Part field guide, part history, part ornithology primer, and altogether fun. Fact: Pigeons are amazing, and until recently, humans adored them. We’ve kept them as pets, held pigeon beauty contests, raced them, used them to carry messages over battlefields, harvested their poop to fertilize our crops—and cooked them in gourmet dishes. Now, with The Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, readers can rediscover the wonder. Equal parts illustrated field guide and quirky history, it covers behavior: Why they coo; how they flock; how they preen, kiss, and mate (monogamously); and how they raise their young (on chunky pigeon milk). Anatomy and identification, from Birmingham Roller to the American Giant Runt to the Scandaroon. Birder issues, like what to do if you find a baby pigeon stranded in the park. And our lively shared story together, including all the things we’ve taught them—Ping-Pong, for example. “Rats with wings?” Think again. Pigeons coo, peck and nest all over the world, yet most of us treat them with indifference or disdain. So Rosemary Mosco, a bird-lover, science communicator, writer, and cartoonist (and co-author of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid) is here to give the pigeon's image a makeover, and to help every town- and city-dweller get closer to nature by discovering the joys of birding through pigeon-watching.

They have been worshipped as fertility goddesses and revered as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of humankind, they have been crucial to wartime communications for every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to the United States and are credited with saving thousands of lives. One delivered the results of the first Olympics in 776 BC and another brought the news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo more than 2500 years later. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon them to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet today the pigeon is reviled as a rat with wings. How did we come to misunderstand one of humanity's most steadfast companions?In Pigeons, Andrew D. Blechman travels across the United States and Europe in a quest to chronicle the bird's transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw.

Presents information about 160 North American bird species, including facts about physical features, voice, habitat, food, and a map indicating the regions in which each species can be found.

The author and photographer who opened a window into the world of exotic birds with his successful "Extraordinary Chickens" and its well-received follow-up, "Extraordinary Pheasants," continues his startling exploration with another singular and charming book.

BIRDERS WILL DELIGHT in this field guide parody which hovers over the forefront of ornithological discovery. Thirty-two fabulous new species are depicted in this volume, which features tongue-in-bill descriptions, observation hints, and range maps, as well as remarkable full-color illustrations. The reader will never look at our feathered friends in the same way after encountering these "freakquent" flyers.

The New York Pigeon is a photography book that reveals the unexpected beauty of the omnipresent pigeon as if Vogue magazine devoted its pages to birds, rather than fashion models. In spite of pigeons' ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. This book brings to light the intriguing history, behavior and splendor of a bird that we frequently overlook. The New York Pigeon reveals the unexpected beauty of our omnipresent pigeon. Employing exquisite portraiture that one might find in a fashion magazine, the book features this underappreciated urban bird in a fresh, glamorous light. Finally, the much maligned pigeon gets its 15 minutes. "stool pigeon..." "rats with wings..." Why? What did pigeons ever do to deserve such disrespect? (They mind their own business, they saved lives in World War I and II, and they're beautiful to boot.) Andrew Garn seeks to right this egregious wrong- through his keen eye, the pigeon is photographed in all its unexpected glory-elevated to its rightful place as a wondrous being of beauty and grace, soaring though time and space. You will never look at pigeons the same way again. In spite of pigeons' ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. For many New Yorkers, pigeons are the "gateway drug" to nature. The result of eight years of passionate inquiry,The New York Pigeon is a photographic study of the birds' power and allure. The dramatic, hyper-real individual studio portraits capture their personalities, expressiveness, glorious feather iridescence, and deeply hued eyes. High-speed strobe photography illustrates the pigeons' graceful flight and dramatic wing movements. While The New York Pigeon is primarily aphotography book, it also tells part of the 5,000-year story of the feral pigeon and their long association with humans. How did Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner teach pigeons to do complicated tasks, from tracking missile targets to recognizing individual human faces? How do pigeons find their way back home from hundreds of miles away? The New York Pigeon lovingly describes and illuminates the wonder of nature alive in our midst. With this book, the beautiful, savvy, graceful, kind pigeon will be invisible no more.

You don't need to travel to experience the joy of bird-watching: just take a look at the pigeons in your nearby park! With this fun, quirky, and scientifically correct field guide to the most common bird in most cities, you'll learn to see pigeons and doves (they're the same thing) with a bird-watcher's expertise, understanding their fascinating behavior and appreciating nature right outside your window.

Ever wonder about the dog in Downward Dog or the pigeon in Kapota? Rewild your yoga practice by connecting to the animals behind the asanas. For nature-loving yogis and readers of World of Wonders and Yoga Mythology From Downward Dog to Cobra, Wild Asana invites you into an embodied exploration of the animals that inspire familiar yoga poses. Drawing on wildlife science, anthropology, Hindu mythology, Eastern philosophy, and personal stories, this insightful guide by environmental educator and yoga instructor Alison Zak explores the connections among our bodies, our minds, and the animals that inspire our practice. In illustrated chapters on asanas like Tittibhasana (Firefly), Garudasana (Eagle), Bidalasana (Cat), and Ustrasana (Camel), Zak invites you to bring the deep nature of animals into breath and movement. You’ll learn to: Respect the monkey in “monkey mind” to honor—not tame—your own wildness Fly like an eagle to move from imprisonment to liberation Embody a pigeon’s stillness and nonattachment Imbue your practice with the agility, flexibility, and fierce commitment of a cat Incorporate asana variations, mudras, and meditations inspired by animal nature Practice lovingkindness meditations that include the more-than-human world With an encompassing ecological compassion, gorgeous original illustrations, profound insight into animal wisdom, and the humor and perspective of lived experience, Zak offers a path to deepen and enliven your practice. Whether you’re an animal lover, a first-time yoga student, or an experienced practitioner, Wild Asana is a practical and accessible guide to becoming animal on your yoga mat.

For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religion and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art and poetry. In Ten Birds that Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and eventful relationship through ten key species from all seven of the world's continents. From Odin's faithful raven companions to Darwin's finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening and endlessly engaging work of natural history.

This edited collection explores our often-surprising modes of co-inhabiting the cultural and aerial worlds of birds. It focuses on our encounters with non-captive birds and the cultural geographies of feathered flight. This book offers a timely contribution to the more-than-human geographies of flight, space and territory. The chapters support an ethics of attention as a new basis for the conservation and cultivation of aerial habitats. Contributions adopt an interdisciplinary approach to the patterns of intrusion and escape that shape our encounters with birds and unsettle our traditionally terrestrial concepts of space. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of our shared lives with birds, ranging from scientific observation to the social media-enabled spectacle of co-habitation and spatial competition. Written in a thought-provoking style, this book seeks to address a dearth of critical perspectives on the cultural geographies of flight and its implications for the ways in which we understand common spaces around and above us in the context of any effort at conservation.