Sibley Posters

     In case you haven't heard David Sibley and Scott & Nix, Inc. have produced several wall posters based on David's Sibley Guide to Birds. Here are some examples:

Eastern Backyard Birds                                                                                 Western Backyard Birds

                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The only problem I have with these posters is that on some of the posters the nomenclature is from 2000 and thus is somewhat dated (e.g. Screech-Owls are still in the genus Otus instead of Megascops). Other posters and other items are available from the Scott & Nix, Inc. website: http://www.scottandnix.com/ and elsewhere.

These items include non-Sibley posters on fish:

The larger posters are $29.95 and the smaller ones are $24.95 U.S. UPDATE: Here's a tentative schedule for upcoming posters:

2011
Sibley's Raptors
Sibley's Trees (West)

2012
Sibley's Feederbirds East
Sibley's Feederbirds West

2013
Sibley's Warblers
Sibley's Sparrows

New Titles

                                                                                      
1) Himmelman, John. Cricket Radio: Tuning In the Night-Singing Insects. 2011. Harvard University Press. Hardbound: 254 pages. Price: $22.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: At a time when night-singing insects have slipped beyond our notice—indeed, are more likely to be heard as NatureSounds than in a backyard—John Himmelman seeks to reconnect us to creatures whose songs form a part of our own natural history.
     On warm summer evenings, night-singing insects produce a whirring, chirping soundscape—a calming aural tapestry celebrated by poets and naturalists for millennia. But “cricket radio” is not broadcast for the easy-listening pleasure of humans. The nocturnal songs of insects are lures and warnings, full of risks and rewards for these tiny competitive performers. What moves crickets and katydids to sing, how they produce their distinctive sounds, how they hear the songs of others, and how they vary cadence, volume, and pitch to attract potential mates, warn off competitors, and evade predators is part of the engaging story Cricket Radio tells.
     Himmelman’s narrative weaves together his personal experiences as an amateur naturalist in search of crickets and katydids with the stories of scientists who study these insects professionally. He also offers instructions for bringing a few of the little singers into our homes and gardens. We can, Himmelman suggests, be reawakened to these night songs that have meant so much to the human psyche. The online insect calls that accompany this colorfully illustrated narrative provide a bridge of sound to our past and to our vital connection with other species.
RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoy night-singing insects you'll enjoy this book! You can listen to samples of these insects here:
               http://www.cricketradiobroadcast.com/Cricket_Radio_Songs.html

2) Losos, Jonathan B.. Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles. 2011. University of California Press. Paperback: 507 pages. Price: $49.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Adaptive radiation, which results when a single ancestral species gives rise to many descendants, each adapted to a different part of the environment, is possibly the single most important source of biological diversity in the living world. One of the best-studied examples involves Caribbean Anolis lizards. With about 400 species, Anolis has played an important role in the development of ecological theory and has become a model system exemplifying the integration of ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral studies to understand evolutionary diversification. This major work, written by one of the best-known investigators of Anolis, reviews and synthesizes an immense literature. Jonathan B. Losos illustrates how different scientific approaches to the questions of adaptation and diversification can be integrated and examines evolutionary and ecological questions of interest to a broad range of biologists.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with a technical interest in Anolis lizards.

The weekly Birdbooker Report

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/mar/06/3

FEATURED TITLE

1) Harrison, John. A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka (Second Edition). 2011. Oxford University Press. Paperback: 208 pages. Price: $49.50 U.S.

SUMMARY: A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka is the first fully comprehensive, modern field guide to this ornithologically fascinating country. All of Sri Lanka's official avian species are described in the text and depicted in a collection of stunning color plates painted by Tim Worfolk, one of Britain's leading bird artists. The text, accessible to experienced ornithologists and beginners alike, highlights the important identification features such as plumage variations, size, calls and songs, range, distribution, and status for every species. The plates illustrate the various plumage variations for each bird, and show the birds perched and also in flight, where relevant to their identification.
     An introduction to the guide describes briefly some of the best sites for watching Sri Lanka's abundant avifauna, and provides useful contact addresses for the prospective traveller. This will be an essential purchase for all birdwatchers travelling to the region; the beautiful plates and clearly-written text will also make it a must-have for anyone who loves birds, and Sri Lankan birds in particular. Features:

*A new edition of a truly comprehensive, up-to-date, modern guide to Sri Lanka's abundant avifauna
*Contains 49 stunning colour plates by Tim Worfolk
*All species on the official Sri Lankan list are described in the text
*Plumage variations according to age, sex, season, and race are depicted. Birds are shown both perched  and in flight where relevant to their identification
*Includes the latest information on the habits and distribution of the region's bird species
*New and revised colour plates reflect recent changes to the classification of some species, the identification of a completely new species (the Serendib Scops Owl), and the growing number of species on the official list

RECOMMENDATION: If you have an interest in the birds of Sri Lanka you will want this book, even if you have the first edition!

New Title

1) Strycker, Noah. Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica. 2011. Oregon State University Press. Paperback: 207 pages. Price: $19.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: The year he graduated from college, twenty-two-year-old Noah Strycker was dropped by helicopter in a remote Antarctic field camp with two bird scientists and a thre-month supply of frozen food. His subjects: more than a quarter million penguins.
     Compact, industrious, and approachable, the Adélie Penguins who call Antarctica home visit their breeding grounds each Antarctic summer to nest and rear their young before returning to sea. Because of long-term studies, scientists may know more about how these penguins will adjust to climate change than about any other creature in the world.
     Bird scientists like Noah are less well known. Like the intrepid early explorers of Antarctica, modern scientists drawn to the frozen continent face an utterly inhospitable landscape, one that inspires, isolates, and punishes.
     With wit, curiosity, and a deep knowledge of his subject, Strycker recounts the reality of life at the end of the Earth—thousand-year-old penguin mummies, hurricane-force blizzards, and day-to-day existence in below freezing temperatures—and delves deep into a world of science, obsession, and birds.
     Among Penguins weaves a captivating tale of penguins and their researchers on the coldest, driest, highest, and windiest continent on Earth. Birders, lovers of the Antarctic, and fans of first-person adventure narratives will be fascinated by Strycker’s book.
RECOMMENDATION: In you're interested in penguins or Antarctica, you'll enjoy this book!

New Title

                                                                                                                                                    
1) Marzluff, John M. and Colleen Marzluff. Dog Days, Raven Nights. 2011. Yale University Press. Hardbound: 323 pages. Price: $28.00 U.S.
SUMMARY: Twenty years ago, fresh out of graduate school and recently married, John and Colleen Marzluff left Arizona for a small cabin in the mountains of western Maine. Their mission: to conduct the first-ever extensive study of the winter ecology of the Common Raven under the tutelage of biologist Bernd Heinrich.
     Drawing on field notes and personal diaries, they vividly and eloquently chronicle their three-year endeavor to research a mysterious and often misunderstood bird—assembling a gigantic aviary, climbing sentry trees, building bird blinds in the forest, capturing and sustaining 300 ravens as study subjects, and enduring harsh Maine winters in pursuit of their goal. They also shared the unique challenges and joys of raising, training, and racing the sled dogs that assisted them in their work.
     Accompanied by Evon Zerbetz's lovely linocut illustrations, Dog Days, Raven Nights is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the adventures of field science and an insightful exploration of the nature of relationships, both animal and human.
RECOMMENDATION: Fans of John's In the Company of Crows and Ravens will enjoy this book!
                                                              

New Title

1) Levy, Sharon. Once and Future Giants: What Ice Age Extinctions Tell Us About the Fate of Earth's Largest Animals. 2011. Oxford University Press. Hardbound: 255 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever.
     In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction events worldwide, showing that understanding this history--and our part in it--is crucial for protecting the elephants, polar bears, and other great creatures at risk today. These surviving relatives of the Ice Age beasts now face an intensified replay of that great die-off, as our species usurps the planet's last wild places while driving a warming trend more extreme than any in mammalian history.
     Inspired by a passion for the lost Pleistocene giants, some scientists advocate bringing elephants and cheetahs to the Great Plains as stand-ins for their extinct native brethren. By reintroducing big browsers and carnivores to North America, they argue, we could rescue some of the planet's most endangered animals while restoring healthy prairie ecosystems. Critics, including biologists enmeshed in the struggle to restore native species like the gray wolf and the bison, see the proposal as a dangerous distraction from more realistic and legitimate conservation efforts.
     Deftly navigating competing theories and emerging evidence, Once and Future Giants examines the extent of human influence on megafauna extinctions past and present, and explores innovative conservation efforts around the globe. The key to modern-day conservation, Levy suggests, may lie fossilized right under our feet.
RECOMMENDATION: A good general introduction to Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions and today's endangered species.