In ''The Secret Life of Birds'', lifelong bird
enthusiast Colin Tudge explores the extraordinary
variety, secret history and hidden importance of birds
around the world. Birds are beautiful, intriguing and
life-enhancing. They can do everything mammals can, and
even more besides. Collected here are birds who navigate
using the stars, tool-making crows, territorial robins,
cooperative penguins and swans who mate for life - among
hundreds of others. Revealing everything from why birds
sing to how they fly, think, bond and survive, from how
they evolved (and whether it really is from dinosaurs)
to why, in so many ways, they are very much like us,
this rich, evocative book will make you love and admire
the birds that are all around you. ''Enjoyable
...entertaining ...masterful''. (Stephen Moss,
''Guardian''). ''Simply fizzing with ideas ...his heart
is with the birds''. (''Literary Review'').
''Inspired...Tudge's writing is always clear and
frequently embellished with wry humour''. (Richard
Fortey, ''Sunday Telegraph''). ''Only when we read this
scintillating study do we see how little we've known
about the creatures we see around us''. (Michael
Kerrigan, ''Scotsman'' Books of the Year).''An author
whose own deep relish for the extraordinary lives of
birds seems only marginally less pleasurable to him than
sharing that wonder with others''. (''BBC Wildlife
Magazine''). When Colin Tudge was a small boy, he could
recognize only five kinds of birds. After studying
zoology at Cambridge, Colin wrote for the New Scientist
and was a documentary maker for BBC radio. His other
books, also published by Penguin, include ''The Secret
Life of Trees'' and ''So Shall We Reap: What's Gone
Wrong with the World's Food - and How to Fix
It''. |
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