Birds. The Inside Story. Exploring birds and their behaviour in southern Africa, by Rael Loon and Hélène Loon

Birds. The Inside Story. Exploring birds and their behaviour in southern Africa, by Rael Loon and Hélène Loon. Struik Publishers. Cape Town, South Africa 2005. ISBN 1770071512 / ISBN 1-77007-151-2 / ISBN 9781770071513 / ISBN 978-1-77007-151-3

Rael and Hélène Loon's 'Birds. The Inside Story. Exploring birds and their behaviour in southern Africa' will make an especially welcome contribution to the reference-book collection of birders who like to watch birds and get to know more about their different features and habits.

Rael Loon  Hélène Loon  

Bird watching is much like stamp collecting - you don’t really appreciate it until you already have some stamps in your collection to admire and compare. The more you acquire, especially if they are colourful or really unusual or rare, the more motivated you are to continue collecting. Birds, though, unlike stamps, are three-dimensional and alive. They exploit the sky, and almost every other habitat on earth, they fly vast distances, sing, feed, court and breed, all in front of the fascinated eyes of the bird watcher. Bird watching is one of the fastest growing hobbies in southern Africa. This ever-increasing interest in southern African birds, both by local and foreign enthusiasts, is reflected in the diversity of new material continually being devoted to the subject, from books, magazines and posters, to websites, tapes and high-tech CD-roms. Books are undoubtedly one of the most popular and necessary of these items, and cater for a diverse readership, from young children and laymen to enthusiastic and knowledge-able amateurs and professionals in the field of ornithology. It may seem that there are almost as many bird books on the shelves as there are bird species in southern Africa, so one could justifiably question whether there is a real need, or indeed market, for yet another work! The answer is a resounding yes - within the vast plethora of bird books available, a distinctly vacant niche exists for an engaging, stimulating, more generalized bird book that goes beyond mere species identification and highlights the many intriguing adaptations and fascinating aspects of bird biology and behaviour. The vast majority of bird books currently available are either field guides focused primarily on species identification, or impressive photo-graphic coffee table books covering specialized interests. This book attempts to focus on the interesting and sometimes bizarre facts relating to birds in southern Africa. For example, many avid birders may be able to identify a Rosy-faced Lovebird on sight or by its piercing call, but do they know that when building their nests, these remarkable birds carry their nesting material in the feathers on their backs, or that Palm-Swifts glue their nests together with sticky saliva? We look at nesting behaviour more closely, focusing among other things on the unique nest designs of the Cape Penduline Tit, the Hamerkop and Sociable Weavers ‘mansions’. Many birders may have come across these or some other species eggs while out in the field, but do they know why some birds lay speckled eggs, while the eggs of other species are pure white or even bright blue in colour? Or why some eggs are round, while others are distinctly pointed at one end? How did the peculiar habit of brood parasitism evolve in some birds and not in others? Did you know that it is the African Jacana male rather than the female that plays the major role in parental care; or that the chicks take shelter under the adult ‘s wings at any sign of danger? Did you know that the chicks of its relative, the Lesser Jacana, hide underwater using their protruding bills as snorkels to breathe until the coast is clear? Did you know that different species of birds have very different wing and tail designs depending on their lifestyles? Do you know why albatrosses fly in distinct, zigzag flight patterns, how thermals are formed, or why some birds migrate and others choose to stay behind? Do you know why the legs of Marabou Storks appear to be whitewashed? Do you know why nightjars have rictal bristles at the base of their mouths and special combs on their middle claws? [...]

This is an excerpt from: Birds. The Inside Story. Exploring birds and their behaviour in southern Africa, by Rael Loon and Hélène Loon.

Title: Birds
Subtitle: The Inside Story. Exploring birds and their behaviour in southern Africa
Authors: Rael and Hélène Loon
Publisher: Struik Publishers
Cape Town, South Africa 2005
ISBN 1770071512 / ISBN 1-77007-151-2
ISBN 9781770071513 / ISBN 978-1-77007-151-3
Softcover, 17 x 23 cm, 200 pages, throughout colour photos and illustrations