Some Birds Sing in Winter


Book Description

It seems most peculiar; yes, rather strange That a bird, on a bitter branch might remain And more joyfully in winter months, long, Sing an elaborate, even a beautiful song. But such a bird is this one who can write, Who can attest that even though dark as night, His maker has given him a songbook of praise, To endure as a joyful sound, all days that remain. What you are holding is a songbook. It is a different kind of songbook, for it was birthed in the darkest of night and the coldest of winter. And while it is readily in itself an instrument of praise, it also provides a foundation for other song-makers, or, shall we say, those who receive songs from God Most High. For who can sing unless God himself provides song? This is a book for sufferers. It is for those who are enduring affliction or those who just have air filling their lungs from time to time (recognizing that all will invariably suffer). This is a book for those with questions. It is for those who wonder what God (if there is one) is doing as they sit on a branch that scrapes them endlessly with rough and bitter bark. The branch is aflame, crumbling underneath, and ready to give way. How can we find song in such a tormenting and uncertain darkness? How can we be as the rare bird who actually finds reason for song in winter?




How to Know the Birds


Book Description

"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.




Birds in Winter


Book Description

How birds have evolved and adapted to survive winter Birds in Winter is the first book devoted to the ecology and behavior of birds during this most challenging season. Birds remaining in regions with cold weather must cope with much shorter days to find food and shelter even as they need to avoid predators and stay warm through the long nights, while migrants to the tropics must fit into very different ecosystems and communities of resident birds. Roger Pasquier explores how winter affects birds’ lives all through the year, starting in late summer, when some begin caching food to retrieve months later and others form social groups lasting into the next spring. During winter some birds are already pairing up for the following breeding season, so health through the winter contributes to nesting success. Today, rapidly advancing technologies are enabling scientists to track individual birds through their daily and annual movements at home and across oceans and hemispheres, revealing new and unexpected information about their lives and interactions. But, as Birds in Winter shows, much is visible to any interested observer. Pasquier describes the season’s distinct conservation challenges for birds that winter where they have bred and for migrants to distant regions. Finally, global warming is altering the nature of winter itself. Whether birds that have evolved over millennia to survive this season can now adjust to a rapidly changing climate is a problem all people who enjoy watching them must consider. Filled with elegant line drawings by artist and illustrator Margaret La Farge, Birds in Winter describes how winter influences the lives of birds from the poles to the equator.




The Singing Life of Birds


Book Description

Listen to birds sing as you’ve never listened before, as the world-renowned birdsong expert Donald Kroodsma takes you on personal journeys of discovery and intrigue. Read stories of wrens and robins, thrushes and thrashers, warblers and whip-poor-wills, bluebirds and cardinals, and many more bird. Learn how each acquires its songs, how songs vary from bird to bird and place to place, how some birds' singing is especially beautiful or ceaseless or complex, how some do not sing at all, how the often quiet female has the last word, and why. Hear a baby wren and the author’s own daughter babble as each learns its local dialect. Listen to the mockingbird by night and by day and count how many different songs he can sing. Marvel at the exquisite harmony in the duet of a wood thrush as he uses his two voice boxes to accompany himself. Feel the extraordinary energy in the songs just before sunrise as dawn’s first light sweeps across this singing planet. Hear firsthand the unmistakable evidence that there are not one but two species of marsh wrens and two species of winter wrens in North America. Learn not only to hear but to see birds sing in the form of sonagrams, as these visual images dance across the pages while you listen to the accompanying audio. Using your trained ears and eyes, you can begin your own journeys of discovery. Listen anew to birds in your backyard and beyond, exploring the singing minds of birds as they tell all that they know. Join Kroodsma not only in identifying but in identifying with singing birds, connecting with nature’s musicians in a whole new way. Please note: this ebook includes embedded audio files. You will only be able to access these files from a device that supports embedded audio.




Winter Birds


Book Description

Plain and dutiful, Sophia Hess has lived most of her life without ever knowing genuine love. Her professor husband had married her for the convenience of having a typist for his scholarly papers. The discovery of a dark secret opens her eyes to the truth about her marriage and her husband. Eventually nephew Patrick and his wife, Rachel, take Sophia into their home, and she observes from a careful distance their earnest faith and the simple gifts of kindness they generously bestow upon her and others-this in spite of an unthinkable tragedy they've suffered. Dare she unlock the door behind which she stalwartly conceals her broken heart? An insightful and moving portrayal of the transforming power of love




The Backyard Birdsong Guide


Book Description

Teaches about the habitat, behaviors, appearance, and songs of seventy-five Eastern and Central North American birds, and includes basic birdwatching guidelines and audio samples.




Winter Birds


Book Description

A celebration of winter birds in Sweden by world-famous artist, author and ornithologist, Lars Jonsson. In this stunning book, Lars Jonsson celebrates and explores the beauty of the birds that surround him during the Swedish winter months. Inspired by the desolate, wintry landscapes, the dazzling light and the stark contract of colours he observes against the snow, Jonsson has created an unparalleled collection of art. Jonsson illustrates each bird in his classic style, and his text provides information on their behaviour and insights into how to identify them as he shares personal observations as both an artist and ornithologist. This unique combination offers an intimate and compelling opportunity to better understand the method behind one of the world's preeminent bird artists.




Music of the Birds


Book Description

Presents the songs and calls of more than seventy North American birds. Includes audio compact disc featuring songbird concerts and solos.




All the Birds, Singing


Book Description

From one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, a stunningly insightful, emotionally powerful new novel about an outsider haunted by an inescapable past: a story of loneliness and survival, guilt and loss, and the power of forgiveness. Jake Whyte is living on her own in an old farmhouse on a craggy British island, a place of ceaseless rain and battering wind. Her disobedient collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep are her sole companions, which is how she wants it to be. But every few nights something—or someone—picks off one of the sheep and sounds a new deep pulse of terror. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, and rumors of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is also Jake’s past, hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, held in the silences about her family and the scars that stripe her back—a past that threatens to break into the present. With exceptional artistry and empathy, All the Birds, Singing reveals an isolated life in all its struggles and stubborn hopes, unexpected beauty, and hard-won redemption. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.




Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist


Book Description

Birdsong made easy to understand, lavishly illustrated with color photos, and accompanied by more than 700 online recordings From a leading expert, Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist is a basic, how-to guide that teaches anyone--from beginner to advanced birder--how to listen. In understandable and appealing language, Kroodsma explains why and how birds sing, what various calls mean, and what to listen for from the birds around us. The descriptions are accompanied by color photos of the birds, as well as QR codes that link to an online collection of more than 700 recordings. With these resources, readers are prepared to recognize bird sounds and the birds that make them. Kroodsma encourages readers to find the joy of birdsong and curiosity--to observe, listen intently, be curious, ask questions, and realize that many unanswered questions about birdsong don't have to rely on scientists for answers but can be answered by any curious naturalist.