The Bird Detective
Investigating the Secret Lives of Birds
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A Yale-educated professor of biology and a GG finalist for Silence of the Songbirds, Bridget Stutchbury roams forests studying the social lives and sexual antics of birds, sharing with us the curious reasons for their strange behaviour, bright colouring and elaborate songs. Are birds truly faithful to their mates? Stutchbury explains the science behind the surprisingly sophisticated and often amusing habits of birds, drawing on examples from around the world.
In The Bird Detective, the author explains why some birds readily “divorce,” why parents don’t treat their sons and daughters equally, why females sneak in quick sex with neighbouring males and why some adults forgo breeding altogether. Stutchbury writes about the territorial nature of birds and describes their nesting habits, revealing why some species prefer to live in over-crowded groups. Perhaps most important, she illuminates how climate change and other pressures of the modern world are forcing birds to change their habits as they fight for their very survival.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
The Bird Detective
"It's not easy to produce a specialized book that is simultaneously erudite and engrossing, but Stutchbury pulls it off . . . Stutchbury's book is packed with information, both salacious and sage."
-- Quill & Quire (starred review)
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"A treasure-house of insights into the lives of birds and the glorious evolutionary energy that powers their displays and courtship -- and their not infrequent infidelities"
-- Graeme Gibson, author of The Bedside Book of Birds
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"With her trademark clarity and humor, Bridget Stutchbury -- ‘bird detective’ extraordinaire -- reveals avian lives of uncommon drama, rife with adultery, divorce, sibling rivalry, lying, social climbing and life-or-death marathons -- a peek into a world at once familiar and wonderfully different from our own."
-- Scott Weidensaul, author of Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding
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Silence of the Songbirds
Wood Thrush, Kentucky Warbler, Eastern Kingbird—migratory songbirds are disappearing at a frightening rate. By some estimates, we may already have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies only 40 years ago. Bridget Stutchbury, in a narrative as colourful as the creatures she...
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