The Thing with Feathers

Posted on 01 March 2018 by Noah Strycker

An entertaining and profound look at the lives of birds, illuminating their surprising world and deep connection with humanity.Birds are highly intelligent animals, yet their intelligence is dramatically different from our own and has been little understood As scientists come to understand about the secrets of bird life, they are unlocking fascinating insights into memory, game theory, and the nature of intelligence itself The Thing with Feathers explores the astonishing homing abilities of pigeons, the good deeds of fairy wrens, the influential flocking abilities of starlings, the deft artistry of bowerbirds, the extraordinary memories of nutcrackers, the lifelong loves of albatross, and other mysteries revealing why birds do what they do, and offering a glimpse into our own nature.Noah Strycker is a birder and naturalist who has traveled the world in pursuit of his flighty subjects Drawing deep from personal experience, cutting edge science, and colorful history, he spins captivating stories about the birds in our midst and reveals the startlingly intimate coexistence of birds and humans With humor, style, and grace, he shows how our view of the world is often, and remarkably, through the experience of birds.Beautiful and wise, funny and insightful, The Thing with Feathers is a gripping and enlightening journey into the lives of birds. Best Read The Thing with Feathers Author Noah Strycker For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr I can t even handle that Noah Strycker is my age and he s already written two books about birds I AM WASTING MY LIFEAuthor Noah Strycker is not someone to sit back and enjoy birds from a distance He s trekked within a few feet of a mating albatross pair, grabbed hold of penguins to attach GPS tags, and as a teenager he brought home a roadside deer carcass in his trunk, which filled his car with such an overwhelming stench that even at 65 miles an hour he had to drive with his head hanging out the window, just so he could could get close up photos the of turkey vultures as they feasted on gore for a week in h Author Noah Strycker is not someone to sit back and enjoy birds from a distance He s trekked within a few feet of a mating albatross pair, grabbed hold of penguins to attach GPS tags, and as a teenager he brought home a roadside deer carcass in his trunk, which filled his car with such an overwhelming stench that even at 65 miles an hour he had to drive with his head hanging out the window, just so he could could get close up photos the of turkey vultures as they feasted on gore for a week in his backyard As both a field scientist and bird enthusiast Strycker has lots of fascinating information and personal stories about birds for this book, as anyone who was anywhere near me while I was reading knows since it was impossible not to share sorry family and friends Each chapter focuses on the wonders of a particular bird,...To tak naprawd jest moja 40 ksi ka, bo jedn czyta am co trzecie zdanie To by aby bardzo fajna ksi ka, gdyby autor nie skreca non stop w dygresje Cz o ptakach jest bardzo ciekawa Ta z dygresjami nie zawsze i niekoniecznie.I love birds and really enjoy learning about them, especially about bird behavior, so it was with great excitement that I agreed to review this book And overall, it is enjoyable and educational, full of interesting facts and anecdotes, not only about birds but about numerous other animals, including humans I was disappointed, though, to see a scientist, who so lovingly describes bird behavior with a great eye for detail and nuance, fall back on unflattering generalizations about female humans, I love birds and really enjoy learning about them, especially about bird behavior, so it was with great excitement that I agreed to review this book And overall, it is enjoyable and educational, full of interesting facts and anecdotes, not only about birds but about numerous other animals, including humans I was disappointed, though, to see a scientist, who ...This could have been titled Birds and Philosophy Noah Strycker illustrates interesting behavior in the bird world, and compares it with human behavior Sometimes it s unexpected behavior, other times it s downright startling As we learnabout what makes other creatures tick, it gets harder to pin down what makes us different, what makes us human.The male bower bird, for instance, spends ten mont...My step daughter gave this to me for my birthday I wasn t sure I would like it and would never have chosen it to read But I read it and it is wonderful The author has been intrigued with birds since he was a child which resulted in his passion His book explores a variety of birds with characteristics that are common to humans The bowerbird is especially interesting Is it an artist It s courting behavior certainly is artistic I first learned of this bird at an exhibit at the Peabody Essex My step daughter gave this to me for my birthday I wasn t sure I would like it and would never have chosen it to read But I read it and it is wonderful The author has been intrigued with birds since he was a child which resulted in his passion His book explores a variety of birds with characteristics that are common to humans The bowerbird is especially interesting Is it an artist It s courting behavior certainly is artistic I first learned of this bird at an exhibit at the Peabody Esse...I really enjoyed this book If you are even remotely interested in bird behavior, I highly recommend it or human and other smart animal behavior b c he covers it all art, love, memory, etc Did you know the Aztec god of war was a hummingbird If you read this book, you will know why So goodA gem This book isn t just a dry book about bird behavior Rather, it is about human behavior, via what we know about birds it is about what bird behavior can teach us about human behavior, and how what we know about humans can explain various bird behaviors The author isn t just a bird expert he appears to be very well versed in various disciplines such as evolution, brain science, and game theory.Each chapter deals with a different bird species and a defining behavioral characteristic For A gem This book isn t just a dry book about bird behavior Rather, it is about human behavior, via what we know about birds it is about what bird behavior can teach us about human behavior, and how what we know about humans can explain various bird behaviors The author isn t just a bird expert he appears to be very well versed in various disciplines such as evolution,...A fascinating and well researched book studying the behaviors of specific bird species and the linkages to human behaviors I wasinterested in the birds than in the human aspects Pigeons were analyzed for their remarkable homing instincts As we know they have been used during wars to relay messages They have been transported worldwide, released, and find their way home with incredible speed.Starlings are not indigenous to the U.S they were introduced from Europe where many flocks are n A fascinating and well researched book studying the behaviors of specific bird species and the linkages to human behaviors I wasinterested in the birds than in the human aspects Pigeons were analyzed for their remarkable homing instincts As we know they have been used during wars to relay messages They have been transported worldwide, released, and find their way home with incredible speed.Starlings are not indigenous to the U.S they were introduced from Europe where many flocks are nearly extinct They flock for protection, have acute spacial acuity, and conduct murmuration where they flock and fly across the sky in beautiful patterns Turkey Vultures have a sense of smell but also need visual cues to find carrion They smell mercaptans added to natural gas to give it a noxious odor and the bird often senses this as some type of decaying carcass.Snow O...I am the most amateurish of birdwatchers I pat myself on the back when I see a cardinal or a bluejay I can t tell the difference between a falcon and a hawk, much less distinguish between all the various kinds of sparrows I know nothing about nests, habits, calls, or bird behavior The Thing with Feathers was the perfect light reading Strycker provides fun facts while keeping the tone friendly and accessible Some of the chapters dealt with birds that everyone knows penguins, chickens, pige I am the most amateurish of birdwatchers I pat myself on the back when I see a cardinal or a bluejay I can t tell the difference between a falcon and a hawk, much less distinguish between all the various kinds of sparrows I know nothing about nests, habits, calls, or bird behavior The Thing with Feathers was the perfect light reading Strycker provides fun facts while keeping the tone friendly and accessible Some of the chapters dealt with birds that everyone knows penguins, chickens, pigeons while others, such as the bowerbird and the fairywren, were unknown to me I kept a smartphone by me so that I can google images and...

English
01 March 2018

Noah Strycker