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Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
ISBN: 9780747598220
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 437
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Book Description
For thousands of years people have been fascinated by birds, and today that fascination is still growing. In 2007 bird-watching is one of the most popular pastimes, not just in Britain, but throughout the world, and the range of interest runs from the specialist to the beginner. In The Wisdom of Birds, Birkhead takes the reader on a journey that not only tells us about the extraordinary lives of birds - from conception and egg, through territory and song, to migration and fully flegded breeder - but also shows how, over centuries, we have overcome superstition and untested 'truths' to know what we know, and how recent some of that knowledge is. It was only in the nineteenth century that the ancient belief that swallows hibernated under water (!) finally gave way to general exxpetance of the facts of migration. In the same century of dazzling experimental science, even Darwin chose not to dwell on the sexual promiscuity of female birds to spare the blushes of his daughter, who was helping to correct the proofs of The Descent of Man. Conceived for a general audience, and illustrated throughout with more than 100 exquisitely beautiful illustrations, many of them rarely, if ever, seen before, The Wisdom of Birds is a book full of stories, knowledge and unexpected revelations. 'One of the most entertaining, informative and enthusiastic accounts of the history of ornithology; and of the many different ways in which we have observed, studied and wondered about birds.'-Daily Telegraph.
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
ISBN: 9780747598220
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 437
Get Book Here
Book Description
For thousands of years people have been fascinated by birds, and today that fascination is still growing. In 2007 bird-watching is one of the most popular pastimes, not just in Britain, but throughout the world, and the range of interest runs from the specialist to the beginner. In The Wisdom of Birds, Birkhead takes the reader on a journey that not only tells us about the extraordinary lives of birds - from conception and egg, through territory and song, to migration and fully flegded breeder - but also shows how, over centuries, we have overcome superstition and untested 'truths' to know what we know, and how recent some of that knowledge is. It was only in the nineteenth century that the ancient belief that swallows hibernated under water (!) finally gave way to general exxpetance of the facts of migration. In the same century of dazzling experimental science, even Darwin chose not to dwell on the sexual promiscuity of female birds to spare the blushes of his daughter, who was helping to correct the proofs of The Descent of Man. Conceived for a general audience, and illustrated throughout with more than 100 exquisitely beautiful illustrations, many of them rarely, if ever, seen before, The Wisdom of Birds is a book full of stories, knowledge and unexpected revelations. 'One of the most entertaining, informative and enthusiastic accounts of the history of ornithology; and of the many different ways in which we have observed, studied and wondered about birds.'-Daily Telegraph.
Author: Caroll Spinney
Publisher: Villard
ISBN: 0307417549
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 171
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Book Description
An inspiring message for all ages: Find your inner bird. If you’re looking for wisdom and joy in your life, go straight to Sesame Street and heed the words of its most beloved and profound resident, Caroll Spinney, who has spent the past thirty-four years in a bird costume (and a trash can) as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Three decades inside a giant puppet have taught Spinney a valuable and surprising lesson: Being a bird can make you a better person. In The Wisdom of Big Bird, the living legend of Sesame Street describes how we can all find our inner bird (or grouch). Each chapter illustrates a piece of useful wisdom Spinney has gleaned from a career in feathers. The lessons Big Bird teaches children every day on Sesame Street are the same ones that have brought Spinney success and satisfaction in his own life. Warm, witty, and affirming, Caroll Spinney’s memoir proves that being a bird can make you a better and happier person. “Every day on Sesame Street, we strive to give our innocent young audience the basis of a lifelong education. It is no accident that spending the past thirty-four years in the Bird suit teaching these lessons to others has taught me a few things, too.”—from The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch)
Author: Lesley Morrison
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 0738730432
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 120
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Book Description
As spiritual guides, otherworldly allies, and magical companions, birds have been revered for millennia. From eagles and owls to hummingbirds and wrens, this lovely and lyrical guide to bird spirituality explores the rich beliefs and practices surrounding more than forty different birds—and reveals how these venerated creatures can guide us today. Drawing on mythology and traditions of worldwide shamanic cultures—from modern times to the Bronze Age—this book examines avian spirituality from all angles: What birds have symbolized through the ages and why How to decipher bird messages in your life Bird deities from Aphrodite to the Valkyries Avian presence in ancient cave art, shapeshifting rituals, magic practices, and religion How to discover and work with your totem bird From exploring the five stages of soul alchemy to helping protect our feathered companions, The Healing Wisdom of Birds offers a variety of practical ways to connect with these sacred creatures.
Author: Ram Nidumolu
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1609945794
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269
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Book Description
The health of business is inextricably linked with the health of humanity and nature. But our current approaches to leadership treat business as entirely separate—and the result has been recurring economic, environmental, and human crises. In this extraordinary book, Ram Nidumolu uses evocative parables and stories from the ancient Indian wisdom texts, the Upanishads, to introduce Being-centered leadership. This new kind of leadership is anchored in the concept of Being, the fundamental reality that underlies all phenomena. Being-centered leaders are guided by an innate sense of interconnection—the good of the whole becomes an integral part of their decisions and actions. Using the experiences of over twenty trailblazing CEOs, as well as those from his own life, Nidumolu describes a four-stage road map every aspiring leader can use to reconnect business to the wider world—to the benefit of all.
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 140883054X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
What is it like to be a swift, flying at over one hundred kilometres an hour? Or a kiwi, plodding flightlessly among the humid undergrowth in the pitch dark of a New Zealand night? And what is going on inside the head of a nightingale as it sings, and how does its brain improvise?Bird Sense addresses questions like these and many more, by describing the senses of birds that enable them to interpret their environment and to interact with each other. Our affinity for birds is often said to be the result of shared senses - vision and hearing - but how exactly do their senses compare with our own? And what about a birds' sense of taste, or smell, or touch or the ability to detect the earth's magnetic field? Or the extraordinary ability of desert birds to detect rain hundreds of kilometres away - how do they do it?Bird Sense is based on a conviction that we have consistently underestimated what goes on in a bird's head. Our understanding of bird behaviour is simultaneously informed and constrained by the way we watch and study them. By drawing attention to the way these frameworks both facilitate and inhibit discovery, it identifies ways we can escape from them to seek new horizons in bird behaviour.There has never been a popular book about the senses of birds. No one has previously looked at how birds interpret the world or the way the behaviour of birds is shaped by their senses. A lifetime spent studying birds has provided Tim Birkhead with a wealth of observation and an understanding of birds and their behaviour that is firmly grounded in science.
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632863715
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
A bird's egg is a nearly perfect survival capsule--an external womb--and one of natural selection's most wonderful creations. Shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016.One of Forbes' Best Books About Birds and Birding in 2016. Renowned ornithologist Tim Birkhead opens this gripping story as a female guillemot chick hatches, already carrying her full quota of tiny eggs within her undeveloped ovary. As she grows into adulthood, only a few of her eggs mature, are released into the oviduct, and are fertilized by sperm stored from copulation that took place days or weeks earlier. Within a matter of hours, the fragile yolk is surrounded by albumen and the whole is gradually encased within a turquoise jewel of a shell. Soon the fully formed egg is expelled onto a rocky ledge, where it will be incubated for four weeks before a chick emerges and the life cycle begins again. THE MOST PERFECT THING is about how eggs in general are made, fertilized, developed, and hatched. Birkhead uses birds' eggs as wondrous portals into natural history, enlivened by the stories of naturalists and scientists, including Birkhead and his students, whose discoveries have advanced current scientific knowledge of reproduction.
Author: Barry Lopez
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0679721835
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
In Crossing Open Ground, Barry Lopez weaves the same invigorating spell as in his National Book Award-winning classic Arctic Dreams. Here, he travels through the American Southwest and Alaska, discussing endangered wildlife and forgotten cultures. Through his crystalline vision, Lopez urges us toward a new attitude, a re-enchantment with the world that is vital to our sense of place, our well-being . . . our very survival.
Author: G. G. Carbone
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781577315438
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Birds are so common in everyday life that most people take them for granted, viewing them as nothing more than colorful diversions. Bird Signs shows a different and deeper side of our avian friends. The book presents birds as gateways to self-knowledge. According to author G. G. Carbone, birds are symbols that can help us reflect on events, make nurturing decisions, and focus on spiritual growth. Particular birds exemplify characteristics that seekers can find, or search for, in themselves -- examples include the flamingo’s balance and the chickadee’s playfulness. Divided into sections of Bird Traits, Bird Wisdom, Broken Wing, Bird Vision, and Bird Lore, the book contains a wealth of cultural and historical facts, along with guided meditations that incorporate chakras, yoga poses, and visualization. The colorful divination deck contains 52 cards that can be used individually or as daily or weekly card spreads.
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400848830
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 545
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Book Description
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.
Author: Lita Judge
Publisher: Flash Point
ISBN: 1466808683
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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Book Description
A gorgeously illustrated tribute to birds of all kinds and the fantastic, funny, fascinating things that they do. Birds have lots of ways of communicating: They sing and talk, dance and drum, cuddle and fight. But what does all of the bird talk mean? Filled with gorgeous illustrations, this fascinating picture book takes a look at the secret life of birds in a child-friendly format that is sure to appeal to readers of all ages - whether they're die-hard bird-watchers or just curious about the creatures in their own backyards.
