Ornithologies of Desire develops ecocritical reading strategies that engage scientific texts, field guides, and observation. Focusing on poetry about birds and birdwatching, this book argues that attending to specific details about the physical world when reading environmentally conscious poetry invites a critical humility in the face of environmental crises and evolutionary history. The poetry and poetics of Don McKay provide Ornithologies of Desire with its primary subject matter, which is predicated on attention to ornithological knowledge and avian metaphors. This focus on birds enables a consideration of more broadly ecological relations and concerns, since an awareness of birds in their habitats insists on awareness of plants, insects, mammals, rocks, and all else that constitutes place. The book’s chapters are organized according to: apparatus (that is, science as ecocritical tool), flight, and song. Reading McKay’s work alongside ecology and ornithology, through flight and birdsong, both challenges assumptions regarding humans’ place in the earth system and celebrates the sheer virtuosity of lyric poetry rich with associative as well as scientific details. The resulting chapters, interchapter, and concordance of birds that appear in McKay’s poetry encourage amateurs and specialists, birdwatchers and poetry readers, to reconsider birds in English literature on the page and in the field.

Provides access to short and comprehended explanations to more than 5,000 words and terms in English that any ornithologist or birder may encounter during his or her research.

Essential Ornithology provides the reader with a concise but comprehensive introduction to the biology of birds, one of the most widely studied taxonomic groups. The book begins by considering the dinosaur origins of birds and their subsequent evolution. Development, anatomy, and physiology are then discussed followed by chapters devoted to avian reproduction, migration, ecology, and conservation. Sections dealing with aspects of bird/human relationships and bird conservation give the book an applied context. This new edition has been thoroughly updated, providing new information from rapidly-developing fields including the avian fossil record, urban and agricultural ecology, responses to climate change, invasive species biology, technologies to track movement, avian disease, and the role of citizen scientists. There is also a greater focus on North American ornithology. Drawing extensively upon the wider scientific literature, this engaging text places the results of classical studies of avian biology alongside the most recent scientific breakthroughs. Useful case studies are presented in a concise and engaging style with the student reader foremost in mind. Key points are highlighted and suggestions for guided reading and key references are included throughout. Essential Ornithology is a companion textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in avian science, as well as a useful reference for professional researchers and consultants. Amateur ornithologists will also find this book offers a scientifically rigorous and accessible overview for a more general readership.

Ten Thousand Birds provides a thoroughly engaging and authoritative history of modern ornithology, tracing how the study of birds has been shaped by a succession of visionary and often-controversial personalities, and by the unique social and scientific contexts in which these extraordinary individuals worked. This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, Ernst Mayr, and Julian Huxley recognized the importance of studying live birds in the field, and how this shift thrust ornithology into the mainstream of the biological sciences. The book tells the stories of eccentrics like Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a pathological liar who stole specimens from museums and quite likely murdered his wife, and describes the breathtaking insights and discoveries of ambitious and influential figures such as David Lack, Niko Tinbergen, Robert MacArthur, and others who through their studies of birds transformed entire fields of biology. Ten Thousand Birds brings this history vividly to life through the work and achievements of those who advanced the field. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews, this fascinating book reveals how research on birds has contributed more to our understanding of animal biology than the study of just about any other group of organisms.

The essential text for ornithology courses, this book will leave students with a lifelong understanding and appreciation of the biology and ecology of birds. Aves, the birds, is the wildlife group that people most frequently encounter. With over 10,000 species worldwide, these animals are part of our everyday experience. They are also the focus of intense research, and their management and conservation is a subject of considerable effort throughout the world. But what are the defining attributes that make a bird a bird? Aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, Ornithology provides a solid modern foundation for understanding the life and development of birds. Written by renowned experts from around the globe, this comprehensive textbook draws on the latest research to create an innovative learning experience. Moving beyond bones, muscle, and feathers, it provides the core information needed to “build” the bird, linking anatomy and physiology with ecology and behavior. As it reviews the major orders of birds, the book highlights their wide diversity and critically evaluates ornithological concepts and theories. Incorporating brief biographies of leaders in the field, the text describes their contributions in the context of key historical events in bird science. Each chapter ends with a summary of the material covered, a discussion of potential management and conservation applications, and suggested study questions that will stimulate thought and discussion. Contributors: Peter Arcese, George E. Bentley, Lori A. Blanc, William M. Block, Alice Boyle, Leonard A. Brennan, Luke K. Butler, Zac Cheviron, Luis M. Chiappe, Melanie R. Colón, Caren B. Cooper, Robert J. Cooper, Jamie M. Cornelius, Carlos Martinez Del Rio, John Dumbacher, Shannon Farrell, Maureen Flannery, Geoffrey Geupel, Patricia Adair Gowaty, Thomas P. Hahn, Ashley M. Heers, Fritz Hertel, Geoffrey E. Hill, Matthew Johnson, Lukas F. Keller, Dylan C. Kesler, Pablo Sabat Kirkwood, John Klicka, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Ashley M. Long, Scott R. Loss, Graham R. Martin, John M. Marzluff, Susan B. McRae, Michael L. Morrison, Timothy J. O’Connell, Jen C. Owen, Marco Pavia, Jeffrey Podos, Lars Pomara, Jonathan F. Prather, Marco Restani, Alejandro Rico-Guevara, Amanda D. Rodewald, Vanya G. Rohwer, Matthias Starck, Michael W. Strohbach, S. Mažeika P. Sullivan, Diego Sustaita, Kerri T. Vierling, Gary Voelker, Margaret A. Voss, Jeff R. Walters, Paige S. Warren, Elisabeth B. Webb, Michael S. Webster, Eric M. Wood, Robert M. Zink, Benjamin Zuckerberg

"A collection of short stories that makes it possible to be proud to be human." Carolyn See, "Washington Post"

Selected by Forbes.com as one of the 12 best books about birds and birding in 2016 This much-anticipated third edition of the Handbook of Bird Biology is an essential and comprehensive resource for everyone interested in learning more about birds, from casual bird watchers to formal students of ornithology. Wherever you study birds your enjoyment will be enhanced by a better understanding of the incredible diversity of avian lifestyles. Arising from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology and authored by a team of experts from around the world, the Handbook covers all aspects of avian diversity, behaviour, ecology, evolution, physiology, and conservation. Using examples drawn from birds found in every corner of the globe, it explores and distills the many scientific discoveries that have made birds one of our best known - and best loved - parts of the natural world. This edition has been completely revised and is presented with more than 800 full color images. It provides readers with a tool for life-long learning about birds and is suitable for bird watchers and ornithology students, as well as for ecologists, conservationists, and resource managers who work with birds. The Handbook of Bird Biology is the companion volume to the Cornell Lab's renowned distance learning course, www.birds.cornell.edu/courses/home/homestudy/.

No detailed description available for "Urban Ornithology".

Ornithology is the classic text for the undergraduate ornithology course, long admired for its evolutionary approach to bird science. The new edition maintains the scope and expertise that made the book so popular while incorporating the latest research and updating the exquisite program of drawings.

Based on three seasons of field research in the Canadian Arctic, Christopher Norment’s exquisitely crafted meditation on science and nature, wildness and civilization, is marked by bottomless prose, reflection on timeless questions, and keen observations of the world and our place in it. In an era increasingly marked by cutting-edge research at the cellular and molecular level, what is the role for scientists of sympathetic observation? What can patient waiting tell us about ourselves and our place in the world? His family at home in the American Midwest, Norment spends months on end living in isolation in the Northwest Territories, studying the ecology of the Harris’s Sparrow. Although the fourteenth-century German mystic Meister Eckhardt wrote, “God is at home, we are in the far country,” Norment argues that an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual “far country” can be found in the lives of animals and arctic wilderness. For Norment, “doing science” can lead to an enriched aesthetic and emotional connection to something beyond the self and a way to develop a sacred sense of place in a world that feels increasingly less welcoming, certain, and familiar.