Owls Aren't Wise & Bats Aren't Blind

Owls Aren't Wise & Bats Aren't Blind
Author: Warner Shedd
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0307421414

In this fascinating book, wildlife expert and enthusiast Warner Shedd refutes popular animal myths like squirrels remembering where they bury nuts, wolves howling at the moon, and oppossums "playing dead." Have you ever seen a flying squirrel flapping through the air, watched a beaver carrying a load of mud on its tail, or ducked when a porcupine started throwing its quills? Probably not, says Shedd, former regional executive for the National Wildlife Federation. Offering scientific evidence that refutes many of the most tenacious and persevering folklore about wild animals, Owls Aren't Wise & Bats Aren't Blind will captivate you with fascinating facts and humorous anecdotes about more than thirty North American species-- some as familiar as the common toad, and others as elusive as the lynx. Owls Aren't Wise & Bats Aren't Blind is an entertaining dose of scientific reality for any nature enthusiast or armchair adventurer.

Owls

Owls
Author: Matt Sewell
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2014-11-13
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1473503248

In this beautiful follow-up to Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds and Our Woodland Birds, street artist Matt Sewell captures the world’s most evocative bird: the owl. In his much-loved pop-art watercolours and accompanied with his whimsical descriptions, Matt Sewell expresses the individual characters of owls as never before. From tiny Elf Owls to huge Eagle Owls, from the mysterious creatures of the night to an impossibly fluffy baby owl, they are undoubtedly one of the world’s most intriguing feathered friends. These wise, magical birds are otherworldly in their striking colours and stature, and it's not just birdwatchers who are obsessed. With 50 hand-selected, hand-painted owls, this is a delightful gift which appeals to owl lovers, bird-watching enthusiasts, children, adults and art and design fans alike.

The House of Owls

The House of Owls
Author: Tony Angell
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-04-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0300213743

“A charming personal account, accompanied by nearly 100 illustrations, that underscores how owls and other birds enrich our lives.”—Kirkus Reviews Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award For a quarter of a century, Tony Angell and his family shared the remarkable experience of closely observing pairs of western screech owls that occupied a nesting box outside the window of their forest home. The journals in which the author recorded his observations, and the captivating drawings he created, form the heart of this compelling book—a personal account of an artist-naturalist’s life with owls. Angell’s extensive illustrations show owls engaged in what owls do—hunting, courting, raising families, and exercising their inquisitive natures—and reveal his immeasurable respect for their secret lives and daunting challenges. Angell discusses the unique characteristics that distinguish owls from other bird species and provides a fascinating overview of the impact owls have had on human culture and thought. He also offers detailed scientific descriptions of the nineteen species of owls found in North America, as well as their close relatives elsewhere. Always emphasizing the interaction of humans and owls, the author affirms the power of these birds to both beguile and inspire. “Endearing…provides a lot of fascinating information about these reclusive creatures.”—The New York Times Book Review “Angell writes (and draws) with the absolute authority of one who has studied, rehabilitated, lived with and loved the animals his whole life.”—The Wall Street Journal “Steeped in the tradition of Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon, it blends taxonomy, ornithology, biogeography and autobiography.”—Times Literary Supplement

The Owl and the Woodpecker

The Owl and the Woodpecker
Author: Paul Bannick
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2008
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 159485095X

An intimate blend of personal field notes, rich natural history, and stunning photographs in the wild, this perfect holiday book for all bird-watchers provides an in-depth look at two of our most iconic--and important-- bird species. Great for photography lovers, conservationists and backyard enthusiasts alike, it includes an overview map of habitats and a foreword by award-winning artist and writer Tony Angell.Every wild place and urban area in North America hosts an owl or a woodpecker species, while healthy natural places often boast representatives of both. The diversity of these two families of birds, and the ways in which they define and enrich the ecosystems they inhabit, are the subject of this vivid new book by photographer and naturalist Paul Bannick. The Owl and the Woodpecker showcases a sense of these birds' natural rhythms, as well as the integral spirit of our wild places. Based on hundreds of hours in the field photographing these fascinating and wily birds, Bannick evokes all 41 North American species of owls and woodpeckers, across 11 key habitats. And by revealing the impact of two of our most iconic birds, Bannick has created a wholly unique approach to birding and conservation.

Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior

Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior
Author: Sara J. Shettleworth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 715
Release: 2010-04-10
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0199717818

How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember, search for food or mates, communicate, and find their way around? Do any nonhuman animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or have a culture? What are the uses of cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? What is the current status of Darwin's claim that other species share the same "mental powers" as humans, but to different degrees? In this completely revised second edition of Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior, Sara Shettleworth addresses these questions, among others, by integrating findings from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology in a unique and wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research on animal cognition, in the broadest sense--from species-specific adaptations of vision in fish and associative learning in rats to discussions of theory of mind in chimpanzees, dogs, and ravens. She reviews the latest research on topics such as episodic memory, metacognition, and cooperation and other-regarding behavior in animals, as well as recent theories about what makes human cognition unique. In every part of this new edition, Shettleworth incorporates findings and theoretical approaches that have emerged since the first edition was published in 1998. The chapters are now organized into three sections: Fundamental Mechanisms (perception, learning, categorization, memory), Physical Cognition (space, time, number, physical causation), and Social Cognition (social knowledge, social learning, communication). Shettleworth has also added new chapters on evolution and the brain and on numerical cognition, and a new chapter on physical causation that integrates theories of instrumental behavior with discussions of foraging, planning, and tool using.

The Alex Studies

The Alex Studies
Author: Irene M. PEPPERBERG
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674041992

20 years ago Pepperberg set out to discover whether results of pigeon studies necessarily meant that other birds were incapable of mastering cognitive concepts and the rudiments of referential speech. This is a synthesis of her studies.

Wesley the Owl

Wesley the Owl
Author: Stacey O'Brien
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2008-08-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1416551735

Chronicles the author's rescue of an abandoned barn owlet, from her efforts to resuscitate and raise the young owl through their nineteen years together, during which the author made key discoveries about owl behavior.

Food Hoarding in Animals

Food Hoarding in Animals
Author: Stephen B. Vander Wall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 10
Release: 1990-12-15
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 9780226847344

In this first comprehensive synthesis of the literature on food hoarding in animals, Stephen B. Vander Wall discusses how animals store food, how they use food and how this use affects individual fitness, why and how food hoarding evolved, how cached food is lost, mechanisms for protecting and recovering cached food, physiological and behavioral factors that influence hoarding, and the impact that hoarding animals have on plant populations and plant dispersal. He then provides detailed coverage of hoarding behavior across taxa—mammals, birds, and arthropods—to address issues in evolution, ecology, and behavior. Drawings, photographs, and appendixes document complex and intrinsically interesting food-hoarding behaviors, and the bibliography of nearly 1,500 sources is itself an invaluable and unique reference.

Waiting for a Warbler

Waiting for a Warbler
Author: Sneed B. Collard III
Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers and Cadent Publishing
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0884488543

Short listed for the Green Earth book award In early April, as Owen and his sister search the hickories, oaks, and dogwoods for returning birds, a huge group of birds leaves the misty mountain slopes of the Yucatan peninsula for the 600-mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico to their summer nesting grounds. One of them is a Cerulean warbler. He will lose more than half his body weight even if the journey goes well. Aloft over the vast ocean, the birds encourage each other with squeaky chirps that say, “We are still alive. We can do this.” Owen’s family watches televised reports of a great storm over the Gulf of Mexico, fearing what it may mean for migrating songbirds. In alternating spreads, we wait and hope with Owen, then struggle through the storm with the warbler. This moving story with its hopeful ending appeals to us to preserve the things we love. The backmatter includes a North American bird migration map, birding information for kids, and guidance for how native plantings can transform yards into bird and wildlife habitat.