New Titles

 

1) Birkhead, Tim. Birds and Us: A 12,000-Year History from Cave Art to Conservation. 2022. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 441 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art, and philosophy. We have worshipped birds as gods, hunted them for sustenance, adorned ourselves with their feathers, studied their wings to engineer flight, and, more recently, attempted to protect them. In Birds and Us, award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes us on a dazzling epic journey through our mutual history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by Ancient Egyptians to the Renaissance fascination with woodpecker anatomy―and from the Victorian obsession with egg collecting to today’s fight to save endangered species and restore their habitats.

     Spanning continents and millennia, Birds and Us chronicles the beginnings of a written history of birds in ancient Greece and Rome, the obsession with falconry in the Middle Ages, and the development of ornithological science. Moving to the twentieth century, the book tells the story of the emergence of birdwatching and the field study of birds, and how they triggered an extraordinary flowering of knowledge and empathy for birds, eventually leading to today’s massive worldwide interest in birds―and the realization of the urgent need to save them.

     Weaving in stories from Birkhead’s life as scientist, including far-flung expeditions to wondrous Neolithic caves in Spain and the bustling guillemot (murre) colonies of the Faroe Islands, this rich and fascinating book is an unforgettable account of how birds have shaped us, and how we have shaped them.

RECOMMENDATION: If you liked the author's other books, you will want to read this one!

 

 

2) Benn, Bryan. Short-eared Owls: An Extensive Study of Short-eared Owls in Britain. 2021. Self-published. Hardbound: 431 pages. Price: GBP 34.99 (about $37.75 U.S.).

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Author Bryan Benn was, in February 2011 a non-birder when, with a friend, he visited the Isle of Sheppey and saw a Short-eared Owl for the first time; immediately being captivated by it. With no detailed books available, Bryan started a still continuing journey to find out as much as possible about these enigmatic birds, and documents all of that in the book he has now published.

     And what a journey it has been, so far covering 68 locations from Kent to the Outer Hebrides, and from Land’s End to the Orkney mainland. With extensive observations revealing that these owls were mainly nocturnally active; had a wide, and at times, very noisy range of calls; and, when needed, could hunt successfully in wind and rain when most other creatures had taken cover. All this makes it an owl that, when studied in great detail, defies a number of the labels often attached to Short-eareds.

      After chapters setting the scene with a description of the owls; their locations and movements; and their habitat, the book moves on to cover hearing, vision and voice. The book is richly illustrated throughout, with photos supporting the detailed text, and wherever possible, showing the owls the text relates to. That feature of the book becomes more obvious in the chapters covering food and hunting, and then breeding. That latter chapter is the longest in the book and includes data (rather than consigning it to appendices) with relevant photos alongside it.

      A chapter on the daily life of Short-eared Owls describes their incredible flying skills and then covers several years of extensive observations of a large over-winter roost in Kent. A further chapter covers the dangers and early demise these owls face at times, but also touches, more positively, on conservation efforts being made for the species. Finally, as a celebration of the wide coverage of Short-eared Owls in Britain in the book, a mainly photographic chapter features some of the locations visited during the ten-year study. That chapter, and the book, concludes with descriptions and photographic coverage of some of many very close encounters enjoyed with the owls.

RECOMMENDATION: A copy of this book can be ordered through NHBS here. The author's photography highlights this book! It's a must have for anyone with an interest in Short-eared Owls!

3) Rennie, Frank. The Corncrake: An Ecology of an Enigma. 2022. Whittles Publishing. Paperback: 181 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Changes in farmland management throughout the twentieth century, including agricultural intensification and increasing mechanisation, have resulted in the loss of habitat for many species. The Corncrake is one such species that has faced multiple challenges to its survival. Although it was once a common bird throughout northern Europe, the breeding areas of Corncrakes have been steadily reduced to a fraction of what they once were, and in many areas their continuation as a regularly breeding bird is in serious doubt.

     In addition, the behaviour of the Corncrake, nesting under the cover of tall grass and undertaking annual long-distance migrations, means that for most of the last hundred years, its detailed ecology has remained mysterious and little understood. Although there have been millions of words written about the Corncrake in scientific papers, until now there has been no full-length book that attempts to capture all the aspects of its ecology, and to present this information to non-specialists. As a result, until very recently, many important facts about its lifestyle and behaviour have not been widely known, even among ornithologists.

      Although scarcely seen in its natural habitat, the Corncrake is well-known in many rural areas due to its characteristic (and persistent) night-time calling, but new discoveries with the aid of acoustic science have proved surprising, and may offer new ways of improving the location, identification, and management options to protect and enable the population of this iconic species to recover, even to thrive in our countryside. A new appreciation of the requirements of this species and the ways in which our sensitive management of the whole landscape, both in its potential breeding areas across Europe and Asia and in the seasonal quarters in regions of Africa, offer new hope for the future of this fascinating bird. 

 RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with an interest in this species!

4) Olsen, Penny. Feather and Brush: A History of Australian Bird Art (Second Edition). 2022. CSIRO Publishing. Hardbound: 338 pages. Price: $51.99 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Feather and Brush traces the history of bird art in Australia – from the simple engravings illustrating accounts of the earliest European voyages of discovery to the diversity of artwork available today. It explores the early European approach, in which naval draughtsmen, officers, convicts, settlers, naturalists, artists and scientists alike contributed both to the art and the science of ornithology, through to a wealth of contemporary artists who feature birds in their works.

     This book contains more than 400 images, representing the work of 158 artists; some well-known, others published for the first time. The illustrations have been selected for their interest, whether ornithological, historical or artistic. They range from classical to quirky, decorative to functional, monumental to intimate. Together they demonstrate the rich history of Australian bird art, as it evolved in Europe and Australia, and continues today, along with the trends and technologies of the times.

     This second edition includes new and revised chapters, and features about 200 new artworks, including some by Indigenous artists 

RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with an interest in bird art!

 

 

5) Lucas, Spencer G.. Dinosaurs: The Textbook (7th edition). 2022. Columbia University Press. Paperback: 368 pages. Price: $90.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Geared toward a broad variety of students, Dinosaurs: The Textbook offers a concise and lucid presentation of the core biological and geological concepts of dinosaur science. Revised throughout to reflect recent fossil discoveries and the current scientific consensus, this seventh edition details the evolution, phylogeny, and classification of various dinosaur species while modeling the best approach for navigating new and existing research.

     Spencer G. Lucas takes readers through the major taxonomic groups, including theropods, sauropodomorphs, ornithopods, ceratopsians, pachycephalosaurs, stegosaurs, and ankylosaurs. He also examines the behavior and extinction of the dinosaurs, their biological relationship to birds, and their representation (or misrepresentation) in art, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture.

     This seventh edition of the leading text for introductory courses on dinosaurs incorporates comprehensive updates based on the latest research. Lucas highlights how dinosaur science is rapidly evolving, exploring how new discoveries, methods, and ideas are expanding the frontiers of knowledge. The book features cutting-edge and scientifically rigorous illustrations by leading paleoartists. It also includes extensive and reader-friendly end-of-chapter summary tools, review questions, a detailed glossary, a dinosaur dictionary, and a comprehensive index.

RECOMMENDATION: Best for undergraduate level courses.

6) Schlossman, Marc. Extinction: Our Fragile Relationship with Life on Earth. 2022. Ammonite Press. Hardbound: 224. Price: $45.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Extinction explores endangered and extinct species and the factors threatening them through a behind-the-scenes lens on one of the most important sets of natural history collections in the world, at the Field Museum in Chicago.

     Schlossman combines unique photographs of specimens from the Field Museum in Chicago with informative and insightful text about the species themselves, reasons for decline, and the conservation efforts in place to prevent further extinction.

      The specimens revealed in this book are not on public display and the only way to see many of them is through these photographs, the result of ten years cataloguing key species from the museum’s zoology and botany collections. The images lead the reader to the species’ stories, promoting a greater understanding of mankind’s stewardship of life on Earth at a critical time in history.

      Extinction illustrates the crucial importance of museum collections for conservation, education and research.

      The book has been designed to have pages with black backgrounds for extinct species and white backgrounds for species nearing extinction. A yellow flag highlights conservation successes, which are interspersed throughout. The conservation success stories highlight the positive work that is happening and the potential there is to prevent the extinction of these and other species.

RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in endangered and/or extinct species.

 

7) van Dooren, Thom. A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions. 2022. The MIT Press. Hardbound: 273 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience.
 
     Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.

RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in Hawaiian land snails!

 

 

8) Hall, Dave. The Naturalist's Companion: A Field Guide to Observing and Understanding Wildlife. 2022. Mountaineers Books. Paperback: 204 pages. Price: $19.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The Naturalist’s Companion fills an important void in outdoor education by teaching readers how to become more learned and patient observers and, ultimately, more proficient naturalists.

     Through exhaustive time in the field, author Dave Hall has developed a comprehensive understanding of nature awareness and refined his skills to enhance any time spent outdoors and to foster closer, more respectful encounters with wildlife. Through personal anecdotes and detailed explanations, Hall teaches the principles and ethics of stealth walking, calling, tracking, interpreting basic animal behavior, and much more. Each chapter concludes with a list of exercises, prompting readers to study and put these skills into use, while introductory sections discuss gear, safety, ethics, and thoughtful engagement.

      The Naturalist’s Companion will deepen readers’ connection with the outdoors and help them to establish and maintain consistent, intimate, and informed wildlife observations.

RECOMMENDATION: Best for beginning naturalists.