The Magic & Mystery of Birds

From the life-long relationships of the albatross to the remarkable memory of the nutcracker and other avian mysteries, Noah Strycker illuminates the startlingly intimate coexistence of birds and humans. "In almost any realm of bird behaviour - reproduction, populations, movements, daily rhythms, communication, navigation, intelligence, and so on - there are deep and meaningful parallels with our own." Noah Strycker has spent the last decade studying bird behaviour in some of the world's remotest places - from a penguin colony in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, the Australian outback, the Galápagos Islands - and has observed almost 2,500 species of birds. Noah has come to understand that birds are lively, unpredictable individuals loaded with personality and, if you look closely enough, birds have human counterparts. From the homing instinct of pigeons (and the mystery of the pigeon equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle in eastern England) and testing the turkey vulture's sense of smell with a deer carcass to the reason behind a penguin's fear of water, we ultimately learn about ourselves by studying birds. Drawing on cutting-edge scientific research, along with his personal experience, and colourful anecdotes The Magic and Mystery of Birds is a thoughtful and engaging look at how the life of birds connects with humanity. In an entertaining and perceptive account of the lives of birds, from watching penguins in Antarctica to testing turkey vultures' sense of smell, Noah Strycker illuminates the surprising world of birds and their secret life.In observing birds' intelligence and their emotional, even artistic, life scientists have unlocked fascinating insights into memory, game theory and the nature of intelligence itself. They explore what birds can teach us about humanity. Drawing on cutting-edge scientific research, along with his personal experience (Strycker has travelled all over the world birdwatching) with colourful anecdotes about the intimate co-existence of birds and man The Magic and Mystery of Birdsis a thoughtful and engaging look at how we often view the world through the experience of birds."Noah Strycker's illuminating - and, actually, rather moving - new book is a welcome reminder that we have much more to learn from the animal kingdom than we can even begin to know. Asking searching questions about why birds behave as they do, he offers poetic insights into our own existence... And what he has to tell us is fascinating." - Daily Mail"This beautifully written book is a treasure trove of information on the avian world, from the life-long relationship of the albatross to the remarkable memory of the nutcracker." - BBC Countryfile"An account of the lives of birds, and draws intriguing parallels with our own world, as well as possible lessons we can learn from our feathered friends." - Choice Noah Strycker has spent the last decade studying bird behaviour in some of the world's remotest places - from a penguin colony in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, the Australian outback, the Galápagos Islands - and has observed almost 2,500 species of birds. Noah has come to understand that birds are lively, unpredictable individuals loaded with personality and, if you look closely enough, birds have human counterparts. From the homing instinct of pigeons (and the mystery of the pigeon equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle in eastern England), testing the turkey vulture's sense of smell with a deer carcass to the reason behind penguin's fear of water and lack of fear of humans, even the courtship rituals of Australia's winged Casanova, the bowerbird, by studying birds, we ultimately learn about ourselves. As we learn about birds, we gain insights into memory, relationships, game theory and the nature of intelligence itself. Drawing on cutting-edge scientific research, along with his personal experience, and colourful anecdotes The Magic and Mystery of Birds is a thoughtful and engaging look at how the life of birds connects with humanity.