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Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs

How the Struggle for Survival Has Shaped Birds and Their Behavior

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Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs

By: Roger Lederer
Narrated by: Charles Constant
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About this listen

When we see a bird flying from branch to branch happily chirping, it is easy to imagine they lead a simple life of freedom, flight, and feathers. What we don't see is the arduous, life-threatening challenges they face at every moment. Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs guides the listener through the myriad, and often almost miraculous, things that birds do every day to merely stay alive. Like the goldfinch, which manages extreme weather changes by doubling the density of its plumage in winter. Or urban birds, which navigate traffic through a keen understanding of posted speed limits. In engaging and accessible prose, Roger Lederer shares how and why birds use their sensory abilities to see ultraviolet, find food without seeing it, fly thousands of miles without stopping, change their songs in noisy cities, navigate by smell, and much more.

©2016 Roger J. Lederer (P)2017 Tantor Animals Biological Sciences Birdwatching Environment Evolution Evolution & Genetics Outdoors & Nature Science Inspiring Bird Biology Bird Behaviour

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Critic reviews

"An exceptional overview of the life, adaptations, and impressive skill sets of wild birds...Highly recommended for all interested in natural history and the impact of humans on the natural world." ( Library Journal)
All stars
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I loved all the facts about birds Truly Amazing Birds
Will Listen to it Again

Brilliant Book

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There is a lot of really interesting information about birds in this book. However, it feels like it is represented as a series of related facts with little attention to forming a decent narrative style that makes the book readable / listenable. The narration sounds a bit like it is being read by AI rather than by a human because there is little attention to punctuation and no variation in tone that would make it an engaging listen. Instead it is monotone and read out in one - quite fast - robotic pace. This is a shame and makes what could be a really engaging book into one you plug on with because despite everything, it has a lot of interesting and worthwhile information about birds.

Interesting but….

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Pleasure to listen, author collected modern knowledge and scientific facts about birds life in our human technologically infested natural environment, good voice, special thanks to an actor who read the book, will listen again

Amazing book about birds!

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Very informative but as a British person would have liked more British /European examples. Narration a shade quick for my ears.

Very informative

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don't pass it up without giving it a chapter or two, this had me hooked for 2-3 months and has elevated my knowledge massively :)

perfect for beginners like myself

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Not a good narrator, somewhat robotic, and content isn't particularly stylish. There is some interesting information but overall rather flat.

Read "The Genius of Birds" instead.

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