The birds of the wetlands - Hardcover

Hancock, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0709912870 ISBN 13: 9780709912873

Publisher: Croom Helm, 1984

Synopsis

Birds of the Wetlands combines stunning photography with snapshot prose pictures of some of the most important and spectacular wetlands in the world. The beauty of the bird life is set against telling explanations of how wetland habitats work and of their place in the international conservation scene.
Still a haven for huge breeding populations of herons, storks, ibises, spoonbills, anhingas, cormorants, wildfowl, waders, and birds of prey, wetlands are some of the world's last and best wild places.
Based on the author's own wide experience, this book considers the important questions of conservation in these increasingly threatened environments, highlighting both future dangers and past mistakes, all discussed in a global context.
Beautifully illustrated throughout in color from the author's own collection of photographs taken during many visits to these areas over the past thirty years, this spectacular book is the work of one of the world's most-travelled authorities on wetland birds.

Key Features
* Contains a superb collection of bird photographs
Describes some of the world's most important wetland habitats
* Considers the important questions of conservation in these increasingly threatened environments

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Wetlands are special places whose complex ecosystems provide homes for rich and varied assemblages of bird inhabitants. Herons, storks, ibises, spoonbills, anhingas, shorebirds and birds of prey all make a living there, each according to their own special needs. Although similar in many ways, the different wetland areas show many peculiarities in their individual habits and ecology, and make for fascinating comparisons and contrasts.
Wetlands are also a dwindling part of the world's rich mix of habitats, everywhere endangered by pollution, land drainage and the overuse of water resources for urban and agricultural development.
James Hancock has fed his lifelong love of these often wild, but always exciting places with years of travel and expedition to most of the great wetlands of the world, both as a tourist and explorer or as a tour leader, visiting lecturer and ambassador for various conservation bodies. His skill as a photographer has found ample scope in documenting the birds he has observed and the splendour of the wetlands in which they live.
But there is more in this book than fine photographs. Hancock's appreciation and understanding of the biology and ecology of wetlands and their birds and his concern for the conservation problems facing them inform his lively text. Anecdote and science alike are used to plead for a better understanding of wetlands and the need to conserve them for the future. Here, there is food for the soul and the intellect.

About the Author:

James Hancock was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of The American Ornithologist Union in 1995. The American Waterbirds Society honored him with their prestigious Kai Curry Lindahl award for Conservation.He is a Past President of the British Trust for Ornithology and served on the Council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He received an OBE for Service to Ornithology in H.M. the Queen's 1991 New Year's Honors List.He has authored and co-authored many books including his latest Herons and Egrets of the World in 1999.He holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Southampton.

About this edition

• Publisher: Croom Helm
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0709912870
• ISBN 13: 9780709912873
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152