The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                            Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman


My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-326-7/

New Title

1) Windrow, Martin. The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar: Living with a Tawny Owl. 2014. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hardbound: 303 pages. Price: $26.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Martin Windrow was a war historian with little experience with pets when he adopted an owl the size of a corncob. Adorable but with knife-sharp talons, Mumble became Windrow’s closest, if at times unpredictable, companion, first in a South London flat and later in the more owl-friendly Sussex countryside. In The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar, Windrow recalls with wry humor their finer moments as well as the reactions of incredulous neighbors, the awkwardness of buying Mumble unskinned rabbit at Harrods Food Hall, and the grievous sense of loss when Mumble nearly escapes.
     As Windrow writes: “Mumble was so much a part of my life in those days that the oddity of our relationship seldom occurred to me, and I only thought about it when faced with other people’s astonishment. When new acquaintances learned that they were talking to a book editor who shared a seventh-floor flat in a South London tower block with a Tawny Owl, some tended to edge away, rather thoughtfully . . . I tried to answer patiently, but I found it hard to come up with a short reply to the direct question ‘Yes, but . . . why?’; my best answer was simply ‘Why not?’”
     In the spirit of J. R. Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip, Windrow offers a poignant and unforgettable reminiscence of his charmed years with his improbable pet, as well as an unexpected education in the paleontology, zoology, and sociology of owls. 
 RECOMMENDATION: Actually the author starts out with a Little Owl, then he moves onto a Tawny Owl. If you ever wondered what life with a pet owl would be like, this book will give you an idea.

New Title

1) Siddall, Mark. Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences. 2014. Sterling Publishing. Hardbound: 192 pages. Price: $17.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Beware: it's a poisonous world—and this is the ultimate guide to surviving nature at her most toxic! Journeying from the plains of the outback to the jungles of Madagascar, Dr. Mark Siddall, curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, delves into earth's deadliest and most sinister creatures. Seventy-five wittily written, engaging, and illustrated entries cover things that sting, that bite, and that you shouldn't touch or eat. Siddall provides fascinating insight into these species and their sometimes lethal, occasionally beneficial poisons. 
RECOMMENDATION: This book reminded me of the works of Amy Stewart especially her Wicked Bugs. If you enjoyed that title you should enjoy this one.

New Title

1) Green, David M. et al. (editors). North American Amphibians: Distribution and Diversity. 2014. University of California Press. Hardbound: 340 pages. Price: $75.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Some 300 species of amphibians inhabit North America. The past two decades have seen an enormous growth in interest about amphibians and an increased intensity of scientific research into their fascinating biology and continent-wide distribution.
      This atlas presents the spectacular diversity of North American amphibians in a geographic context. It covers all formally recognized amphibian species found in the United States and Canada, many of which are endangered or threatened with extinction. Illustrated with maps and photos, the species accounts provide current information about distribution, habitat, and conservation.
      Researchers, professional herpetologists, and anyone intrigued by amphibians will value North American Amphibians as a guide and reference. 
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in North American amphibians!

New Title

1) Foster, John. Cambrian Ocean World: Ancient Sea Life of North America. 2014. Indiana University Press. Hardbound: 416 pages. Price: $65.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: This volume, aimed at the general reader, presents life and times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500 million years ago. The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth’s history. During this immense span of time nearly every modern group of animals appeared. Although life had been around for more than 2 million millennia, Cambrian rocks preserve the record of the first appearance of complex animals with eyes, protective skeletons, antennae, and complex ecologies. Grazing, predation, and multi-tiered ecosystems with animals living in, on, or above the sea floor became common. The cascade of interaction led to an ever-increasing diversification of animal body types. By the end of the period, the ancestors of sponges, corals, jellyfish, worms, mollusks, brachiopods, arthropods, echinoderms, and vertebrates were all in place. The evidence of this Cambrian “explosion” is preserved in rocks all over the world, including North America, where the seemingly strange animals of the period are preserved in exquisite detail in deposits such as the Burgess Shale in British Columbia. Cambrian Ocean World tells the story of what is, for us, the most important period in our planet’s long history. 
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in the fossils from this time period.

New Title

1) Cobham, David and Bruce Pearson.   A Sparrowhawk's Lament: How British Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring. 2014. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 272 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Britain is home to fifteen species of breeding birds of prey, from the hedgerow-hopping Sparrowhawk to the breathtaking White-tailed Eagle. In this handsomely illustrated book, acclaimed British filmmaker and naturalist David Cobham offers unique and deeply personal insights into Britain's birds of prey and how they are faring today. He delves into the history of these marvelous birds and talks in depth with the scientists and conservationists who are striving to safeguard them. In doing so, he profiles the writers, poets, and filmmakers who have done so much to change the public's perception of birds of prey. Thanks to popular television programs, the Victorian myth that any bird with a hooked beak is evil has been dispelled. However, although there are success stories--five birds of prey that were extinct have become reestablished with viable populations--persecution is still rife: so much so that one bird of prey, the Hen Harrier, became extinct in England as a breeding bird in 2013.
     Featuring drawings by famed wildlife artist Bruce Pearson, this book reveals why we must cherish and celebrate our birds of prey, and why we neglect them at our peril. In A Sparrowhawk's Lament, you will learn how the perfection of the double-barreled shotgun sounded a death knell for British birds of prey in the nineteenth century, how the conscription of gamekeepers during two world wars gave them a temporary reprieve, how their fortunes changed yet again with the introduction of agricultural pesticides in the 1950s, why birds of prey are vital to Britain's ecosystems and cultural heritage - and much more.
RECOMMENDATION: People with an interest in British birds of prey should find this book interesting.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                            Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-325/

New Titles

1) Stokes, Dale and Doc White. The Fish in the Forest: Salmon and the Web of Life. 2014. University of California Press. Hardbound: 160 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The Fish in the Forest is an elegantly written, beautifully illustrated exploration of the complex web of relationships between the salmon of the Pacific Northwest and the surrounding ecosystem. Dale Stokes shows how nearly all aspects of this fragile ecosystem—from streambeds to treetops, from sea urchins to orcas to bears, from rain forests to kelp forests—are intimately linked with the biology of the Pacific salmon. Illustrated with 70 stunning color photographs by Doc White,   The Fish in the Forest demonstrates how the cycling of nutrients between the ocean and the land, mediated by the life and death of the salmon, is not only key to understanding the landscape of the north Pacific coast, but is also a powerful metaphor for all of life on earth.  
RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated introduction to the ecology of salmon.

2) Wires, Linda R.. The Double-crested Cormorant: Plight of a Feathered Pariah. 2014. Yale University Press. Hardbound: 349 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The double-crested cormorant, found only in North America, is an iridescent black waterbird superbly adapted to catch fish. It belongs to a family of birds vilified since biblical times and persecuted around the world. Thus it was perhaps to be expected that the first European settlers in North America quickly deemed the double-crested cormorant a competitor for fishing stock and undertook a relentless drive to destroy the birds. This enormously important book explores the roots of human-cormorant conflicts, dispels myths about the birds, and offers the first comprehensive assessment of the policies that have been developed to manage the double-crested cormorant in the twenty-first century.
     Conservation biologist Linda Wires provides a unique synthesis of the cultural, historical, scientific, and political elements of the cormorant’s story. She discusses the amazing late-twentieth-century population recovery, aided by protection policies and environment conservation, but also the subsequent U.S. federal policies under which hundreds of thousands of the birds have been killed. In a critique of the science, management, and ethics underlying the double-crested cormorant’s treatment today, Wires exposes “management” as a euphemism for persecution and shows that the current strategies of aggressive predator control are outdated and unsupported by science.  
RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with a serious interest in this species.

New Titles

1) Adrian, Matt. The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds. 2014. Blue Rider Press. Hardbound: 64 pages. Price: $15.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds is an illustrated, pocket field guide that enables anyone to quickly identify psychotic, violent or mentally unstable bird species. Written in non-technical language for the layman, the guide describes where to find—or where to avoid—the most disturbed North American birds.
      Throughout the book the reader will discover tales of murder, assault, mental breakdowns, obesity, drug abuse and infidelity among the birds. This guide is used and recommended by law enforcement agencies and ignored by leading ornithologists.
      We are only just discovering the reality of our avian adversaries, with their reptilian brains, their appetites for mayhem and the fact that they fly mostly to spite us. To ignore the information found within this volume may be at the peril of your very life. 

RECOMMENDATION: Birders will appreciate the author's sense of humor!

2) Pratchett, Terry and Stephen Baxter. The Long Mars. 2014. Harper. Hardbound: 368 pages. Price: $25.99 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The third novel in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s “Long Earth” series, which Io9 calls “a brilliant science fiction collaboration.”
2040-2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous rescue work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that Willis has an ulterior motive for his request. . . .
     Meanwhile U. S. Navy Commander Maggie Kauffman has embarked on an incredible journey of her own, leading an expedition to the outer limits of the far Long Earth.
     For Joshua, the crisis he faces is much closer to home. He becomes embroiled in the plight of the Next: the super-bright post-humans who are beginning to emerge from their “long childhood” in the community called Happy Landings, located deep in the Long Earth. Ignorance and fear have caused “normal” human society to turn against the Next. A dramatic showdown seems inevitable. . . .
RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoyed the other two books in this series, you should enjoy this one.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                            Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-324/

New Title

1) Holden, Peter and Tim Cleeves. RSPB Handbook of British Birds: Fourth Edition. 2014. Bloomsbury. Paperback: 320 pages. Price: $17.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: This is a revised and updated fourth edition of the bestselling RSPB Handbook of British Birds. This unique guide provides a 'biography' of each of the 270 commonest British bird species. It covers all aspects of field identification, using illustrations from the highly acclaimed Handbook of Bird Identification to show all common plumage forms. The text also covers behaviour, breeding biology, population, status, longevity and any other interesting facts about the species concerned. A detailed distribution map is provided for each species. The rarities section, featuring 26 additional species, has been updated and features two species new to this edition. Six comparison artwork spreads are included to help identify difficult to identify species – such as ducks, waders, warblers, raptors and gulls – alongside one another. The RSPB Handbook of British Birds provides a complete, single source of basic information to our most familiar birds.

This is a revised and updated fourth edition of the bestselling RSPB Handbook of British Birds. This unique guide provides a 'biography' of each of the 280 commonest British bird species. It covers all aspects of field identification, using illustrations from the highly acclaimed Handbook of Bird Identification to show all common plumage forms. The text also covers behaviour, breeding biology, population, status, longevity and any other interesting facts about the species concerned. A detailed distribution map is provided for each species. The rarities section, featuring 26 additional species, has been updated and features two species new to this edition. Six comparison artwork spreads are included to help identify difficult to identify species - such as ducks, waders, warblers, raptors and gulls - alongside one another. The RSPB Handbook provides a complete, single source of basic information to our most familiar birds. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/rspb-handbook-of-british-birds-9781472906472/#sthash.sEQquhCG.dpuf

This is a revised and updated fourth edition of the bestselling RSPB Handbook of British Birds. This unique guide provides a 'biography' of each of the 280 commonest British bird species. It covers all aspects of field identification, using illustrations from the highly acclaimed Handbook of Bird Identification to show all common plumage forms. The text also covers behaviour, breeding biology, population, status, longevity and any other interesting facts about the species concerned. A detailed distribution map is provided for each species. The rarities section, featuring 26 additional species, has been updated and features two species new to this edition. Six comparison artwork spreads are included to help identify difficult to identify species - such as ducks, waders, warblers, raptors and gulls - alongside one another. The RSPB Handbook provides a complete, single source of basic information to our most familiar birds. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/rspb-handbook-of-british-birds-9781472906472/#sthash.sEQquhCG.dpuf

This is a revised and updated fourth edition of the bestselling RSPB Handbook of British Birds. This unique guide provides a 'biography' of each of the 280 commonest British bird species. It covers all aspects of field identification, using illustrations from the highly acclaimed Handbook of Bird Identification to show all common plumage forms. The text also covers behaviour, breeding biology, population, status, longevity and any other interesting facts about the species concerned. A detailed distribution map is provided for each species. The rarities section, featuring 26 additional species, has been updated and features two species new to this edition. Six comparison artwork spreads are included to help identify difficult to identify species - such as ducks, waders, warblers, raptors and gulls - alongside one another. The RSPB Handbook provides a complete, single source of basic information to our most familiar birds. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/rspb-handbook-of-british-birds-9781472906472/#sthash.sEQquhCG.dpuf

RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated introduction to the birds of Great Britain.

Featured Title

1) Safford, Roger and Frank Hawkins (editors). The Birds of Africa: Volume VIII (The Malagasy Region). 2013. Helm/Bloomsbury. Hardbound: 1024 pages. Price: $150.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The Birds of Africa series, volumes I–VII, covered the avifauna of continental Africa. This volume fulfils the aspiration, expressed in that series, of a single volume that treats the birds of Madagascar, Seychelles, the Comoros, the Mascarenes and their associated smaller outlying islands – the Malagasy region. It follows The Birds of Africa series in treating each of the 352 regularly occurring species known from the region in detail, through the assembly of a wealth of information, much of it very recent. Distribution, description, identification, general behaviour, feeding and breeding habits are comprehensively covered, by a roster of the key experts on the birds of the region. All 135 vagrant species are also treated, more briefly, and for the first time the distribution of species across the region is presented in a series of detailed and informative maps. Each species is also extensively illustrated, showing variation in plumage across ages, sexes and geographic regions. One plate [out of 63 total] illustrates species that have recently become extinct in the region, and a separate plate section covers vagrants.
     The region’s avifauna is characterised by a very high level of endemism, both at the species level and higher – at genus and family levels. Many species, such as the enigmatic Cuckoo-roller, are of abiding interest for comparative or taxonomic studies, and the relationships of the birds of the region to those of Africa and Asia are only now becoming clear. A detailed analysis of the biogeography and evolutionary history of the region is a fascinating and new contribution to this debate, and a thorough overview of the geography, climate and vegetation is also presented within the introductory chapters. This is a major work of reference on the birds of the region and will remain the standard text for many years to come. 
RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with a serious interest in the birds of the region!

New Title

1) Potapov, Roald and Richard Sale. Grouse of the World. 2013. New Holland/Bloomsbury. Hardbound: 408 pages. Price: $52.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Grouse are a source of fascination for people, not least for their spectacular displays and ability to survive the Arctic winter. To survive the extreme cold the birds have evolved pectinations – or shovels – on their toes to excavate burrows in the snow in which they spend up to 22 hours or more daily. To reduce heat loss they have feathered toes, and they also have feathered nostrils, the feathers preventing the nostrils filling with snow and also trapping moisture when the bird is in its burrow: without this excellent moisture trap the walls of the burrow would become iced, preventing air from seeping in and the bird from escaping, sealing it in an icy, air-starved tomb. The digestive system of grouse has also evolved to compensate for winter's rigours. Perhaps most remarkable of all, these specific features are shared by all members of the grouse family – even those that inhabit the balmy shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
     Grouse of the World explores grouse evolution and then looks at each of the 19 species, detailing distribution, habitat, plumage, subspecies, breeding, diet and conservation. This is the first comprehensive guide to the grouse family [Actually there are two other books: Elliot (1865) and Johnsgard (1983)] , and it includes many drawings, photographs and maps. 
RECOMMENDATION: The authors treat the Spruce Grouse as two species (North American and Franklin's Spruce Grouse), which goes against most other sources.  The color paintings and range maps could have been done better. People with a serious interest in grouse will still find this book useful.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                            Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman


My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-323/