Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie
Author: Gisela T. Kaplan
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2004
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780643090682

Brings together everything we know about the biology and behaviour of this unusual species.

Penguin Bloom

Penguin Bloom
Author: Cameron Bloom
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2017-06-29
Genre:
ISBN: 9781782119814

They saved a little bird . . . And in return she saved them tooAfter a near-fatal fall left Sam Bloom paralysed, no one - not her husband Cameron, nor their three boys - could reach her in the darkest days of her struggle. But everything changed when a new member of the family unexpectedly landed in their lives: an injured magpie chick abandoned after she fell from her nest, whom they named Penguin Bloom. Powerful and tender, Penguin Bloom is a beautifully written account of how compassion, friendship and family can come from unexpected places.

The Magpie Whisperer

The Magpie Whisperer
Author: The Magpie Whisperer
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016-12-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9781366709677

Our book showcases just how amazing Australian magpies are, with fun quirky photos and sketches. I share my stories of how I formed such special bonds with wild magpies and express how amazing it is to have these completely wild friends, who are free to come and go whenever they please. None of these magpies have been hand raised by me. Their real parents brought them up in the wild, which I believe... makes our story very special and unique. When I look into the eyes of magpies I see beautiful souls. I see highly intelligent beings that have individual personalities and feelings just like we do. Each one is special, unique and has as much right to live on this earth as what we do.Instead of spreading fear and hate about them (like many people do, especially around nesting season!) I would like to think the content that we share, helps counteract such negativity towards them and will "turn the tables", showing the world how highly intelligent they are and how truly lucky we are to have them coexisting with us.Many people have contacted me describing how their views on magpies have changed since coming across our Facebook page. I hope many more will follow their lead after reading our book, helping to raise an awareness of these amazing yet often misunderstood creatures of the sky.

Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie
Author: Gisela Kaplan
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2019-05-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1486307264

The Australian magpie is one of our nation’s most popular and iconic birds. It is loved for its impressive vocal abilities, propensity to play, excellent parenting and willingness to form enduring friendships with people. Written by award-winning author Gisela Kaplan, a leading authority on animal behaviour and Australian birds, this second edition of Australian Magpie is a thoroughly updated and substantially expanded account of the behaviour of these birds. With new chapters on classification, cognition and caring for young, it reveals the extraordinary capabilities of the magpie, including its complex social behaviour. The author, who has devoted more than 20 years to studying and interacting with magpies, brings together the latest research on the magpie’s biology and behaviour, along with information on the origin of magpies, their development and health not published previously. This fascinating book has a wide appeal to bird lovers, amateur ornithologists and naturalists, as well as those with a scientific or professional interest in avian behaviour and ecology and those interested in the importance of native birds to the environment.

Mad Magpie

Mad Magpie
Author: Gregg Dreise
Publisher: Magabala Books
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2016-05-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1925360083

Age range 3 to 6 Mad Magpie is the third book in this successful series of morality tales from Gregg Dreise. Inspired by wise sayings and the knowledge of his Elders, Mad Magpie tells the story of Guluu, an angry magpie who is being teased by a gang of butcher birds. The more he is teased, the angrier he becomes. When Guluu seeks advice, his Elders tell him to stay calm like the river, ignore the butcher birds and to be strong on the inside. Guluu tries this, but the cheeky birds just laugh at him. One day, when Guluu is at the river looking for worms, the butcher birds arrive and steal his food. He remembers the words of his Elders and he tries again – and this time Guluu has a different outcome. He stands proudly at the riverbank and remembers how he used to sing when he was having a bad day. Guluu sings so loud he cannot hear the birds laughing at him and they eventually give up and fly away. From that time on, the animals learnt to use music to create a happy mood and they worked together to stop bullying.

Bird Minds

Bird Minds
Author: Gisela Kaplan
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015-08-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1486300200

In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be. She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels. The author brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds. Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds. In this fascinating volume, the author also presents recent changes in our understanding of the avian brain and links these to life histories and longevity. Following on from Gisela’s well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, as well as two earlier titles on birds, Bird Minds contends that the unique and often difficult conditions of Australia's environment have been crucial for the evolution of unusual complexities in avian cognition and behaviour.

Magpie Alert

Magpie Alert
Author: Darryl Jones
Publisher: UNSW Press
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780868406688

Wherever people live in Australia, magpies tend to be found there, too. These very familiar birds are one of our most loved and admired wild birds. Yet, during the breeding season, many magpies become extremely aggressive toward people, sometimes causing serious injury or distress, especially to children. The fact that this is a very common, well loved yet sometimes dangerous neighbor makes solving the magpie-human conflict very complicated. This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive guide to everything that is known about this bird, why it attacks, and what we can do about it.

Tawny Frogmouth

Tawny Frogmouth
Author: Gisela Kaplan
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2018-07
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1486308171

The tawny frogmouth is one of Australia’s most intriguing and endearing birds. Written by award-winning author Gisela Kaplan, one of Australia’s leading authorities on animal behaviour and native birds, this second edition of Tawny Frogmouth presents an easy-to-read account of these unique nocturnal birds, which can be found across almost the entire continent. Fully revised and updated throughout, this book combines 20 years of systematic observation with published research and information from regional surveys, and represents the most comprehensive single study ever conducted on tawny frogmouths. We learn that tawny frogmouths are very affectionate, have close bonds with lifelong partners, scream like prowling tomcats when distressed, fight with lightning speed and defend nest sites from reptilian predators by mobbing and spraying pungent faeces at them. Uncompromising male fights are contrasted with the touching gentleness of males as fathers. We also learn how resilient and unusual tawny frogmouths are in the way they cope with heat and cold and scarcity of water, sit out danger, and use a large variety of food items. This fascinating book has a wide appeal to bird lovers, amateur ornithologists and naturalists, as well as those with a scientific or professional interest in native birds, their communication, emotions and skills.

Feeding the Birds at Your Table

Feeding the Birds at Your Table
Author: Darryl Jones
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1742244599

Feeding the Birds at Your Table is designed to provide detailed, comprehensive advice and suggestions for people wishing to feed wild birds in Australia from their own backyards and balconies. Millions of Australians feed wild birds in their gardens. Yet there is currently little information or advice on offer to tell them how to do this properly. This book provides the first readily available source of reliable information relevant to Australia. What’s more, it is written by an expert who feeds birds himself. Including profiles on different types of Australian urban birds, what to feed them and the types of feeders to use, it also has advice on how to create a bird-friendly garden. Feeding the Birds at Your Table offers sensible and practical suggestions so feeding doesn’t only benefit us, but benefits the birds themselves. ‘At last, a sensible, science-based guide to safely feeding wild birds in Australia.’ — Paul Sullivan, CEO, BirdLife Australia

The Bush Birds

The Bush Birds
Author: Bridget Farmer
Publisher: Black Cockatoo Books
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2021-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9780646843025

A book of Australian birds commonly found in the bush. Each page contains a riddle to engage the reader with the illustration and try and guess the name of the bird. This book aims to both familiarise readers with the twelve birds included within the pages but also teach them what to look for when trying to identify birds in real life.