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Book Cover
E-book
Author Tong, Wenfei, author

Title Bird love : the family life of birds / Wenfei Tong ; consultant editor, Mike Webster
Published Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2020
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (192 pages)
Contents Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- FOREWORD -- INTRODUCTION -- ONE. Ecology & Mating Systems -- TWO. Courtship -- THREE. Nests & Eggs -- FOUR. Raising Chicks -- FIVE. Sex Role Reversals -- SIX. Group Breeding -- SEVEN. Brood Parasitism -- Further Reading -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary Bird Love looks at the extraordinary range of mating systems in the avian world, exploring all the stages from courtship and nest-building to protecting eggs and raising chicks. It delves into the reasons why some species, such as the wattled jacana, rely on males to do all the childcare, while others, such as cuckoos and honeyguides, dump their eggs in the nests of others to raise. For some birds, reciprocal promiscuity pays off: both male and female dunnocks will rear the most chicks by mating with as many partners as possible. For others, long-term monogamy is the only way to ensure their offspring survive. The book explores the wide variety of ways birds make sure they find a mate in the first place, including how many male birds employ elaborate tactics to show how sexy they are. Gathering in leks to display to females, they dance, pose, or parade to sell their suitability as a mate. Other birds attract a partner with their building skills: female bowerbirds rate brains above beauty, so males construct elaborate bowers with twig avenues and cleared courtyards to impress them. Looking at the differing levels of parenting skills across species around the world, we see why a tenth of bird species, including the fairy-wrens of Australia, have helpers at the nest who forgo their own reproduction to assist the breeding pair; how brood parasites and their hosts have engaged in evolutionary arms races; and how monogamous pairs share—or relinquish—their responsibilities. Illustrated throughout with beautiful photographs, Bird Love is a celebration of the global diversity of avian reproductive strategies. www.amazon.com
Analysis African jacana
African weavers
Australasian wrens
Cape weaver
Eastern golden weaver
Gouldian finches
Lesser masked weaver
Long-tailed widowbird
Madagascan jacana
albatross
barn swallows
bird tours
birding adventures
birding vacations
birds of paradise
birdwatching
dunnocks
fairy-wrens
incubator birds
jacanas
lily trotters
manakins
megapodes
mound-builders
northern jacana
parrots
passerines
perching birds
red-backed fairywren
sparrows
splendid fairywren
superb fairywren
variegated fairywren
wattled jacana
widowbirds
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed
Subject Birds -- Behavior
Courtship in animals
NATURE / Animals / Birds
Birds -- Behavior.
Courtship in animals.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2021701966
ISBN 9780691208909
0691208905