Bird Environment

Meet rufa red knot B95. Scientists call him the Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this robin-sized shorebird has flown the distance to the moon - and halfway back! Each February he joins a flock that lifts off from Tierra del Fuego, headed for breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, 9,000 miles away. Late in the summer, he begins the return journey. B95 can fly for days, but eventually he must descend to refuel and rest. However, recent changes at stopover sites along his migratory circuit - changes caused mostly by human activity - have reduced the food available and made it harder for the birds to reach.

When the birds first called, Susan Fox Rogers was in a slack season of her life. The woods and rivers that enthralled her younger self had lost some of their luster. It was the song of a thrush that reawakened Rogers, sparking a long-held desire to know the birds that accompanied her as she rock climbed and paddled, to know the world around her with greater depth. Energized by her curiosity, she followed the birds as they drew her deeper into her authentic self, and ultimately into love.

African penguins waddle around nesting colonies in lower numbers than ever before. Despite South African government efforts to protect the penguin colonies and their ocean fish supply, young penguins still struggle to survive. Fuzzy chicks waiting for food in open nests may overheat in the sun or become prey. Others simply may not get enough food to survive on their own once their parents leave.

Late in 2013, snowy owls started showing up in places no one expected to find them - including Florida. What had caused so many of these majestic birds to leave their Arctic home and fly to southern Canada and the United States? Scientists quickly began working to find out. Author Sandra Markle brings together firsthand reports from the scientists involved along with stunning photographs of the owls to explain this rare event, known as an irruption.

Heinrich is sparked one early spring day by a question: Why does a pair of swallows in a nest-box close to his Maine cabin show an unvarying preference for white feathers—not easily available nearby—as nest lining? He notices, too, the extreme aggressiveness of “his” swallows toward some other swallows of their own kind. And he wonders, given swallows’ reputation for feistiness, at the extraordinary tameness and close contact he experiences with his nesting birds.

50 Things to Know About Birds in New Jersey, by author Jenilee Jankowski, offers an approach to learning about identifying the birds around the Garden State, while also providing interesting and fun facts about the species described. Most books on birds tell you how to identify birds and where to look for them but can be a bit formal and scientific. Although there is nothing wrong with that, not everyone is well-versed in birding lingo and are looking to learn the basics about the many species that can be seen in New Jersey.

After stumbling upon a book of photographs depicting extinct animals, B.J. Hollars became fascinated by the creatures that are no longer with us, specifically extinct North American birds. How, he wondered, could we preserve so beautifully on film what we've failed to preserve in life? And so begins his yearlong journey to find out, one that leads him from bogs to art museums, from archives to Christmas Counts, until he at last comes as close to extinct birds as he ever will during a behind-the-scenes visit at the Chicago Field Museum.

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross - the oldest bird in the world - hatched a new chick in 2011, and two months later, the Japanese tsunami struck. Surviving manmade and natural disasters for over 60 years, Wisdom has braved living wild, plastic pollution, longline fishing, lead poisoning, and the Japanese earthquake.

Maverick environmental writers William J. Kelly and Chip Jacobs follow up their acclaimed Smogtown with a provocative examination of China’s ecological calamity already imperiling a warming planet. Toxic smog most people figured was obsolete needlessly kills as many there as the 9/11 attacks every day, while sometimes Grand Canyon-sized drifts of industrial particles aloft on the winds rain down ozone and waterway-poisoning mercury in America. Vivid, gonzo prose blends first-person reportage with exhaustive research and a sense of karma, describing the horror of "Cancer Villages", spellbinding "peasant revolts" against cancer-spreading plants, and much more....

At one point or another, just about everyone has heard of the dodo bird, which is almost universally described as a cuddly, whimsical creature renowned for its alleged stupidity. This prehistoric avian had been known for hundreds of years, before it was made popular around the world in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Swifts live almost entirely in the air. They eat, drink, sleep, mate and gather their nesting materials on the wing, fly thousands of miles across the world, navigating their way around storms, never lighting on tree, cliff or ground, until they return home with the summer. Sarah Gibson has written a fascinating story of discovery, exploring what is known about these mysterious birds, their ancient ancestry and how they have been regarded through history.

Set over a 24-hour period, meet speedy ostriches, tiny hummingbirds, and majestic eagles in this kids’ nonfiction audiobook about the coolest birds in the world. Soar through the skies to follow the lives of our feathered friends as they fight, dance, and play their way through their day. Ornithologist Dr. Alex Bond tells the story of the world’s most amazing birds in the style of a nature documentary, including gentle science explanations perfect for future biologists.

When oil spills, workers hurry to clean the land and water. But oil spills can also affect every animal that lives in the area. Who helps these wild animals? On the East Coast, a team from Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research rushes to the scene to save as many as possible. Follow along to learn how these experts capture oiled animals and treat them quickly and safely so that they may be returned to the wild. This illustrated nonfiction is based on the extensive experience of the Oiled Wildlife Response Team at Tri-State.

Cuando el petróleo se derrama, los trabajadores se apuran en limpiar la tierra y el agua. Pero los derrames de petróleo también pueden afectar a los animales que viven en la zona. ¿Quién ayuda a estos animales? En la Costa Este un equipo de Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research se apresura para llegar al lugar y salvar a la mayor cantidad de animales posible.

Drawing upon his vast knowledge of the environment, biology, botany, and history, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. has written a love letter to Kentucky. The lay person as well as the expert will understand as he describes the state’s evolution - its history, original land surface, the river-cut gorges, the mountains, and the lakes. Along with thorough documentation, the writer gives us a poetic description of this “...verdant state, lush in its heat, humidity, and rainfall. The diversity and abundance of life was immediately evident to all who came here”.