The Life of Birds - Softcover

Attenborough,David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0563387920 ISBN 13: 9780563387923

Publisher: BBC Books, 1998

Synopsis

There are more than 9000 species of birds, spanning the globe from Arctic to Antarctic, from deserts to jungles, and from mountain tops to sea shores. In this book David Attenborough presents the results of recent research into aspects of bird behaviour, such as their remarkable strategies for finding food, their complex social systems, and their ingenious and often bizarre ways of mating and breeding.

About this title

Review

Tireless explorer of the natural world and wide-ranging traveler, documentary filmmaker and writer David Attenborough has delighted readers and viewers with such productions as Life on Earth and The Living Planet. In this companion to a 10-part PBS series of the same name, Attenborough examines the ways of bird species from prehistoric times to the present, writing, as he admits, from the viewpoint of an amateur with a particular interest in animal behavior. (Those who can distinguish a bird at sight or by song possess a skill, he writes, "which I greatly admire, but one, alas, that I do not possess.") That amateur passion yields a fine overview of avian biology, as Attenborough turns to such matters as the antiquity of birds, which have dominated the air for some 150 million years, and the adaptation of birds to every ecosystem on the planet--for no obstacle, from huge mountains to wide oceans, has been able to stop their colonizing the whole of the globe, including the artificial deserts of major cities, where pigeons and peregrines rule. Graced with 180 color photographs, Attenborough's book will delight birdwatchers, students of animal behavior, and admirers of good writing alike. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author

Sir David Attenborough, a Fellow of the Royal Society, is also a Trustee of the British Museum and an Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. He is an internationally esteemed producer and has written the books accompanying his television series Trials of Life, The Living Planet, Life on Earth, and The Private Life of Plants. The latter book was a number-one bestseller in the United Kingdom and is available from Princeton.

Edition details

• Publisher: BBC Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0563387920
• ISBN 13: 9780563387923
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 318