Bird Brains
The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays
- Publisher
- Greystone Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Jul 2018
- Category
- Birds, Plants & Animals, Birdwatching Guides
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781771644259
- Publish Date
- Jul 2018
- List Price
- $29.95
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Where to buy it
Description
Internationally celebrated nature writer Candace Savage presents the Corvid family— surprisingly bright, brassy, and colorful birds—in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some of the world’s best wildlife photographers.
Birds have long been viewed as the archetypal featherbrains—beautiful but dumb. But according to naturalist Candace Savage, “bird brain,” as a pejorative expression, should be rendered obsolete by new research on the family of corvids: crows and their close relations.
The ancients who regarded these remarkable birds as oracles, bringers of wisdom, or agents of vengeance were on the right track, for corvids appear to have powers of abstraction, memory, and creativity that put them on a par with many mammals, even higher primates. Bird Brains presents these bright, brassy, and surprisingly colorful birds in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some two dozen of the world’s best wildlife photographers.
Savage’s lively, authoritative text describes the life and behavior of sixteen representative corvid species that inhabit North America and Europe. Drawing on recent research, she describes birds that recognize each other as individuals, call one another by “name,” remember and relocate thousands of hidden food caches, engage in true teamwork and purposeful play, and generally exhibit an extraordinary degree of sophistication.
About the author
Candace Savage is the author of numerous internationally acclaimed books on subjects ranging from natural history and science to popular culture. She is the author of the best-selling natural history titles Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies and Jays and Prairie: A Natural History, for which she won two Saskatchewan Book Awards and a Gold Medal from ForeWord Magazine in 2004. She is also a frequent contributor to numerous periodicals, including Canadian Geographic. She lives in Saskatoon, SK.
Editorial Reviews
"Savage’s hypnotic, intimate lens takes us so close to these birds we can count the feathers on their stomachs, peer down the huge red gullets of their chicks and marvel at their talky, squawky, wondrously communicative throats and beaks."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"With powerful photographic documentation naturalist Candace Savage examines the lives and behaviors of the highly intelligent corvid family."
—Sierra
"Here is an excellent gathering of intelligence, expert opinion and bird observations, with color photos creating a lavish backdrop.'
—Bookwatch
