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How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity: A Book Review by a Non-Science Person

10,000 Birds

Doug Futuyma believes in science and in the scientific basis of evolution. How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity by Douglas J. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a very different kind of book than popular books about bird behavior, which rely on story as much as science.

Science 228
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Is the White-naped Xenopsaris Migratory? or The Limits of Citizen Science

10,000 Birds

The White-naped Xenopsaris is a member of the Tityra family (Tityridae), a newish family of mostly South American birds carved from various oddball birds formerly lumped with the manakins, the tyrant-flycatchers and the cotingas. From a three line stub it now has a full article. It was both mysterious and plain. .

Science 111
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Vagrancy in Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. The Family Accounts are the fun part of the book. The Family Accounts are also a deeply informational, documented source of information for researchers.

Birds 263
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The Bird Way: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

For one thing, we become more aware of cultural biases in our science (new findings on warbling female birds, for example, reveal both gender and geographic biases). Many popular science books have neither. As Ackerman explains in her Introduction, studying extreme behavior brings new insight into what we think we know.

Research 237
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Bird Talk: An Exploration of Avian Communication–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Bird communication is a complex and evolving science. Ballantine and Hyman explore how birds communicate and summarize studies on how that communication functions in diverse bird families all over the world. There are no footnotes and the two-page list of books and articles for “Further Reading” is selective.

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Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Birkhead, the experienced storyteller who is also Emeritus Professor at the School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, author of multiple scientific articles as well as books of popular science, knows how to make it readable and fun.

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Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce & Conservation: A Book Review by a Curious Bird Feeder

10,000 Birds

There is a long list of articles and books on how to feed birds in your yard. I greatly enjoyed reading these articles on diverse topics such as suet, nyjer seed, the development of humming-bird feeders, rarities at feeders, wild bird feeding in Latin America and the Caribbean, and, importantly, “funding for birds and wildlife.”

America 239