How Birds Behave

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Interpreting What They Do and Why

By: Wenfei Tong

eBook - October 2020 - eRetailers

This engaging book delves into the private lives of wild birds to reveal why they behave as they do.

Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviours – from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from species around the world, How Birds Behave presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context. + Full description

We discover how birds find food, relying on foraging techniques, tools and thievery. We learn about the courtship rituals through which birds choose, compete for, woo and win mates; the familial conflicts that crop up among parents, offspring and siblings; and the stresses and strains of nesting, including territory defence, nepotism and relationship sabotage. We see how birds respond to threats and danger – through such unique practices as murmurations, specific alarm calls, distraction displays and antipredator nest design. We also read about how birds change certain behaviours – preening, migration, breeding and huddling – based on climate. Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them.

Drawing on classic examples and the latest research, How Birds Behave offers a close-up look at the many ways birds conduct themselves in the wild.

- Short description

News

Sales in Australia and New Zealand only.
This book is co-published by Princeton University Press (USA) as 'Understanding Bird Behavior' and by The History Press (UK) as 'How to Read a Bird' (external links).

Reviews

"An enjoyable, attractive, instructive, and stimulating read for anyone interested in the biology and behaviour of wild birds in the field."
Clifford B. Frith, Australian Field Ornithology 37 (2020)

"It is the type of book that may help encourage a renewed interest in bird behaviour from enthusiastic bird watchers and citizen scientists, among other possible members of the interested public. Moreover, for any jaded casual readers that need a reminder of how strange and wonderful birds can be, this book will be an antidote."
Andrew Humpherys, Birds Queensland Newsletter 52(1)

"Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them."
Talking Birds, February 2021

"How Birds Behave seems to cover just about everything known about why birds do the things that they do, all within 215 pages. Each turn of the page also reveals beautiful photos and water colour paintings of birds from around the world that help illustrate the behaviours being discussed."
Steve Lofthouse, WA Naturalists Club, 17 January 2021

"For someone starting out in the truly wonderful world of bird behaviour, there is a lot of good starting material here, well supplemented by some excellent photos from a wide range of sources and some nice sketches."
Ian Fraser's Natural History Review #29, February 2021

"This excellent book presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context."
Talking Birds, June 2021

The writing style is very clear and easy to understand. The organisation of arguments follows logically, which lends itself to armchair, desk, or bedtime reading. The language is by no means too thick. The research and knowledge in the book is of the highest level and always pertinent."
Graham R. Fulton, Pacific Conservation Biology Vol. 28, 2022

Details

Hardback | October 2020 | $ 39.99
ISBN: 9781486313280 | 224 pages | 228 x 165 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Colour illustrations, Colour photographs

ePDF | October 2020
ISBN: 9781486313297
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

ePUB | October 2020
ISBN: 9781486313303
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

Features

Provides compelling insights into bird behaviour
Draws from classic examples and the latest research, including work by citizen scientists
Fascinating vignettes about the private life of birds, from finding food and family life, to coping with climate and other threats
Engaging text is accompanied by 158 detailed colour illustrations and photographs

Foreword
Introduction

1. Finding food
2. A social bird
3. Courtship
4. Family life
5. Dealing with danger
6. Coping with climate

Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements

Authors

Wenfei Tong is a biologist, conservationist and nature guide. She is a Research Associate at the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and the owner of Big Sky Safaris. She is the author of Bird Love: The Family Life of Birds (Princeton University Press).