The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think

Ever wonder how, with their relatively tiny brains, birds can learn, communicate and function at a much higher level than one would predict. Turns out, their brains are organized differently - and clearly much more efficiently. From this book, you'll learn about the amazing ways birds avoid nest parasitism (e.g., a cuckoo dumping its own egg into a nest, and when its offspring hatches, it pushes the rightful occupants out of the next to die). Some birds teach their unhatched "children" a code song, learned while still in the egg, without which they won't be fed. Others memorize the speckled pattern of their own eggs and will discard any with unrecognized patterns. Still others keep careful count of how many eggs were laid and will abandon the nest if an "extra" appears. Perceptual and learning abilities rival and often surpass those of primates whose brains weigh more than the whole bird. African grey parrots have the cognitive and emotional facilities of preschoolers. A worthy and fascinating read.

Almost all of my reading is fiction, but I am so glad I added this title to my monthly list. The author presents an astonishingly extensive array of fascinating facts about bird biology and behavior. These are carefully organized into chapters with a logical sequence but are presented in a conversational manner that retains the reader's interest. There is even a great index of topics and bird species at the end to make it easy to locate some story you want to share with a friend. Recommended with 5 happy stars 🌟.

Long, detailed, no photos, but well documented and interesting and I did learn a lot I didn’t know. Stick with it and you’ll learn a lot and enjoy. Just wish it had been shorter and included some photos.

This is nature writing at its very best. Journalist Jennifer Ackerman has emerged as one of the leading voices for our avian friends. She travels the world to introduce us to some amazing birds and the painstaking research being done to better understand them. I lost count of the number of times I wrote “wow” in my marginalia. North American birds are on the whole somewhat boring, but in Australia, New Zealand and the tropics, their behavior is even more distinctive than their often colorful plumage. From laughing and tool making to cooperative parenting, birds have more going on upstairs than I ever imagined. I also thought I had learned about the birds and the bees long ago, but I don’t remember studying their “cloaca” (a three-in-one orifice). Perhaps I will develop the patience to go bird watching when I am in my 70s, but in the meantime, I have put out feeders and birdbaths. Two of our most frequent flyers are acorn woodpeckers, which have “one of the most complex communal nesting systems of any vertebrate” (p. 319) and Anna’s hummingbirds, which Ackerman wonderfully describes as “a ton of truculence packed into a feathered fraction of an ounce” (p. 13). While reading outside they can hover inches from my face. Males have dazzling ruby red throats when light is reflected at certain angles. Feeding frenzies are punctuated by dogfights and dive bombings. Just as I was reading Ackerman’s description, a female hummer crashed into the sliding glass door of my study. I scooped her up and marveled at how tiny she was. Before I could offer her some sugar water, she had flown off into our nearby redbud tree. “The Bird Way” is a welcome respite from a world turned upside down by Trump’s kakocracy (rule by the worst people). Corvids (crows) over Covid-19! My next bird books will be the lighter “The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic and the Endangered” and the more academic “Parrots of the Wild: A Natural History of the World’s Most Captivating Birds.” Ackerman has a brilliant chapter on New Zealand’s stupendous kea parrot, but I need to better understand the yellow-naped Amazon I grew up with. Poncho could outlive me...

Awesome lessons on what makes a bird “tick.” Fascinating information. Perfect gift for a bird lover.

Fantastic Book! Great for bird enthusiasts young and old.

Haven't read it yet. But im anxious to! Looks like a good read.

If you have even the most passing interest in what these dinosaur holdovers can do, you’ll want to read this book. Despite their brain size, birds plan, communicate, organize, and cooperate, even though they may be of different species. Jennifer Ackerman has pulled together fascinating research about birds demonstrating they have lives full of social complexity, requiring skills and abilities, humans are just now beginning to recognize. Ackerman breaks down her book into sections that detail bird communication, work, play, and parenting. Contained within each chapter are stories and observations from bird experts, and scientists who show birds are far more sophisticated than we ever thought. There are the keas who engage in play like kids let loose on a jungle gym, the cowbirds and cuckoos who place their eggs surreptitiously in others’ nests for other birds to raise, and the New Caledonian crows that construct tools to get to the food. Some birds mimic others to fool predators and display to potential mates their desirability. One species, the Carolina chickadee, can make the sound of a copperhead to keep predators at bay while they are nesting. All in all, this is a book that will make you respect and appreciate the complexity of bird behavior as well as create a delightful sense of wonder at all we have not understood about them. Besides bird lovers’, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the natural world and wanting to recognize better some of the avian behavior observable in their own backyards.

The book is entertaining and informative.

I recommend this book not only to all birdlovers, but to anyone who likes to learn more about behaviors, evolution and what moves and motivates these fascinating animals. Easy to read.

Ich hatte bereits das erste Buch von Ackermann gelesen, und das zweite ist ebenso empfehlenswert. Verhaltensweisen und auch die Biologie der beschriebenen Vögel wird auf verständliche und unterhaltsame Art präsentiert. Vor allem, Verhalten wird nicht verniedlicht, sondern als Überlebenstrategie präsentiert. Dieses Buch wird Vogelliebhaber bestimmt anregen, selbst Boeobachtungen vorzunehmen.

One of the most remarkable and interesting books I have recently read. It is full of the most unbelievable facts and information and full of eye-opening wonder. A joy to read!

El libro es bastante interesante y la autora tienen varios que han sido muy bien recibidos por el público y la crítica. Lo que no me gusta de la pasta blanda de este es que es un papel de no muy buena calidad, sumándole que Amazon me envión el libro en una bolsa de plástico sin nada de protección por lo que llegó bastante doblado de una esquina y algo sucio.