One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives - Rilegato

Heinrich, Bernd

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0544387635 ISBN 13: 9780544387638

Casa editrice: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

Riassunto

The acclaimed scientist's encounters with individual wild birds, yielding “marvelous, mind-altering” (Los Angeles Times) insights and discoveries

In his modern classics One Man’s Owl and Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich has written memorably about his relationships with wild ravens and a great horned owl.   In One Wild Bird at a Time, Heinrich returns to his great love: close, day-to-day observations of individual wild birds. There are countless books on bird behavior, but Heinrich argues that some of the most amazing bird behaviors fall below the radar of what most birds do in aggregate. Heinrich’s “passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science” (New York Times Book Review) lead to fascinating questions — and sometimes startling discoveries. A great crested flycatcher, while bringing food to the young in their nest, is attacked by the other flycatcher nearby. Why? A pair of Northern flickers hammering their nest-hole into the side of Heinrich’s cabin deliver the opportunity to observe the feeding competition between siblings, and to make a related discovery about nest-cleaning. One of a clutch of redstart warbler babies fledges out of the nest from twenty feet above the ground, and lands on the grass below. It can’t fly. What will happen next?   Heinrich “looks closely, with his trademark ‘hands-and-knees science’ at its most engaging, [delivering] what can only be called psychological marvels of knowing” (Boston Globe).   An eminent biologist shares the joys of bird-watching and how observing the anomalous behaviors of individual birds has guided his research.
 
Heinrich (Emeritus, Biology/Univ. of Vermont; The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration, 2014, etc.) smoothly describes how studying the daily lives of birds in their natural environments allows him to experience their world vicariously. Now retired and living in a cabin in the Maine woods, he devotes himself to closely observing “his avian neighbors, visitors, and vagrants, and keep[ing] daily records throughout spring, summer, fall, and winter.” Every year, he welcomes a pair of broad-wing hawks who feast at a vernal pond populated by frogs, spring peepers, and salamanders while refurbishing their old nest. Unusually, they provide a fern cover on the nest, which they update on a daily basis after their chicks hatch. Heinrich also includes anecdotes from an earlier time when he still lived in Vermont. Awakened one morning by the loud drumming of a male woodpecker on a nearby apple tree, the author wondered if perhaps he was seeking to attract a female. Surprisingly, when a female was drawn to the sound, he stopped drumming and flew away. The same behavior was repeated the following day. The author’s observations led him to conclude that the bird's drumming was not part of a mating ritual but rather a noisy advertisement of his nest-building skills. Vireos nesting near his cabin allowed him to observe how they deliberately reduced the number of eggs they were hatching to accommodate the reduced food supply after an unseasonal freeze. Heinrich explains that bird-watching has been an important part of his life since he was a boy on his family's farm. When he was 6, they moved from Germany to Maine. Finding familiar birds nesting “immediately made this place our home,” he writes.
 
An engaging memoir of the opportunities for doing scientific research without leaving one's own backyard. (Kirkus)
  

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Praise for Bernd Heinrich: “He richly deserves the comparison to Thoreau.” —Washington Post Book World “Passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science.” —New York Times Praise for THE HOMING INSTINCT: “Deep and insightful writing.” —David Gessner, Washington Post “Acclaimed scientist and award-winning writer Bernd Heinrich...illuminates some of the most fascinating new work in the field...But, most movingly, he looks closely, with his trademark ‘hands-and-knees science’ at its most engaging, at what can only be called the psychological marvels of knowing where we are and where we are going.” —Boston Globe "Natural history fans will love this book. Its appeal is multilayered, with many fascinating instances of Heinrich’s fabled fieldwork and plenty of hard science. Add to that those moments where the author stands agape at what he observes—say, a spider’s web—and the writing nearly attains the lyric poignancy of poetry." —Library Journal, starred review Praise for LIFE EVERLASTING: “Bernd Heinrich is one of the finest naturalists of our time. Life Everlasting shines with the authenticity and originality that are unique to a life dedicated to natural history in the field.” —Edward O. Wilson, author of The Future of Life and The Social Conquest of Earth "Biologist Bernd Heinrich’s exploration of death, bodies, and way they are recycled (through birds or bugs or bacteria) is both a field guide of exquisite detail and a thoughtful meditation on the connectedness of all things." —Boston Globe Praise for WINTER WORLD: “Heinrich has a rare ability to embed dense scientific explications within graceful, lightfooted nature writing.” —New York Times Book Review   “Bernd Heinrich is one of the finest living examples of that strange hybrid: the science writer.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review   "The stories are plain engrossing—in their elucidation, their breadth of examples, and their barely contained sense of awe and admiration." —Kirkus Reviews   Praise for WHY WE RUN:  “The book operates on several levels: as a memoir, natural history, experimental training guide...There is an unfailing wonder in [Heinrich’s] writing that gives the book a transforming visual quality.” —New York Times Book Review   “A meditation on humanity. It is the work of a mind that is restless in the most profound sense...” —Boston Sunday Globe

Praise for Bernd Heinrich: “He richly deserves the comparison to Thoreau.” —Washington Post Book World “Passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science.” —New York Times Praise for THE HOMING INSTINCT: “Deep and insightful writing.” —David Gessner, Washington Post “Acclaimed scientist and award-winning writer Bernd Heinrich...illuminates some of the most fascinating new work in the field...But, most movingly, he looks closely, with his trademark ‘hands-and-knees science’ at its most engaging, at what can only be called the psychological marvels of knowing where we are and where we are going.” —Boston Globe "Natural history fans will love this book. Its appeal is multilayered, with many fascinating instances of Heinrich’s fabled fieldwork and plenty of hard science. Add to that those moments where the author stands agape at what he observes—say, a spider’s web—and the writing nearly attains the lyric poignancy of poetry." —Library Journal, starred review Praise for LIFE EVERLASTING: “Bernd Heinrich is one of the finest naturalists of our time. Life Everlasting shines with the authenticity and originality that are unique to a life dedicated to natural history in the field.” —Edward O. Wilson, author of The Future of Life and The Social Conquest of Earth "Biologist Bernd Heinrich’s exploration of death, bodies, and way they are recycled (through birds or bugs or bacteria) is both a field guide of exquisite detail and a thoughtful meditation on the connectedness of all things." —Boston Globe Praise for WINTER WORLD: “Heinrich has a rare ability to embed dense scientific explications within graceful, lightfooted nature writing.” —New York Times Book Review   “Bernd Heinrich is one of the finest living examples of that strange hybrid: the science writer.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review   "The stories are plain engrossing—in their elucidation, their breadth of examples, and their barely contained sense of awe and admiration." —Kirkus Reviews   Praise for WHY WE RUN:  “The book operates on several levels: as a memoir, natural history, experimental training guide...There is an unfailing wonder in [Heinrich’s] writing that gives the book a transforming visual quality.” —New York Times Book Review   “A meditation on humanity. It is the work of a mind that is restless in the most profound sense...” —Boston Sunday Globe

Dalla quarta di copertina:

Praise for The Homing Instinct 
 
“Its appeal is multilayered, with many fascinating instances of Heinrich’s fabled fieldwork and plenty of hard science. Add to that those moments where...the writing nearly attains the lyric poignancy of poetry.”—Library Journal
 
Praise for Life Everlasting
 
“Bernd Heinrich is one of the finest naturalists of our time. Life Everlasting shines with the authenticity and originality that are unique to a life dedicated to natural history in the field”—Edward O. Wilson, author of The Future of Life and The Social Conquest of Earth
 
Praise for Bernd Heinrich
 
“He richly deserves the comparison to Thoreau.”—Washington Post Book World
 
“Passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science.”—New York Times Book Review
 

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0544387635
• ISBN 13: 9780544387638
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 210