Animals

Ever wonder how to attract beautiful birds right to your backyard? Now you can create a bird-watching paradise with this accessible guidebook that teaches you everything you need to know about welcoming your new feathered friends and how to care for them while they're visiting.

Backyard Bird Sanctuary helps you attract fifty of the most common and sought-after birds in the United States. With beautiful, full-color illustrations of both the male and female of each species, you'll have no trouble identifying your new companions. Inside you'll find everything you need to know about welcoming these birds into your yard including:
-Preferred types of food and feeder
-Nesting and brooding habits
-Range and migratory patterns
-Effective techniques for attracting birds
-Ways to provide shelter
-And so much more!

With tips and advice for any sized yard--even a small patio or balcony--you can enjoy the beauty of wild birds wherever you live. Now you can surround your home with cheerful bird songs and beautiful plumage all year long!

"There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries -- What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play.

Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species--ours--but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call--and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter.

Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska's Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

The finest, most lavishly illustrated photographic guide to the birds of eastern North America

Combining informative and accessible text, up-to-date maps, and--above all--stunning color photographs, this is the best and most lavishly illustrated photographic guide to the birds of eastern North America. All of the images have been carefully selected to convey both the sheer beauty and the key identification features of each bird, and many of the photos are larger than those found in other guides. Wherever possible, a variety of plumages are pictured, providing visual coverage and usefulness matching any artwork-illustrated field guide. And many of the images are state-of-the-art digital photographs by Brian Small, one of North America's finest bird photographers. These pictures, many seen here for the first time, reproduce a previously unimaginable level of detail. Finally, the ranges of nearly all species are shown on maps from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the authority on North American birding. New and experienced birders alike will find this guide indispensable: the clear layout will help novices easily identify the birds they see, while the superb photographs will help seasoned birders confirm identifications.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Winner of The PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award * Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner * Shortlisted for the John Burroughs Medal * Finalist for the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize * Shortlisted for a Reading the West Book Award

A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year * 2021 Summer Reading Pick by BUZZFEED * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW * KIRKUS * TIME MAGAZINE * GOOD MORNING AMERICA * PEOPLE MAGAZINE * THE WASHINGTON POST

"The book everyone will be talking about ... full of tenderness and understanding. --The New York Times

An "extraordinary" (Oprah Daily) memoir about the friendship between a solitary woman and a wild fox.

When Catherine Raven finished her PhD in biology, she built herself a tiny cottage on an isolated plot of land in Montana. She was as emotionally isolated as she was physically, but she viewed the house as a way station, a temporary rest stop where she could gather her nerves and fill out applications for what she hoped would be a real job that would help her fit into society. In the meantime, she taught remotely and led field classes in nearby Yellowstone National Park.

Then one day she realized that a mangy-looking fox was showing up on her property every afternoon at 4:15 p.m. She had never had a regular visitor before. How do you even talk to a fox? She brought out her camping chair, sat as close to him as she dared, and began reading to him from The Little Prince. Her scientific training had taught her not to anthropomorphize animals, yet as she grew to know him, his personality revealed itself and they became friends.

From the fox, Catherine learned the single most important thing about loneliness: we are never alone when we are connected to the natural world. Friends, however, cannot save each other from the uncontained forces of nature.

Fox and I is a poignant and remarkable tale of friendship, growth, and coping with inevitable loss--and of how that loss can be transformed into meaning. It is both a timely tale of solitude and belonging as well as a timeless story of one woman whose immersion in the natural world will change the way we view our surroundings--each tree, weed, flower, stone, or fox.

"A wild, rollicking ride into the heart of horse country--these essays get at what it means to love horses, in all that love's complexity." --Anton DiSclafani, author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

A compelling and provocative essay collection that smashes stereotypes and redefines the meaning of the term "horse girl," broadening it for women of all cultural backgrounds.

As a child, horses consumed Halimah Marcus' imagination. When she wasn't around horses she was pretending to be one, cantering on two legs, hands poised to hold invisible reins. To her classmates, girls like Halimah were known as "horse girls," weird and overzealous, absent from the social worlds of their peers.

Decades later, when memes about "horse girl energy," began appearing across social media--Halimah reluctantly recognized herself. The jokes imagine girls as blinkered as carriage ponies, oblivious to the mockery behind their backs. The stereotypical horse girl is also white, thin, rich, and straight, a daughter of privilege. Yet so many riders don't fit this narrow, damaging ideal, and relate to horses in profound ways that include ambivalence and regret, as well as unbridled passion and devotion.

Featuring some of the most striking voices in contemporary literature--including Carmen Maria Machado, Pulitzer-prize winner Jane Smiley, T Kira Madden, Maggie Shipstead, and Courtney Maum--Horse Girls reframes the iconic bond between girls and horses with the complexity and nuance it deserves. And it showcases powerful emerging voices like Braudie Blais-Billie, on the connection between her Seminole and Quebecois heritage; Sarah Enelow-Snyder, on growing up as a Black barrel racer in central Texas; and Nur Nasreen Ibrahim, on the colonialist influence on horse culture in Pakistan.

By turns thought-provoking and personal, Horse Girls reclaims its titular stereotype to ask bold questions about autonomy and desire, privilege and ambition, identity and freedom, and the competing forces of domestication and wildness.

In Letters of Note: Dogs, Shaun Usher brings together a delightful collection of correspondence about our canine friends, featuring affectionate accounts of pups' playful misdemeanours, heartfelt tributes to loyal fidos and shared tales of remarkable hounds.

Includes letters by:
Clara Bow, Bob Hope,
Charles Lamb, Sue Perkins,
Marcel Proust, Dodie Smith,
Gertrude Stein, E.B. White
& many more

An updated, informative review of the status and biology of the fifty-five species of mammals living wild in Ohio, richly illustrated with photographs, maps, drawings, and original artwork.

This comprehensive reference illustrates how species within each of the seven orders of mammals in Ohio share modes of reproduction, locomotion, and nutrition, providing a framework for understanding the fascinating world of mammalian biology. Presentations of natural history in each account of the various species are enhanced with descriptions of intriguing adaptations for avoiding demise from predators, food shortages, and the frigid conditions of Ohio winters. The book is richly illustrated with range maps, exquisite skull drawings, beautiful photography, and engaging artwork.

Challenges to wildlife conservation are considerable in Ohio, with its vast industrialized urban centers distributed across a largely agricultural landscape. With frequent citations of scientific reports and conservation efforts of the Ohio Division of Wildlife and of other public and private entities, this book instills an appreciation for the rich mammalian fauna of Ohio, as well as knowledge on how to join efforts to protect it.

Covering all of the state's mammals, from tiny, obscure shrews to the magnificent white-tailed deer, Mammals of Ohio is a definitive resource for professional biologists and students. The narrative style throughout the book is accessible, providing the general reader with an appreciation for the full scope of the rich mammalian diversity in the state.

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals "pests" and others not--from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons--and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world

A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A pigeon on the street. Humans have spent so much of our history drawing a hard line between human spaces and wild places. When animals pop up where we don't expect or want them, we respond with fear, rage, or simple annoyance. It's no longer an animal. It's a pest.

At the intersection of science, history, and narrative journalism, Pests is not a simple call to look closer at our urban ecosystem. It's not a natural history of the animals we hate. Instead, this book is about us. It's about what calling an animal a pest says about people, how we live, and what we want. It's a story about human nature, and how we categorize the animals in our midst, including bears and coyotes, sparrows and snakes. Pet or pest? In many cases, it's entirely a question of perspective.

Bethany Brookshire's deeply researched and entirely entertaining book will show readers what there is to venerate in vermin, and help them appreciate how these animals have clawed their way to success as we did everything we could to ensure their failure. In the process, we will learn how the pests that annoy us tell us far more about humanity than they do about the animals themselves.

Inspired by a life-changing childhood experience, Gaelin Rosenwaks set off on a journey to tell the story of sperm whale families through photography and film. In the waters off Dominica, she observed--eye to eye--the close bond between mother and child firsthand. What she found is that these animals live in matriarchal family units made up of remarkable females that stay together for generations. Like elephants and humans, they take care of one another.

Rosenwaks's years as a marine biologist, diver, and underwater filmmaker and photographer prepared her to tell this beautifully stirring story with never-before-seen photographs of the world's most marvelous ocean species.

Teach Your Dog to Talk is a light-hearted and easy-to-use guide to exploring Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Inspired by the discovery that dogs can use AAC to communicate with their humans, this book is perfect for the average pet owner who is looking to foster a deeper connection with their dog through "speech training."

As the first resource to encourage more pet owners to explore this fun (and funny!) endeavor with their animals, Teach Your Dog to Talk will explore the basic setup of currently available AAC devices and best practices for getting started, and highlight notable achievements by some of the internet's favorite "talking" dogs. The book will also answer frequently asked questions, discuss common mistakes, and offer do's and don'ts.

Pet owners will discover a whole new layer of their relationship with their beloved four-legged friends thanks to the tips and tricks offered in this first-of-its-kind handbook.

Most of the world's exquisite and rare bird species are found in tropical rainforests--the Amazon, Sumatra, Borneo, Daintree Rainforest in Australia, and the Congo basin in Africa. These lush, wet biospheres are home to some of the most colorful creatures on our planet. Did you know that parrots can live for 80 years or more? Or that most tropical birds are omnivores and will eat seeds, nuts, fruit, and insects, while a few will eat small lizards or animals? From the screeching red-and-green macaw to the majestic great hornbill, from the rainbow lorikeet of northern Queensland to the endangered Spix's macaw of the Amazonian rainforest, Tropical Birds explores the fascinating lifecycles, diets and, where applicable, migratory patterns of hundreds of species from every part of the tropical belt.

In What It's Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds--blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees--it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin.

David Sibley's exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. (For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized.) And while the text is aimed at adults--including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes--it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action.

Unlike any other book he has written, What It's Like to Be a Bird is poised to bring a whole new audience to David Sibley's world of birds.