Author: JM Marzluff
By Yale University Press

Those noisy neighbours, 2007-02-15
They lack the colour glories of parrots and lorikeets. They're not like the little tweetie birds of our childhood books. Probably the best known of them is Poe's bleak image - perched atop a skull croaking its dismal litany. Long before Poe, however, the corvids had gained a shady reputation in Western European legends and myths. Crows and ravens were messengers of dark fortunes sent by agents of evil intent. As is so often the case with relying on literature to depict Nature, the legends misled us. The reality is far more interesting and explains more than fiction ever has. Marzluff and Angell, are dedicated scholars in the history and legends of the corvids. This book reflects well that background, and their combined skills present what they've gleaned with style and wit.

Perhaps no other species has shown how Darwinian adaptability can work as have crows, the authors suggest. Once wild and scattered, the crow has become habitated to human settlement. They were certainly scavengers at human feeding sites, whether people were hunters or scavengers themselves. Agriculture clearly brought them from the forests to the fields we planted. Grain crops - "the staff of life" - enticed them to our neighbourhoods quickly. The rise of cities only intensified the contact and offered the crow fresh opportunity. The "fast-food" restaurant, with its Dumpsters and scattered, food bearing trash, brings them hovering over what they clearly find a delicacy. They may even become selective, choosing the more brightly-coloured fries container over an equally laden drab one. It's even possible that the newly inhabited urban existence may be enhancing their numbers. The hunting activities in farmland is lacking in the city, but there are many nesting sites. We may complain about their noisy presence, but we brought them into our neighbourhood.

Nobody has ever questioned the intelligence of the Corvus genus. Crows, ravens, rooks and their relations are considered grand tricksters at best, and opportunist thieves at least. Their intelligence is stated by the authors as being the equivalent of "flying monkeys". Marzluff and Angell relate how crows in Japan took up residence near a driving school. They learned to drop nuts under the tires of stopped autos, returning to retrieve the meat after the wheel passed over and crushed the nut. The talent spread out over time and crows many kilometres away now practice the feat. Antics of this sort have been observed over the centuries, with our culture adopting Corvid elements into stories and descriptions. What are the wrinkles alongside the eyes of the elderly, but "crow's feet". We'll pass over the origins of "eating crow".

Corvid intellect goes beyond tricks and chance. The authors have witnessed both a murder of a crow by its fellows. They've also observed "funerals" in which a mob of crows silently surrounds a departed member [not the "murdered" one] for a long period, only to depart without a sound beyond the flutter of wings. Quiet crows are unusual. They also, it has been learned, developed the ability to count. Tests conducted with crows indicate they can count to five. They also "play". According to the authors, crows will slide down snowbanks or another smooth surface much as otters do, and with as little discernible purpose. Perhaps it's indicative that the Norse god Odin had two ravens, Thought and Memory as companions.

There's much more to be said about this book. As a resource, it's without peer, covering all aspects of Corvid life from mating rituals to nesting practices and territorial claims. As a narrative of observations, it reads much as an adventure story. You needn't be a fan of crows or ravens to enjoy this book. Angell's artwork greatly enhances the text, and is both informative and a treat in itself. The Corvids are your close neighbours and it's both pleasurable and profitable to read about who and what they are. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Author: Birdlife International
By Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd

Definitive or not, this visual guide is truly a joy to behold, 2008-06-04
Dorling Kindersley have become well known for producing clear, visually oriented reference books for adults and children. They had previously published a score of smaller volumes on the subject of birds, but nothing quite like this: a definitive guide, as they claim. The book is best described as an encyclopaedia of birds. Measuring 30 x 25 cm and weighing over 2kg, it has the heft of an encyclopaedia and certainly isn't a field guide. At the same time it is an avian art gallery that exhibits some of the most exciting photographs of the world's most wonderful birds.

The book is split into three parts. The 44 page introduction discusses physiology, flight, behaviour, conservation and more. It is nicely concise, making use of numerous photographs and diagrams to explain what birds are. The second, 28-page section explores habitats in the same way. This leaves the lion's share - some 390 pages - for the systematic accounts, which cover all bird families and a selection of over 1,200 species. There is an introductory section for each taxonomic group - species are grouped by Order in the case of Non-passerines and Family for the Passerines. The majority of species are illustrated by a photograph in addition to range map with a short text on the salient features of the bird.

In the US edition (ISBN 075663153X - also available on Amazon), produced in collaboration with Audubon, a CD is included. Prepared by Cornell's Macauley Library of Natural Sounds, it is a delightful audio sample of vocalisations from 60 species from around the world.

This is just the sort of book that would have engrossed me for hours as a child. I remember spending many a happy evening poring over my Mitchell Beazley World Atlas of Birds, which would have been the nearest equivalent back then. Already my kids have spent more time looking through the book than I have! It's not too hard to imagine that this book, left idly on a coffee table, will persuade many a non-birding adult to pick up a pair of binoculars for the first time. In fact, it may just be the ideal book to explain to the fascination of birds to the uninitiated. I spend a lot of time watching birds in the wild and even I found myself gasping at some of the photographs. The double page spreads of a hunting Great Grey Owl, King Penguins under water, a Spotted Sandpiper chick hunkered down amongst leaf litter, Toco Toucan, Waxwings and Northern Cardinal were, for me, particular evocative.

This is a book I can heartily recommend to birders of all stripes - especially beginning birders, armchair travellers and anyone who likes to celebrate the beauty and diversity of birds. A sort of book equivalent of David Attenborough's "Life of Birds".

Chris Sharpe, 4 June 2008. ISBN: 1405306335

Author: Rob Hume
By Mitchell Beazley

EXCELLANT, 2008-04-13
This is really a great book and you can get good deals on amazon. It really is impressive.Buy it and you will not be sorry.

Author: Andy Swash, Rob Still
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

This is the Galápagos wildlife guide you want, 2006-09-05
Andy Swash (photographer) and Rob Still (computer design wizard) have conspired to produce the handiest and most authoritative guide to the wildlife of these enchanted islands. They have pioneered the use of computer enhanced photographs, which combine the advantage of a photograph as an accurate record of an individual, with the artists ability to stress those features that are representative of the species. In one pocket-sized, 168 page, full-colour photographic guide you have all you need to identify almost all of the archipelago's wildlife including every living species of bird, mammal and reptile.

This second edition differs from the first as follows:-

* it includes new species for the islands, such as Green Heron and Grey-headed Gull
* all range maps have been revised and updated
* the cetaceans section has been completely revamped
* a new section on "electronic media" is provided
* the species checklist has been brought right up to date

And since WILDGuides are a non-profit organisation which supports conservation throughout the world, you are helping ensure that the wildlife you enjoy today will still be there for others to enjoy tomorrow. Check out their other titles on Amazon.co.uk, all of which share the enhanced photography approach.

The perfect guide for the curious visitor and expert alike. Look no further!

Author: Chris Gomersall
By David & Charles PLC

Great Book for the Bird Photographer, 2007-04-05
As with the other reviews, I agree that this is a great book for the bird photographer enthusiast. Packed with valuable hints and tips, in-depth discussions of techniques and equipment, and many great photos, with details of how they were taken. I like the fact that different photographers contributed images, it adds to the variety of images and photography styles.

Highly Recommended!

Author: Peter Holden, Tim Cleeves
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

An excellent bird guide, 2006-02-04
This is the book that I reach for before I go to sleep to review some of the birds that I have seen throughout the day - an amazing wealth of information is crammed into a page, and each page is dedicated to a bird. The drawings and artwork are OK, not up to Collins standards, and it would not be my first choice for a field guide, but for some interesting factual information about species that I have encountered. This is the one, and worth having just for that. I love it, and think that the RSPB have a very good and effective range of books out at them moment.

Author: J.A. Baker
By NYRB Classics

Superb, distinctive and unforgettable, 2008-04-24
I haven't ever reviewed anything on Amazon before but felt compelled to seeing that this astonishing book has not yet had one. The Peregrine, written by the reclusive librarian and naturalist J.A.Baker is a unique work, and certainly the best modern prose nature writing I have encountered. It should take its place beside Manley Hopkins notebooks and poems and the poetry of Les Murray and Ted Hughes. It is the last of these is that it most resembles with its intense distillations of natural violence, of planetary process seen in the local and nature seen without romantic overlay, functioning beyond human consciousness. The book consists of a short essay on the natural history of the peregrine falcon followed by an edited diary of days spent watching a few individuals over one winter and spring. There is therefore a repetition of days out watching, dawns and dusks, which becomes deeply hypnotic. Baker eschews any autobiographical writing; it is the inhuman drama of the birds lives that the reader becomes immersed in. He has a facility for metaphor every bit as good as Hughes' and, as in Hughes, the effect produced is of shockingly vivid arrest of the natural world. It is simply some of the best prose I have read.
In short, The Peregrine is unlike anything I have read before, a book that I will continue to live with and quite probably reread once a year. Do not delay before discovering this remarkable work.

Author: Peter Bircham
By Collins

A good introduction, 2008-07-16
If you are new to the subject, as I am, you should find this a good summary of people and developments in British ornithology over the centuries. The style is readable and well paced.

I agree that some of the illustrations are make-weights, but suspect this is the fault of the publisher rather than the author.

Author: Terry Stevenson, John Fanshawe
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

Your search is over..., 2008-01-10
This is the best field guide to the birds of East Africa. What more to say? Superb illustrations and succinct summaries have made this book invaluable for all my East African trips.

Author: Craig Robson
By New Holland Publishers Ltd

Great achievement in a small package, 2007-12-28
I wanted one field guide that would cover Thailand and Cambodia, and this is the only choice. The plates are just big enough for clarity and to show differential details between species; the information on distribution by area and season was again enough to work from - and better than using more space for maps that would have been far too generalised. To get this much into so small a book and make it so useful is a job well done. Recommended.