brief and much darker than you might think.