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The Bird Way
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think | Jennifer Ackerman
12 posts | 8 read | 16 to read
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. 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 speciesoursbut 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 calland 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 Alaskas 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.
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Just an all around good time, full of amazing facts. Ackerman speaks well, with both empathy and an even-keeled understanding of how harsh nature can be. It's refreshing to hear not just the acknowledgement that the flaw in many studies may be the way humans choose to perceive and judge things based on our limited perspective, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? but how historically, a more patriarchal view among a largely male scientist base may have biased reports of or dismissals of female bird behavior.
The author is also ready and eager to point out when conclusions are preliminary/under supported by existing evidence. The idea of always asking more questions, realizing that answers may be more complex than first thought, it feels necessary to any non-fiction/science-based work.
1w
Robotswithpersonality 3/3 The audiobook is a great listen.
⚠️animal abuse, animal death
1w
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Robotswithpersonality
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Excuse-MOI! 🦜 😄

Ruthiella 😂😂😂 1w
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Robotswithpersonality
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I mean, fascinating discovery, but you gotta figure the first thing that firefighter thought was “you little bastard....“ 😆🔥👨🏼‍🚒

StaceGhost I loved her book about birds in Lewes DE! It‘s only about 45 m from where I live and she captured it so well 1w
Robotswithpersonality @StaceGhost Have a feeling I'll be looking up her other books soon! 1w
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Robotswithpersonality
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😏

dabbe 😱🤣😱 1w
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Lindy
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Another week of reading summed up: Friday Reads April 29 - Three book clubs in one week!
https://youtu.be/96riuq1ZHCQ

Anna40 Lovely to listen to your recommendations and short excerpts from the books. Thanks for sharing! 3y
Lindy @Anna40 Thanks for watching 🥰 3y
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Addison_Reads
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While I appreciate birds, unless they are also related to marine life, I really don't know a lot about them. Ackerman's book fascinated me from start to finish and I learned so much about these wonderful creatures. The diversity both between and within species of birds is a testament to just how amazing nature is.

I really have to read The Genius of Birds now.

jlhammar The Genius of Birds is excellent. Still need to read this one. 3y
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Johanna414
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Just starting this and it is absolutely fascinating! I don't remember who recommended it to me (definitely someone on Litsy), but thank you, whoever you are!!

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KimHM
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First lingering bookstore visit in soooo many months and it was glorious! #poetry #poetrymatters #poems to be 💙

📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚🪶📚

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Soubhiville
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My February wrap up. 📚😊

Favorites were The Bird Way and Detransition, Baby.

I added South Carolina, Delaware, Colorado, and Illinois for #readthestates2021.

Crazeedi Well done!👏📚 4y
AmyG Wow. Good job! 4y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks How was Mina? I loved Nina 💛💛 4y
Gissy Amazing! 📚📚📚👏👏👏👏 4y
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Soubhiville
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My second book completed during this #24in48.

I love environmental/ nature nonfiction, and this was fascinating! Things I learned: burrowing owls can mimic rattlesnakes to discourage large animals from approaching their homes, some migrating birds sleep while they are flying!, and there are way more varieties of birds who lay their eggs in someone else‘s nest than I knew before! I‘m definitely reading other books by this author!

Librariana Sleep while they fly!? Whaaaa 😳 4y
Soubhiville @Librariana right? Some sleep in microbursts, like tiny fast power naps, and some sleep with half of their brain at a time, alternating sides! 🤯 pretty amazing! 4y
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RowReads1
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BookNAround
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Today‘s non-fiction #MayARC about the fascinating lives of our feathered friends was released on 5/5.

Cuilin Beautiful ❤️ 🐦 5y
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