1) Pelagic. Paperback: 195 pages. Price: $
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:A resonant hammering from the canopy, a flicker of black and white with a flash of red: surely the archetypal image of a woodpecker? This book describes the natural history of five European species, the so-called pied woodpeckers: Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker and White-backed Woodpecker.
These fascinating birds are important ecosystem
engineers, shaping the environment by creating cavities in trees where
they can raise their young. This ability makes them keystone species, as
their holes often go on to become homes for many other animals.
Woodpeckers are also umbrella species, as their conservation invariably
confers protection on a plethora of other birds, along with mammals and
countless invertebrates. They are indicator species, too, for their
presence is indicative of the biodiversity and condition of the woodland
habitats they frequent. If you walk in a forest and there are no
woodpeckers, this is in all likelihood a sign of ecological degradation.
Each
species is covered in detail, with information on taxonomy, appearance,
moult, calls, drumming, distribution, conservation status, habitats,
movements, breeding, diet and relationships with other wildlife and with
humans. The text is richly illustrated with stunning photographs as
well as sound spectrograms. The author is an acknowledged authority on
woodpeckers who supplements his vast field experience with an in-depth
review of the literature.
RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for those with an interest in European woodpeckers.
2) The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest. 2026. Heyday. Hardbound: 119 pages. Price: $
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:Offshore and out of sight to most beachgoers on the North Pacific coast is a wondrous habitat: the bull kelp forest. Each year, tiny bull kelp saplings explode into sixty-foot "redwoods," until winter storms tear them loose and fling great tangles of wrack on the shore. While they flourish, these underwater forests harbor abalone, salmon, and rockfish, and they entreat cormorants and murrelets to hunt among their thrumming canopies. Meanwhile, sea otters and sunflower sea stars gorge on spiny urchins who, if left to run rampant, will devour a kelp bed down to barren wasteland. In The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest, Josie Iselin profiles thirteen species—with stylish illustrations from Ellen Litwiller—to be our ambassadors to this undersung world. She explores how their interspecies dramas play out in eight coastal regions, from Central California to Alaska, exploring instances of interdependent, compromised, and resilient coastal ecosystems. An array of sea creatures feature in these pages, as well as shorebirds that connect land and sea. Land-dwelling humans are also deeply implicated in this saga—by turns beneficiaries, agents of harm, and stewards of these subtidal sanctuaries.
RECOMMENDATION: The artwork by Ellen Litwiller highlights this book. Anyone with an interest in the marine biology of the West Coast will want to read this book.
