The Bird Way

early birds, jailbirds, rare birds, odd birds.

 

As biologist E. O. Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

 

This is certainly true for behavior. Take white-winged choughs. Australians say it's easy to fall in love with these birds-and it is. They're adorable, charismatic, gregarious, comical: lined up on a narrow tree branch, six or seven red-eyed puffs of black feathers, tenderly preening one another in a pearl-like strand of endearment and affection. Clumsy fliers, they prefer to walk everywhere, swaggering through dry eucalypt woodlands with their heads strutting backward and forward like a chicken's. They pipe and whistle and wag their tails like puppies. They're fond of playing follow-the-leader or keep-away, rolling over one another to win possession of a stick or a slip of bark. About the size of a crow but slimmer-black with elegant white wing patches and an arched bill-they live in stable groups of four to twenty birds and are always, always found in clusters or huddles or lines. Like a tight-knit family, they do everything together, drink, roost, dust bathe, play, run in wide formation like a football team to share a food discovery. Together they build big bizarre nests of mud (or emu or cattle dung if they're in a pinch) set on a horizontal branch, queuing up on the limb, waiting their turn to add their bit of shredded bark, grass, or fur soaked with mud to the rim of the nest. Together they brood, guard, and feed the young. Members of family groups are rarely more than five or ten feet apart. I once saw three fledglings jammed together on the ground like the three wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

 

And yet there's a darker side to choughs, especially if the weather turns bad. They squabble and fight, one group pitted against another. Larger groups gang up on smaller groups, flying at them and pecking viciously, dislodging eggs from nests, and nests from trees. They are

amaze and delight then lets the scientists stories take center stage [. . .] Refreshingly, Ackerman spotlights a number of female researchers.   Wall Street Journal

[S]plendid and spellbinding . . . The Bird Way shows us a new way to view birds, yes but perhaps even better, through their eyes, intellect, and more-than-human senses, it lets birds reveal to us the hidden realities of our shared world. Sy Montgomery, American Scholar

  Ackerman brings scientific research alive with personal observations of colorful and fascinating birds, from the kea parrot to the raven to the brush turkey, among others. By showing how each species communicates, plays, parents, works, and thinks, she reminds us that there is no one way to be a bird. Science Friday

"Ackerman packs her book with insightful observations, interesting factoids, and deep dives into new research about birds as varied as seagulls, emus, vultures, and robins." Undark

Ackerman's vibrant writing ensures that all things bird are thoroughly compelling and enjoyable. Booklist, starred review
 
Ackerman reminds readers that birds are thinking beings . . . She brings scientific research alive with personal field observations and accounts of her encounters with colorful and fascinating birds . . . [The Bird Way] will engage all readers interested in learning more about birds and natural history. Library Journal, starred review

"A brightly original book . . . Ackerman is a smooth writer; her presentation of ideas is deft, and her anecdotes are consistently engaging . . . [She] demonstrates bird science as an evolving discipline that is consistently fascinating, and she offers brilliant discussions of the use of smell, long overlooked but indeed deployed for navigation; courtship signals; predator avoidance, and, not surprisingly, locating food.  Kirkus Reviews, starred review