Around the World in 80 Birds

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The white 'eyebrows' of a Great Grey Owl that actually sit on each side of his beak like migrating hairy caterpillars. This beautiful and inspiring book tells the stories of 80 birds around the world: from the Sociable Weaver Bird in Namibia which constructs huge, multi-nest ‘apartment blocks’ in the desert, to the Bar-headed Goose of China, one of the highest-flying migrants which crosses the Himalayas twice a year. Mención especial a la belleza de ilustraciones de Ryuto Miyake, que me han tenido embelesada toda la lectura. The writing style in this wasn't as quirky and entertianing as in the one about trees, but it was still delivering the facts in a very amicable and non-boring way.

The Resplendent Quatzal is such a beautifully colourful bird linked with a lot of South American mythology and I’ve always been fascinated by it. I do wonder how the author narrowed down his choices - some are VERY unique so you can understand why, while others sometimes are a little head scratching. A lot of the credit for this volume, too, must go to Ryuto Miyake, whose full-color depictions of the birds, often shown in situ, are as dazzling as any illustration from the golden age of bird art. The writing gives a lot of interesting information on the history of the birds and how people relate to them.

Wildlife author Mike Unwin takes a world tour of 80 birds with exquisite illustrations from Tokyo-based Ryuto Miyake.

Some are related to mythology, as the little owl is an emblem of Athena, patron goddess of Athens, Greece. Di solito sugli uccelli preferisco le guide da campo (mi piace dare un nome alle cose), e quindi credevo che non mi avrebbe interessato così tanto un libro contenente descrizioni di una pagina o due su specie di tutto il mondo… e invece mi è piaciuto moolto di più del previsto! Each has a story to tell that sheds a light on our relationship with the natural world and reveals just how deeply birds matter to us. Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. Organized by region: Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Australia, Antarctica, and Pacific islands.

Oh and finally, I also think that Around the World in 80 Birds should be including distribution maps for each of the included species, for one, simply for general knowledge, of course, and for two because some of the birds being showcased in Around the World in 80 Birds actually do not only appear in the countries and areas about which Unwin is writing (and it would thus be nice if Around the World in 80 Birds would for example visually show how the northern mockingbird also ranges into Canada and that nightingales are common in much of Europe and not just in France, and well, with migratory birds, showing their wintering grounds as well as where they breed via maps is not just interesting and informative but is also rather important regarding possible conservation issues). We get a nice overview of what the birds look like, their way of life and brief anecdotes of what they are known for (like them being national emblems and why, if they are featured in important literary works, legends or myths etc). I’ve been really lucky in marriage many ways and one is that I’ve inherited a set of “grandparents in law” who’ve shared so much love and wisdom. I was immediately enthralled by the beautifully shining illustrations from Ryuto Mikaye, turning each bird into a masterpiece of flow and movement on the page. However, that Mike Unwin does not bother with avian evolution in Around the World in 80 Birds, that he has no section devoted to extinct birds and is in my opinion often not nearly critical and condemning enough regarding birds threatened and endangered by us humans, by our actions, by habit loss, by over-hunting, pollution and the like, this has definitely rather bothered me (and enough so that my final rating for Around the World in 80 Birds simply cannot be higher than three stars, still to be warmly recommended, but also with some caveats and reservations).