Monday, February 10, 2014

Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin - A Review

I was thrilled to receive for review by Another Bird Blog a copy of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin, due for publication by Princeton University Press on 26th February 2014. 

“Eager anticipation” barely described my six month or more wait for this book, the most recent and potentially the best in a line of books devoted to the history of ornithological study. I noticed immediately the dust jacket bearing praise and recommendation from the likes of Ian Newton, Walt Koenig, Jeremy Mynott and Frank Gill; so after my marathon wait would the book live up to the expectations of a bog-standard, open minded, always curious, but mostly unscientific bird watcher? 

Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin - Princeton University Press

The Preface quickly sends readers to Appendix 1, a list of approximately 24 “histories of ornithology”, very few of which actually hold information of late twentieth century advances in the study of birds, most of the books dealing with early ornithology up to the mid-twentieth century at best. Through a simple but highly effective line-graph heading inexorably north the authors display how ornithology has exploded since 1960 and continued to advance during the 2000s - “Since Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859 we estimate there have been no fewer than 380,000 ornithological publications. In 2011 there were as many papers published on birds as there had been during the entire period between Darwin’s Origin and 1955”.

This sets the scene for the pages which follow, a comprehensive exploration and analysis of ornithology during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, a riveting, entertaining, enlightening and frequently inspirational read. It is the history, science, art, and where necessary the politics of ornithology since Darwin to present day, each themed chapter skilfully leading the reader through the years.

The Preface describes how the authors Tim Birkhead, Jo Wimpenny and Bob Montgomerie set about deciding the book’s scope and approach and whether that should be chronological order, one based upon the “top” ornithologists from Darwin to date, or one written around topics. Wisely they chose the latter approach whereby the 11 topics start at the beginning with Yesterday’s Birds and the first fossil discovery of Archaeopteryx and finish at Page 423 with Tomorrow’s Birds and a graphical timeline for conservation study, a chapter devoted to a future of ornithology which will be heavily focused upon the preservation of birds.

In between those two poles come compelling historical accounts discussing and describing themes such as Origin and Diversification, Birds on the Tree of Life, Ebb and Flow, Adaptations for Breeding, Form and Function, The Study of Instinct, Sexual Selection and Population Studies.

If anything the chapter titles give little away as to their contents and might fool a reader into thinking the text to be the dry and dust that history is reputed to be. Far from it, each and every chapter makes for engaging, exhilarating and often exciting reading encompassing the day-to-day science, the exploration of ideas, the trials and tribulations of a workaday ornithologist and the sanity or otherwise of the early collectors whose egos or lust for fame led them to visit dangerous realms.

I very much liked the topic based approach of the chapters, the main advantage being that each section can be read in isolation without detriment to the overall understanding and enjoyment of the whole book. I don’t recommend trying to read this book from cover to cover in one go, or even in a week or more, it is far too good to rush through, more one to savour slowly, a piece at a time.

Each chapter opens with a superb coloured plate from artists such as Raymond Ching, Robert Bateman, Eric Ennion, Robert Gillmoor or Rodger McPhail to set the scene, and within the first few pages a handy at-a -glance graphical timeline to indicate the contents. I recommend that to fully appreciate where the ensuing pages will take them, a reader study the timeline summary before embarking upon the chapter.

Graphical Timeline from Ebb and Flow from Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin 

As is my particular mind set, I headed to the first chapter “Yesterday’s Birds” to learn more about work on the origins of birds and then made a bee-line for the chapter “Ebb and Flow” to satisfy my interest in migration. As a sampler for blog readers and those already adding the book to their wish-list I have summarised the two chapters below.

Yesterday’s Birds reminds us that right up to the present day the world of birds never lacks controversy or political intrigue, a world where too often the goal of scientific study takes second place to personal aggrandisement. This chapter takes the reader from the first Archaeopteryx fossil discovered in 1855 and then through the “Bone Wars” to the present day where 11 Archaeopteryx specimens exist alongside recent revelations of colouration in fossilised feathers. Along the way the story relates amongst other things how a newly discovered specimen of Archaeopteryx insured for a million pounds found its way into a battered cardboard box, and how claims of Archaeopteryx fakery aimed at ornithologists by respected scientists from unrelated areas of science was played out in the popular press of the “enlightened” 1980s.

 
Archaeopteryx lithographica in LIFE magazine c 1959 - from Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin

The section Ebb and Flow begins with the pioneering work of William Eagle Clarke and Studies in Bird Migration of 1912, finishing with the remarkable and only recent discovery that Bar-tailed Godwits fly from one end of the earth to the other in a single 175 hour non-stop 6500 mile flight. In between there’s the celibate, obstinate, but devoted to bird study Alfred Newton, Christian Mortensen and his early bird ringing, Thomas Alerstam and Bird Migration, Fair Isle, Ian Newton’s Ecology and Bird Migration, Gwinner and Berthold and their studies of Sylvias, and much, much more.

It was in Ebb and Flow that I found an autobiography of the great Peter Berthold and how at the age of ten he was illegally catching Great Tits when he came across one ringed by an accredited scheme, a crucial experience which led to him joining the German Ornithological Society and to finally reach his “true heaven of ornithological research”. The rest, as they say, “Is History”.

Most chapters are dotted with these personal autobiographies, tales which make for entertaining and often amusing vignettes, sprinkled as they are with descriptions of the writer’s ornithological awakening and their later adventures in the search for knowledge.

I’ll quote from a couple here as examples of how wide ranging, stimulating, simply down-to-earth and not without humour this book is, but perhaps only by going out and buying the book will blog readers discover the name of the self-confessed birdy beginnings of the now highly respected ornithologist below.

“I was an amorphously nerdy, science-oriented and myopic kid without any clear direction. Before birds I was passionately engaged in memorising unusual facts from the Guinness Book of World Records … I got my first pair of glasses. Within six months of the world coming into focus I was bird watcher. I never looked back or even considered any other option in my life”

Or Nick Davies from my own part of the world, and an extract which as I read it caused an immediate lump in my throat, “One of my earliest memories is making a hide out of deck chairs and using operas glasses to watch chaffinches. We lived thirteen miles north of Liverpool and were surrounded by wildlife. Pink-footed Geese used to fly low over our house and I have worshipped them ever since”.

As the authors state early in the book, “Although bird watching was a pre-cursor of scientific ornithology and many ornithologists began their careers as bird watchers, this book is not a history of bird watching.” Well hooray for that, and the advice from Richard Feynman US Physicist, Writer and Educator (1918-1988) in the section entitled “Afterword”.

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the bird….. So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing- that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

Silver Gulls on a Tasmanian Beach - from Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin

There are over 150 mixed illustrations, charts and photographs dotted around the text, many of them black and white pictures of the individuals or groups of ornithologists featuring in the text, pictures so personal that they may well have originated from family albums. Others show ornithologists with their charges the birds, or show them engrossed in experimentation, exploration or simply posing for the historic record.


I could go on to describe and praise this brilliant book, picking out some of the simply wonderful stuff within but I would prefer that blog readers discover it for themselves.

At Myriad Birds or Princeton University Press you can read about the original motivation for the book, the authors, the artists who provided the superb plates, but most of all sample some of the superbly crafted writing.

Chestnut-mandibled Toucan - from Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin

I imagine that Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin is a book which will be bought by every professional or amateur ornithologist the world over. Almost certainly it will be on a wish list of many, many amateur and professional naturalists, whether their speciality is birds, bees, butterflies or other more esoteric disciplines.

It is a book which should be bought and read by every serious bird watcher, but as is today’s focus on instant thrill, it may not be. I sincerely hope that my praise will influence some who may not otherwise have done so to buy this book; better still that a young person may somehow find this book the inspiration they need to follow a career in science and ornithology in particular.

As we have come to expect from Princeton University Press the fit and finish of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin is immaculate, and of simple but understated quality. When I looked at the selling price I was amazed to see that Princeton University Press marks it up at £29.95 or $45, while at the same time allowing Amazon to knock it out for closer to £21 and its dollar equivalent.

Now I know nothing about the economics of the production, publication and sale of books but after studying the contents of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin, I can only think that Princeton has either done their sums wrong or are adopting a “Pile ‘em high, Sell ’em cheap” strategy.

Whatever, it’s simply the best value for money bird book out there and at those prices there will be a huge demand for this book on 26th February. So my advice to readers of Another Bird Blog is clear. Place an order now, you won’t be disappointed.

I'm linking this post to Anni's Birding Blog where I'm sure lots of readers in North America and elsewhere will want to know about this book.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

A Colourful Day

For today’s post there are more pictures from our recent holiday to Lanzarote. There lots of them so "click the pics" for a continuous slide show; and I hope everyone likes egrets!

One of the easiest spots to see the endemic Berthelot’s Pipit is strangely enough one that is overrun with tourists, just off the road from Yaiza at the Islote de Hilario visitor centre for camel rides en route to Timanfaya. 

Traditionally, the farmers of Lanzarote used camels to help cultivate the dry, difficult land. They were brought from the nearby African mainland. Today the camels have been replaced in farming, but a tradition of caring for them survives. The remaining camels earn their living by carrying visitors over the rough terrain of the Timanfaya National Park. At the camel station there is a small but very interesting museum, showing how farmers used to work with the camels. Displays of harness and farming equipment, and old photographs of the work, bear witness to the resilience of both man and beast in the harsh landscape. 

I met up with national park worker who takes a break in the car park where he shares his lunch of Lanzarote cheese with a regular group of 10/12 Berthelot’s Pipit’s. Continually active and dashing around constantly the tiny pipits are not easy to photograph, and because of light reflections from the volcanic rock, it’s best to set the camera to underexpose. Wander not too far away and there might be a Cattle Egret or two stalking though the dry landscape. 

Berthelot's Pipit

Berthelot's Pipit
 
Camels at Islote de Hilario, Lanzarote

Camel rides at Islote de Hilario, Lanzarote

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

On this particular day we stopped off at the old port of Puerto del Carmen hoping to see a few birds in the marina. There were a couple of Little Egrets, several Turnstones, 2 Common Sandpipers and lots of Yellow-legged Gulls hanging around the tied up fishing boats,all hoping to snatch a meal from anything the fishermen had overlooked. It was clear that the birds involved had a regular beat, inspecting each fishing boat in turn, the egrets in particular paying special attention to the boxes and containers that had recently held fish. It's interesting that the local Turnstones have learnt to forsake the rocky shore to turn over instead the bric-a-brac on decks of fishing boats.

The colourful old boats made for some brightly hued backdrops. 

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote

Little Egret

Common Sandpiper

Turnstone

Turnstone

Turnstone

Common Sandpiper

 Yellow-legged Gull

Log into Another Bird Blog soon for more news, views and pictures. I'm still working through Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin but a review will appear on here very soon.

Linking today to Anni's Birding BlogEileen's Saturday Critters and Camera Critters .

Thursday, February 6, 2014

More And Less

A week after getting back from holiday I finally plucked up the courage to go birding for an hour or two and it was to the “old faithful” Conder Green and Glasson that I headed. After almost 30 years or so of visits I’m sure if I still had my old Mark 1 Escort Estate of all those years gone by it would pretty much find its own way there. 

The wind hasn’t let up much, making it difficult to count the waders and wildfowl but a little perseverance gave 190+ Teal, 35 Wigeon, 5 Goldeneye, 2 Little Grebe, 4 Lapwing, 6 Oystercatcher, 10 Redshank, 2 Curlew, 1 Little Egret and 1 Spotted Redshank. So nothing much changed in my 3 week absence, numbers and species much the same as winter birds linger on. 

The car park and railway path indicated that a few birds thought spring to be in the air, even though my hat, gloves and scarf said otherwise. In song were 2 Dunnock, 3 Great Tit and a couple of Linnets, although the male singers were amongst a flock of 18/20 in the tallest trees. A couple of Blackbirds here and also 6/8 Chaffinch but neither of those species in song,  plus a croaking Raven overhead.

I spent some time at Glasson watching the 12 Goldeneyes, the majority of them males which broke off their feeding spells to display to the few females on offer. The water was a bit choppy for pictures but I managed a couple in between the birds heading for the centre of the basin if any passer by showed even the least sign of walking the path. 

 Goldeneye

Goldeneye

Goldeneye

There was a single Great Crested Grebe back on the water, the bird sticking to the far reeds where the present water level can surely rise no more and leave ample nesting choices. The picture was taken here last summer on a much sunnier and calmer day. 

 Great Crested Grebe

Also here, 35+ Tufted Duck 3 Cormorants and 1 Grey Heron. 

Cormorant

During my absence fun was had with a Glossy Ibis that turned up in a field at Thurnham Hall, so on the off chance I drove up the familiar road and parked at the church.

It’s many years since my ringing birds at Thurnham where Marsh Tits, Garden Warblers, Spotted Flycatchers, Blackcaps and Nuthatches regularly turned up in the nets and where the fabled Lesser Spotted Woodpecker put in a final appearance before going locally extinct. There were no digital cameras then.

 
Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

No Marsh Tits or lesser spots today, just Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, 2 Treecreeper, 15 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 2 Nuthatch and Coal Tits, lots of them. 

I didn’t see the Glossy Ibis but I sure found a good few memories. More news and maybe memories from Another Bird Blog soon.

Monday, February 3, 2014

A Sunny Day In Lanzarote

There’s still post-holiday catching up to do but I’m also struggling for inspiration to do local birding when the weather seems to be in the same evil mood it was more than two weeks ago. This UK weather takes some getting accustomed to after the warmth of the Canary Islands. 

So for today’s blog post there are pictures of Lanzarote birds and the Lanzarote landscape. "Click the pics" for a tour of the island and a glimpse of its birds.

Staying in the south of the island meant we travelled around those parts the most, handy since the working salt pans, the Salinas de Janubia were close by, as was the pretty little village of El Golfo perched on a rocky but sheltered shore. 

Salinas de Janubio, Lanzarote

Birding the saltpans isn’t easy as there is no way to approach the wary waders before they see you and fly to their various hideaways around the huge expanse of water. With a couple of visits there was little in the way of unexpected sightings with common birds to the fore, as in Black-winged Stilt, Redshank, Greenshank, Kentish Plover, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Little Stint. I double checked a single plover which turned out to be a Golden Plover, when it’s not unknown for American Golden Plovers to turn up here 100 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. Not the best shot of a stint - I blame a breezy morning! 

Black-winged Stilt

Little Stint

Black-winged Stilt

Turnstone

There’s a spectacular road to El Golfo, one to enjoy in our Alfa Romeo, the hire car upgrade, somewhat more upmarket than the usual bog standard Corsa or Fiesta. The sharp-eyed will note the Alfa is parked at Famara in the north of the island where the scenery is impressive but where birds are non-existent, the reputed Barbary Falcon remaining hidden to our eyes. 

The road to El Golfo, Lanzarote

Famara, Lanzarote
The trip north wasn’t without success as we saw both Houbara Bustard and Cream-coloured Courser near a village called Soo. 

A walk to the Green Lagoon is a must, as is a coffee-stop where the gulls wait on the shore for the restaurateurs to deposit the remains of their morning’s fish gutting. In January it seems to be 99.9% Yellow-legged Gulls in Lanzarote with just the occasional Herring Gull to be seen. 

The Green Lagoon, Lanzarote

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Coffee Stop at El Golfo, Lanzarote

Explore a bit further along the shore away from the plodding tourists and there might be a Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover and Little Egrets to see, with if you’re lucky a Spanish Sparrow or two. 

Spanish Sparrow

Little Egret

Common Sandpiper

Spanish Sparrow

That’s all for now and I hope to get out birding soon and post some local news. 

Otherwise I’m engrossed in Ten Thousand Birds, Ornithology since Darwin and will post a review of this wonderful new book very soon.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Friday, January 31, 2014

A Curlew And A Yellow Submarine

Back home from two weeks in Lanzarote with a seemingly endless list of things to do so I put together a blog post until we’re truly up and running. 

One of long list of my holiday emails waiting for catch up concerned the recovery of a Curlew ringed a few years ago. 

Turn the calendar back two and a half years to 9th June 2010. Will and I are in the hills above the market town of Garstang on the western edge of the Bowland hills where we are on the lookout for wader chicks. We found a couple of broods of Curlew chicks that day, eventually tracking down the youngsters despite the frantic and determined efforts of the adult birds to see us off their home patch. 

Curlew

FC79566 was one of a brood of three healthy chicks ringed that day.

Curlew chicks

Flip the calendar forward to 13 January 2014 and Liverpool John Lennon Airport alongside the estuary of the River Mersey, 7 kms southeast of Liverpool city centreand some 62 kms from Garstang. An airport worker is conducting routine checks of the runways to ensure the safety of planes landing and taking off when he comes across the freshly dead corpse of FC79566. 

 The Mersey Estuary and Liverpool John Lennon Airport - http://www.airliners.net/photo//0832289/L/

I contacted the Operations Planner at the airport Andrew Hepworth who told me that the bird was probably hit by an aircraft but as no pilot reported a possible strike the cause of death could not be confirmed. Andrew went on to say that due to their proximity to the Mersey estuary this time of year does result in large numbers of Curlews close by. Groups of Curlews regularly fly over the aerodrome fence boundary and settle on the airfield. As a result the resident bird control operators are constantly shifting them back over the fence and back to the shores of the estuary below. 

Curlew
 
“As you appreciate we do get our fair share of dead birds/strikes and these tend to be curlew, woodpigeon, gull species, swifts during the summer, and the odd kestrel.” 

In 2002 Liverpool Aiport was renamed in honour of John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles, 22 years after Lennon's death. A 7 ft tall bronze statue stands overlooking the check-in hall, and a tribute to the Beatle’s well known song Yellow Submarine graces the entrance to the airport. 

Yellow Submarine at Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Wikipedia

I’ll catch up with fellow bloggers soon and post pictures of Lanzarote. 

Also, as soon as I can find precious time for a determined read, there is a review of a stunning new book Ten Thousand Birds - Ornithology Since Darwin. 


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