The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology

Having read Birkhead's "Bird Sense: What It's Like To Be A Bird," I knew that I was studying the research of a master ornithologist. "Wisdom" confirms that. Even if, like me, you were just bumping into a formal understanding of the study of avian life, You will find your world of bird watching grow. You will "get" the life of a bird, and not a little about other species such as mammals as well, for Wisdom of Birds is as much about biology in general as it is about ornithology, about the difference and historical antagonism between museum ornithologists, who saw themselves as the only experts on the subject of birds, and in-field bird watchers who saw the ornithologists subject up close, alive and personal. In Wisdom, we meet the line of scientists who contributed to our current knowledge, we see their mis-steps and victories and we end with a clearer realization of how the scientific method works.

Fascinating, well-written, interesting topics which stand alone. I read one section which interests me and then read other books for a while. I haven't "lost my place" when I return to this. That way I can make this book "last longer". Outstanding research put together in an easy-to-read style (with just a touch of humor) without losing any content. I heard about this in a TED Talk and it has lived up to my expectations. This book adds depth to my understanding of Ornithology as a science. It shows the fascinating way science grows in small and large leaps and sometimes goes down a truly wrong path. The book also adds much to my understanding and appreciation of birds....as the scientists he mentions learned about birds, so do I. The natural history makes birds and ornithology come alive.

The hard cover version is a beautiful coffee table book. A soft cover version would have been more useful to me.

Brilliant read

Love, love, love! Will forever have a spot on my bookshelf.

good book on bird behavior. wisdom of birds takes the accumulated knowledge of birds over the centuries and prsents it in this book.

Well done and easy to read!

Everyone watches birds. Not everyone has binoculars, or takes hikes to see particular specimens to include on a life list. No one, however, can help but enjoy the sight of a wedge of geese in the sky, or two mockingbirds jumping up and down at each other, or hummingbirds shimmering in the face of garden flowers. So it isn't surprising that there should be a long history of bird observation, at first deeply imbued with folklore, then with religious interpretation, and finally with scientific rigor. In _The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology_ (Bloomsbury), ornithologist Tim Birkhead has looked at aspects of bird behavior as we have come to understand it, from Aristotle to the present. Each of his chapters covers one topic, like migration, birdsong, or territory; and he goes back to the earliest understandings of each and brings us up to date. This is an exemplary way to look at one of humans' most admirable traits, the desire better to understand nature, and to see how much better we have gotten at it (and how much more we still have to learn). Birkhead is a witty teacher who can tell a good story to illustrate a point, in clear, prose without jargon. To emphasize the historic aspect of his book, his gorgeous illustrations of birds (even when referring to twentieth century experiments) are all from past centuries, showing how much attention different bird guides had given toward getting details right. Birkhead introduces us to John Ray, who he considers the greatest of ornithologists. Ray (1622 - 1705) championed the remarkable innovation of getting out to hunt evidence down not in ancient books but in the field with his own eyes and ears. Ray got answers to many questions about bird behavior, but Birkhead points out that, more importantly, he asked the right questions about birds, questions to which we now have at least partial answers. One of the questions Ray asked about birds was just how it was that eggs could be fertilized and turn into chicks. William Harvey (who is more famous for establishing how blood circulates) fastened onto this question. He couldn't find semen anywhere in hens after copulation, and so fell back (with dissatisfaction) on the older explanation that the ovum played the primary role in reproduction while the semen acted "in an ethereal manner" and added nothing materially to the developing embryo. Ray understood that the sperm in semen and the ovum probably united to make the new embryo, but he didn't like the idea much. He could not accept that God would be profligate with sperm, saying that the millions of sperm manufactured and lost "seems not agreeable to the wisdom and providence of Nature." In the chapter on infidelity among birds, Birkhead writes that ministers might instruct their flocks to emulate the sober, unpretentiously dressed, and strictly monogamous birds of the field. They were wrong about the monogamy, but so was Darwin. The pattern for male birds when faced with such promiscuity is to produce lots of sperm and perform lots of coitus. Ray asked, in the unsparing prose of the seventeenth century, "Why should there be implanted in each sex such a vehement and inexpugnable appetite of copulation?" He, and Darwin, and Victorian churchmen might be shocked by the answer, for the answer is female promiscuity. In each chapter Birkhead traces our understanding of particular behavior in birds and thus repeatedly shows the triumph of scientific explanations. He describes wonderfully clever experiments, like the ones to show how male canaries with the more complicated songs stimulated the females to build their nests faster. He shows how the observations of field ornithologists eventually brought forth the concept of male birds guarding a territory, and that such birds competed for territory directly, and only indirectly did they compete for females. To introduce the investigations of how bird embryos become male or female, he tells us about the cock who was accused of laying eggs in 1474 in Switzerland. The cock was found guilty and burned at the stake. Birkhead examines how bird catchers of old would keep their captives in the dark and then unveil them into a false spring, artificially maximizing the months during which the birds would sing; these were lessons that researchers determining how light affects the bird breeding cycle had to relearn. This is the story not of what we know about birds, although much of what we know is on display here. It is the more important narrative of how we came to know what we know, an inspiring examination of human enquiry.

Vielle Autoren scheinen zu meinen, das birdwatching nur für Kinder oder sehr einfache Menschen ist. Falsch! Der Neugier über Vogel ist viel breiter, und schliesst nicht nur den Wunder von jungen Leuten sondern auch das Interesse einer Vielzahl von hoch intelligenten, gebildeten Zeitgenossen, die täglich Freude daran haben, die Welt mit Vogeln teilen zu dürfen. Hier ist geignetes Lesematerial von einem Fachmann, der auch schön schreiben kann.

This is a very serious, but beautifully-illustrated book; the whimsical title is slightly misleading. It is a history of ornithology from the seventeenth century to the present day. It is predominantly centred on Britain, but with important input from Europe and North America. It shows how legend and superstition gave way to systematic and serious study of birds and their behaviour. Not a light or easy read, but a worthwhile purchase for amateur and professional naturalists.

This is an absolute gem of a book. Perhaps it's something of an esoteric subject, but then most of the books I buy come under this category. However, it is a book which is so readable and entertaining that just about anyone could appreciate it. For those interested in birds and bird-watching this is a must read. I've yet to read the same author's "Bird Sense", but that omission will be addressed in the very near future. Brilliant.

This book gives a detailed account of the development of ornithology, of various theories and those who formulated them. Simultaneously, the experiments performed and the discoveries are described in a highly accessible way, so that readers who are but beginning to work their way into this specific area of science can understand them easily enough and enjoy this book. I have found it to be one which I would best describe as a page-turner, a book you have to read from beginning to end. Not one section is boring, which is quite an accomplishment considering the often-difficult subject. For anyone who is interested in birds and ornithology, I can whole-heartedly recomment this book.

This book tells what we (humans) have learned about birds over the centuries. It is an excellent and lucid examination of Man's wisdom, or sometimes lack of it. Tim Birkhead is an academic who can communicate brilliantly with the ordinary reader. From bird intelligence, migration, physiology to reproduction, the author covers a wide range of material. The illustrations also are terrific. A 'must have' book for all bird lovers with any wisdom at all!