1) Irmscher, Christoph and Richard J. King (editors). Audubon at Sea: The Coastal and Transatlantic Adventures of John James Audubon. 2022. University of Chicago Press. Hardbound: 334 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The
American naturalist John James Audubon (1785–1851) is widely remembered
for his iconic paintings of American birdlife. But as this anthology
makes clear, Audubon was also a brilliant writer—and his keen gaze took
in far more than creatures of the sky. Culled from his published and
unpublished writings, Audubon at Sea
explores Audubon’s diverse observations of the ocean, the coast, and
their human and animal inhabitants. With Audubon expert Christoph
Irmscher and scholar of the sea Richard J. King as our guides, we set
sail from the humid expanses of the American South to the shores of
England and the chilly landscapes of the Canadian North. We learn not
only about the diversity of sea life Audubon documented—birds, sharks,
fish, and whales—but also about life aboard ship, travel in early
America, Audubon’s work habits, and the origins of beloved paintings. As
we face an unfathomable loss of seabirds today, Audubon’s warnings
about the fragility of birdlife in his time are prescient and newly
relevant.
Charting the course of Audubon’s life and work, from
his birth in Haiti to his death in New York City, Irmscher and King’s
sweeping introduction and carefully drawn commentary confront the
challenges Audubon’s legacy poses for us today, including his
participation in American slavery and the thousands of birds he killed
for his art. Rounded out by hundreds of historical and ornithological
notes and beautiful illustrations, and with a foreword by distinguished
photographer and conservationist Subhankar Banerjee, Audubon at Sea is the most comprehensively annotated collection of Audubon’s work ever published.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with an interest in Audubon and/or marine ornithology history.
2) Nelson, Bryan and June Nelson. Galapagos Crusoes: A Year Alone With the Birds. 2022. Bradt Travel Guides/Globe Pequot Press. Paperback: 253 pages. Price: $18.99 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: A new, updated version of the celebrated 1968 title, Galapagos: Islands of Birds, by the renowned late ornithologist Bryan Nelson, with additional, previously unpublished reminiscences and lively and irreverent memories from his wife June. This timely reissue breathes new life into a classic work of natural history that will appeal to bird-lovers and Galapagos-lovers alike. It is as memorable for its groundbreaking descriptions of Galapagos wildlife as for June's naked appearance in the News of the World accompanied by a quote from the Duke of Edinburgh.
In 1964 the late Bryan Nelson, a zoologist, and his wife June spent a year living on two uninhabited, waterless Galapagos islands studying the three species of booby (‘we couldn't resist also studying the great frigatebird and waved albatross, too' says June). Bryan's book, Galapagos: Islands of Birds was published in 1968 and, although by necessity a scientific study, his light touch and the extraordinary hardships and delights of living in total isolation with no means of rescue should things go wrong, make it an exceptionally good read. Now, nearly 60 years later, June Nelson has extracted the story of that extraordinary year and complemented it with her own recollections. The couple's research and findings remain relevant and interesting, so plenty of wildlife descriptions are retained, but it is the mischievous mocking birds and friendly sea lions which will captivate the reader as much as the famous blue-footed boobies and waved albatrosses. At the end of their stay on Hood, when their clothes were literally in tatters and they went barefoot, they had news of the imminent visit of The Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Yacht Britannia. June's description of this visit and their lunch on board with Prince Philip, make a surreal ending to a year of deteriorating food: ‘Now our flour had around 50 maggots or beetles per pound... Dried beans would have three or four beetles per bean... In spaghetti a black shadow meant beetle, a grey one maggot. It took a long time, breaking out each shadow, to make a meal.'
RECOMMENDATION: A must read for anyone with an interest in the Galapagos Islands, especially its birds!
3) Zuk, Marlene. Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters. 2022. W. W. Norton. Hardbound: 330 pages. Price: $28.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: For centuries, people have been returning to the same tired nature-versus-nurture debate, trying to determine what we learn and what we inherit. In Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test, biologist Marlene Zuk goes beyond the binary and instead focuses on interaction, or the way that genes and environment work together. Driving her investigation is a simple but essential question: How does behavior evolve?
Drawing from a wealth of research, including her own on insects, Zuk answers this question by turning to a wide range of animals and animal behavior. There are stories of cockatoos that dance to rock music, ants that heal their injured companions, dogs that exhibit signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and so much more.
For insights into animal intelligence, mating behavior, and an organism’s ability to fight disease, she explores the behavior of smart spiders, silent crickets, and crafty crows. In each example, she clearly demonstrates how these traits were produced by the complex and diverse interactions of genes and the environment and urges us to consider how that same process evolves behavior in us humans.
Filled with delightful anecdotes and fresh insights, Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test helps us see both other animals and ourselves more clearly, demonstrating that animal behavior can be remarkably similar to human behavior, and wonderfully complicated in its own right.
RECOMMENDATION: A must read for anyone with an interest in animal behavior.
4) Hölldobler, Bert and Christina L. Kwapich. The Guests of Ants: How Myrmecophiles Interact with Their Hosts. 2022. Belknap Press/Harvard University Press. Hardbound: 559 pages. Price: $69.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Down below, on sidewalks, in fallen leaves, and across the forest
floor, a covert invasion is taking place. Ant colonies, revered and
studied for their complex collective behaviors, are being infiltrated by
tiny organisms called myrmecophiles. Using incredibly sophisticated
tactics, various species of butterflies, beetles, crickets, spiders,
fungi, and bacteria insert themselves into ant colonies and decode the
colonies’ communication system. Once able to “speak the language,” these
outsiders can masquerade as ants. Suddenly colony members can no longer
distinguish friend from foe.
Pulitzer Prize–winning author and
biologist Bert Hölldobler and behavioral ecologist Christina L. Kwapich
explore this remarkable phenomenon, showing how myrmecophiles manage
their feat of code-breaking and go on to exploit colony resources. Some
myrmecophiles slip themselves into their hosts’ food sharing system,
stealing liquid nutrition normally exchanged between ant nestmates.
Other intruders use specialized organs and glandular secretions to
entice ants or calm their aggression. Guiding readers through key
experiments and observations, Hölldobler and Kwapich reveal a universe
of behavioral mechanisms by which myrmecophiles turn ants into unwilling
servants.
As The Guests of Ants
makes clear, symbiosis in ant societies can sometimes be mutualistic,
but, in most cases, these foreign intruders exhibit amazingly diverse
modes of parasitism. Like other unwelcome guests, many of these
myrmecophiles both disrupt and depend on their host, making for an
uneasy coexistence that nonetheless plays an important role in the
balance of nature.
RECOMMENDATION: A must read for those with a serious interest in ant biology!
5) Price, Elizabeth A.. Native and Ornamental Conifers in the Pacific Northwest: Identification, Botany and Natural History. 2022. OSU Press. Paperback: 330 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Most conifer guides available for the Pacific Northwest focus on native species observed in the wild. Native and Ornamental Conifers in the Pacific Northwest
presents an integrated perspective for understanding and identifying
conifers in any landscape where native and ornamental species grow
alongside each other. It is suitable for landscape designers,
horticulturalists, arborists, gardeners, environmental scientists, and
botanists.
