Secret Lives of Garden Birds (RSPB)
Have you ever wondered why birds sing at dawn, or why they sing at all?
Have you ever wondered how birds select their mates, migrate successfully or establish territory?
Have you ever wondered whether Magpies, Sparrowhawks or cats affect bird populations?
And a more left-field question: have you ever wondered whether Beethoven really did hear the three birds transcribed at the “Scene by the Brook”, the second movement of his Sixth Symphony (the “Pastoral”).
If you have, this book is for you. But rather than being a scientific document, this is a narrative book, in which I take my own experiences of what I have seen and heard over a lifetime of birding and put these into context of what people have been discovering over the years. And what they have discovered paints a somewhat bleak picture of what life is really like for our feathered neighbours.
Part memoir, part popular science, this book will answer many of the questions you have about your favourite birds.
Published
30 April 2004
Publisher
A & C Black Publishers Ltd
ISBN
9780713666168
How to buy
Currently in print and available at all good book shops. If you wish to order online:
“I get a lot of various species of bird in my garden and after spending years watching them, and their mannerisms, I treated myself to this book. I have read it a few times, and now read each months section as we go into a new month. It has helped me understand the mannerisms of the birds and their reasoning for doing what they do. It’s certainly given me a better understanding of the birds and what to look for, and has helped me to attract more birds into the garden. A pleasure to read and extremely informative.”