The Life of Birds [Paperback]

Frigatebirds balloon their bright red necks. Blue-footed boobies strut about in brilliant cobalt shoes. Great egrets sprout snow-white plumes. Whether it's a tiny hummingbird or a giant moa, no bird can escape the evolutionary pressure to impress, outwit and outdo in the struggle to survive. And when it comes to the ever-popular books about birds, a similar pressure seems to be operating. In this splendid accompaniment to the BBC TV series, natural selection has clearly carried the day.

Lyrical descriptions and colourful photos do our feathered friends ample justice--along with sightings of the hilarious and the downright bizarre. Take the drab potoo, for instance: positioning himself at the top of a snag--head raised, eyes closed--he all but disappears. Or the diversity of avian abodes: nests range from the barely discernible cliff scrape of the razorbill to the 6-ft-high penthouse of the hamerkop. Attenborough's quest for the most striking birds takes us from Pyrenees peaks to the ice of Antarctica, flushing bare-necked umbrella birds, torrent ducks and the brilliant orange, bunny-hopping cock of the rock. Bird lovers will flock to this exceptional book. --Martha Silano

A highly readable and vibrantly photographed survey of bird behavior. . . . Ample color photos illustrate the quirks of evolution that Attenborough playfully describes and highlight the scope of his project. . . . This is not a long book. But it is an extraordinarily rich one. -- "Publishers Weekly

Each chapter is an entertaining and chatty essay that rambles amiably through a series of observations from the ornithological literature. Nearly every page is graced with stunning photographs of wild birds in the most beautiful plumages or performing unusual postures or behaviors. The book is an easy read that covers an enormous amount of information on the biology of birds. -- "The Quarterly Review of Biology --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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.