Sometimes when Lexie fingered a string of shells she had been given as a little girl, she felt strange memories stir. It was as if something very precious was buried away in her own mind... Great-great Aunt Rita's old shell necklace carries a power that Lexie can't possibly know. Then, when it leads her to a new friend, she and Merrina enter the secret gully where Merrina's people live.But the gully holds a terrible secret, as old as the necklace itself. Will Lexie be strong enough, as she relives the nightmare her Aunt Rita endured?This deeply moving classic by one of our great children's writers is part fantasy, part history, and one hundred percent masterpiece.

How do you come up with the idea to list all the birds in the world including the subspecies and to give all birds English names? There is a reason for it - my favorite saying, whose author is unknown: "Everyone said that ́s not possible - then there was one who did not know that and just did it!" I am an animal photographer and probably a little bit crazy. I ́ve built a complete animal database for mammals and birds over the last decade. This facilitates my work in determining and archiving images and assigning keywords, especially among the many subspecies. With this book, I would like to give all birding friends and ornithologists a complete overview in English. For this I have given unique English names to all subspecies. The naming should not meet any scientific requirements. The names are based on translations from the Latin name, geographical distribution areas and the names of the discoverers. The entries consist of the scientific name, the English name, the distribution areas and the author. I wish you a lot of fun with this book, but especially while watching the fascinating birdlife. fotolulu

With the publication of the landmark volumes The Birds of South America: The Oscine Passerines and The Birds of South America: The Suboscine Passerines, Robert S. Ridgely and Guy Tudor established themselves as the leading authorities on the songbirds of South America. Reviewers hailed the volumes as the essential reference works for professional ornithologists and avocational birders alike, and they remain the only volumes that provide full scientific coverage of the continent's passerines. Recognizing the need for a more compact guide that birders can take into the field, Ridgely and Tudor have now extracted and updated the essential identification information from The Birds of South America to create the Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America. This definitive guide is filled with indispensable features: 121 color plates that present Guy Tudor's magnificently detailed paintings of more than 1,500 species of songbirds, including more than 400 that were not illustrated in BOSA 160 additional color illustrations of subspecies and females Extensively updated color range maps for all of the species in the field guide, prepared by Robert S. Ridgely with technical assistance from Maria Allen and Terry Clarke, appear opposite the plates for each bird family Robert S. Ridgely's authoritative accounts of nearly 2,000 species that cover each bird's abundance, habitat, and range; elevational preference; taxonomic or nomenclatural changes; plumage description; general behavior and voice; and range beyond South America, if applicable

With more than 5,000 works cited, Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World is the greatest compendium of information ever published on hybridization in birds. Worldwide in scope, it provides information on all reported avian crosses, not only those occurring in captivity, but also in a natural setting (approximately 4,000 crosses are covered). This book is a basic reference, intended both for the serious birder and the professional biologist. McCarthy's work fills a need for reference material that takes into account the last half century of data. It will be of interest to workers in a wide variety of fields, ranging from animal behavior to genetics, ecology, zoology, and systematics. In fact, it will make fascinating reading for anyone interested in birds and the natural world.

This unparalleled wealth of finely detailed ecological information on Neotropical bird communities will prove invaluable to all Neotropical wildlife managers, conservation biologists, and serious birders.

Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions. Birds are categorised as a biological class, Aves. The earliest known species of this class is Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the Late Jurassic period. According to the most recent consensus, Aves and a sister group, the order Crocodilia, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria. Phylogenetically, Aves is usually defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds (or of a specific modern bird species like Passer domesticus), and Archaeopteryx. Modern phylogenies place birds in the dinosaur clade Theropoda. Modern birds are divided into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds.

The definitive field guide to the rich avifauna of Ecuador. This up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the birds of mainland Ecuador is a valuable resource for anyone exploring the mountains, forests and wetlands of this incredibly bird-rich country. With thousands of beautiful and detailed paintings, accompanied by concise descriptions and accurate maps, this is an indispensable guide to bird identification in Ecuador. It covers every species and most subspecies recorded in Ecuador, including migrants and vagrants, with accurate and up-to-date distribution maps. There are also 291 colour plates included, which illustrate more than 1,630 species, with text on facing pages for quick and easy reference. Concise text provides an overview of the species' identification, voice, habits, habitats, range, distribution and status.

Observing birds often raises many intriguing questions. Such as what is the incubation time for those robin eggs sitting in the nest above the porch light? What kinds of flowers attract humming birds? What are the migratory distances of various species? What are the major causes of bird deaths? The Bird Almanac is an invaluable resource, impressive in scope and depth and complemented with tables and illustrations. This Second Edition has been reformatted for easier use and now features quick-find tabs and an index. The first section of the book comprehensively covers the history, biology and behavior of birds. Bird physiology, biological systems and anatomy are explained in easy-to-understand terms and annotated illustrations. Other topics include: Fossil history of birds Reproduction and mortality Threatened and endangered species Major birding festivals and competitions How to attract specific species to the backyard Extensive resources for bird-lovers including the top birding locations in America Birding code of ethics The second section consists of an authoritative world checklist of bird species. The birds are organized by taxonomic order and listed by common and Latin name. The valuable information in The Bird Almanac fills in the gaps in knowledge of even the most seasoned birder.

The first comprehensive identification guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this region. It covers all the species, including vagrants, found in Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. More than 2,300 species are described in depth in the text, describing geographical variation, identification, status, habitat, voice and taxonomy. This authoritative book will not only be an indispensable guide to the visiting birder, but also a vital tool for those engaged in work to conserve and study the avifauna of this region, which is of such importance to both the indigenous species and those which pass through on migration. This book is a companion to Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide - Plates and Maps, which forms Volume II of the set.

The best guide to the birds of Peru—now in a revised paperback edition Birds of Peru is the most complete and authoritative field guide to this diverse, neotropical landscape. It features every one of Peru's 1,817 bird species and shows the distinct plumages of each in 307 superb, high-quality color plates. Concise descriptions and color distribution maps are located opposite the plates, making this book much easier to use in the field than standard neotropical field guides. This fully revised paperback edition includes twenty-five additional species. A comprehensive guide to all 1,817 species found in Peru—one fifth of the world's birds--with subspecies, sexes, age classes, and morphs fully illustrated Designed especially for field use, with vivid descriptive information and helpful identification tips opposite color plates Detailed species accounts, including a full-color distribution map Includes 25 additional species not covered in the first edition Features 3 entirely new plates and more than 25 additional illustrations