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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 213
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A review of the birdcentric novel “Accidentals” (the title of which is in the plural for a reason)

10,000 Birds

She lives part-time in Uruguay and is co-director of the Fiction Meets Science program at the University of Bremen, Germany, which seeks to bridge the “two cultures” of science and literature. Things get complicated – and then, completely out of hand — when Gabe’s new inamorata is introduced to his family.

Uruguay 153
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A Strategic Arms Race Among Birds

10,000 Birds

There are two patterns that are fairly extreme that fall into this category: brood parasitism and helper-at-the-nest strategy. In the case of brood parasitism, made famous by the many species of Cuckoo as well as cow birds and some fiches, among others, one might expect the host birds to evolve anti-parasitism strategies.

Breeders 199
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Birding Tongbiguan, Yunnan (part 1)

10,000 Birds

” Blue-bearded Bee-eaters seem to have a pretty clever hunting strategy. Location, location, location – some practical advice for River Lapwings aiming to have a family: “ River Lapwing nests on open, unvegetated river banks achieved significantly greater nesting success than those in crop fields” ( source ).

Squirrels 137
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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 221
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Birding Nonggang, Guangxi, China – part 2

10,000 Birds

In China, wherever there is one real tourist attraction (like the Great Wall), the local strategy seems to be to add some fake attractions – replicas of palaces or tombs, amusement parks, shopping centers – in order to maximize the income from tourists. But the starting point has to be a real attraction, not a fake one.

China 226
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15 Australian Birds (Episode 4)

10,000 Birds

Gisela Kaplan has written a book about the species, and how they seem unperturbed by humans: “It’s one of their most successful defense strategies. Of course, if science is not for you, you can also look for the Spiritual Meaning of Willie Wagtail (“Unlock the amazing secrets of this spiritual symbol”) here.

Birds 226