"Flyaway"

I haven't read it myself as yet, but "Flyaway" is a highly-rated 2009 volume about the life and times and experiences of a wild bird rehabililtator, Suzie Gilbert. Newly-out in paperback.

a Web review of it here:

http://10000birds.com/review-of-flyaway-by-suzie-gilbert.htm

and some more on Suzie Gilbert here:

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/flyaway

"Flyaway" a

Avian Evolution Questioned

Birds evolving from dinosaurs... not so fast. The birds-from-dinosaurs notion continues to be debated, even while accepted by a wide majority of scientists, and despite the "vagaries of the fossil record":


Tvar gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/

The Mystery of Bird Migration Continues

Now an olfactory component postulated to account for bird migration:


Nvar gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127110423.htm

Nvar gaJsHost = (("https:" ==

Candid Camera Reveals More Tool Use in Crows

 


 

 Using motion sensitive cameras in the wild British researchers document tool use by crows as previously demonstrated in the laboratory and elsewhere:

http://tinyurl.com/y99uc2f
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%

One of the World's Critical Questions...

"Why do pigeons walk with bobbing heads?" :

http://tinyurl.com/yel9uut
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Owl Pellets

And now for something totally different --- an owl pellet dissected:

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/nature/2009/12/please-open-before-christmas/

Owl Pellets

An owl pellet dissected:

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/nature/2009/12/please-open-before-christmas/var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost +

California Condor

 Friday video... the California Condor Comeback:



var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

The Intelligence of Crows

Friday video: a popular TED talk on the high intelligence of crows, and how we can use it:




var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");
pageTracker._

"A Year On the Wing" Enthralls

 Dee-licious, Dee-lightful!



"A Year on the Wing: Four Seasons in a Life With Birds" by Tim Dee



I'll cut to the chase: this is the most beautiful piece of nature-writing I have ever read. Period. There are other contenders, other great reads, but this taut, marvelous volume blew me away like no other.

I'd already been browsing this offering in a local bookstore for a couple of weeks

Archaeopteryx Revisited

Study challenges long-held notion that Archaeopteryx was a prototypical bird:http://tinyurl.com/yhp327pDespite widespread consensus the technical debates over bird evolution go on and on.try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._trackPageview();} catch(err) {}

"Essential Wisdom" of Crows

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));It's amazing how many volumes for public consumption have come out in recent years about crows or the avian corvid family they represent; a tribute to both the ubiquity, and the

Bird Evolution

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));The popular, common view that everyone hears is that birds evolved from dinosaurs; yes, those are miniature-seed-eating-feathered-brontosauruses at your backyard feeder... but NOT so

The Intelligence of Crows

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._trackPageview();} catch(err) {}

Penguin Poo

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));And now from the scatological sciences....Scientists are tracking penguin poop (guano, droppings... birdSH*T) from space, via satellite imaging, in order to tally colonies of Emperor

Birds Just Gotta Dance

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Good blog post from Ed Yong on dancing birds HERE, as made famous on the internet by "Snowball" the dancing cockatoo (lots of examples on YouTube). If you love birds, dancing, or

Cranes, Revered and Roasted...

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));A wonderful podcast below from Julie Zickefoose on "Life and Death Among the Cranes" --- what happens when an inveterate birdwatcher and nature-lover comes face-to-face with the fact

"Life List"

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));I've got a backlog of books to read at the moment, but one I'll have to add to the queue is Olivia Gentile's new (and first) volume "Life List" (here and here) which chronicles the

Birds In Serious Decline

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));ONE THIRD of all U.S. bird species are currently "endangered, threatened, or in serious decline" according to this New York Times article on the just-issued "U.S. State of the Birds"

"THE LIFE OF THE SKIES"

An Homage To Birds....I've long enjoyed Jonathan Rosen's essays in various places, and am a bird-lover, so it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to his work "The Life of the Skies" when I first heard it was due to be published. Thankfully, he didn't disappoint. This book won't meet everyone's desire, but for my taste it is the best, and most unconventional, bird-related volume out