Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Birds ...But Were Afraid to Ask

192 Pages·2005·2.08 MB·English

by  Stephen Moss

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Everything
you always
wanted to
know about
birds
...but were afraid
to ask!
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Everything
you always
wanted to
know about
birds
...but were afraid
to ask!
Stephen Moss
CHRISTOPHER HELM
LONDON
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The RSPB
The Lodge
Sandy
Bedfordshire
SG19 2DL
United Kingdom
Tel:[phone]
Website:www.rspb.org.uk
Published 2005 by Christopher Helm,
an imprint of A&C Black Publishers Ltd,
37 Soho Square,London W1D 3QZ
4
Copyright © 2005 text by Stephen Moss
Copyright © 2005 illustrations by Marianne Taylor
ISBN 0-7136-6815-6
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be
reproduced or used in any form or by any means –
photographic,electronic or mechanical,including
photocopying,recording,taping or information
storageand retrieval systems – without permission
of the publishers.
A&C Black uses paper produced with elemental
chlorine-free pulp,harvested from managed
sustainable forests.
www.acblack.com
Typeset and designed by Tina Tong
Printed and bound in Wales by CPD
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgements
7
Introduction
8
1 What is a bird?
10
2 Where do birds come from?
36
3 How many birds are there?
48
4 Where do birds live?
62
5 How do birds move?
76
6 What do birds eat? 5
92
7 Why do birds sing?
108
8 How do birds reproduce?
122
9 Where do birds go?
146
10 How do we relate to birds?
160
Bibliography
182
Index
183
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For my wonderful children: David, James,
Charlie, George and Daisy.
6
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Acknowledgements
I have many people to thank for the genesis, production and completion of
this book.
First and foremost, my wife Suzanne, who came up with the original
title several years ago, and has been her usual tower of strength and
support during its writing, despite giving birth to her own three
productions during this time.
Second, my great friend Nigel Redman at A&C Black, who came up
with the same title and had enough faith to commission me to write it.
Also at A&C Black, a succession of very able and charming editors, several
of whom have gone on to pastures new: Marianne Taylor, whose witty and
offbeat cartoons enliven the text; Sharmila Logathas, who picked up the
baton mid-project; and finally Julie Bailey, who oversaw the book to its
conclusion with great skill. Tina Tong also created an effective and
welcoming design, while John Cox provided the illustration of the Hoopoe
that graces the cover. At the RSPB, Peter Carroll also provided valuable
guidance and supervision.
I persuaded several people to read all or part of the text to root out any
errors, misconceptions and lack of clarity. Of these, Chris Harbard brought
his vast experience to the job, aided and abetted by Chris Watson and 7
Daniel Osorio. In quiet moments on a filming trip to Patagonia, my
colleagues John Aitchison and Mike Dilger also made many helpful
suggestions.
But my greatest gratitude must go to Mike Unwin, who took my original
text and edited it within an inch of its life, adding clarity, structure and
above all humour – some of the finest (and most excruciating!)puns are
his, not mine. Working with him has been an unalloyed pleasure, and I
hope to do so again in the very near future.
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Introduction
The very title of this book has a certain presumption about it. Everything?
That you always wanted to know? But were afraid to ask?
Any reader might, understandably, be sceptical about such a far-
reaching claim. No book, particularly one of such modest proportions as
this little volume, can hope to include everyfact and figure, explain every
type of bird behaviour, or answer everyquestion about birds.
But with due deference to Woody Allen, who supplied the original
phrase behind the title, this book offers a new, more reader-friendly
approach to learning about birds. Instead of producing a dense textbook on
their almost infinitely complex lives, I have attempted to present the
information in easily digestible, bite-sized chunks. Think sushi instead of
Sunday roast; nouvelle cuisine, not cordon bleu; Pret a Manger rather than
Berni Inn.
Questions are a way of focusing our interest, but finding answers can
be frustrating. Having spent much of my life fielding other people's
questions about birds, I had long yearned for an easy reference source
that provided all the answers in a single place. Hence the simple question-
and-answer format of this book, which allows any reader to get straight to
the answer they want without becoming swamped by information they may
8
not need.
I began the compilation process by collecting 'raw' questions from a
broad spectrum of people, including friends and family, beginners and
experts, and the staff of my publishers – A&C Black. Some were
fascinating, some ludicrous and some frankly unanswerable, but all played
their part in revealing the kind of things that people would like to know
about birds. If you were part of this process, I hope you will find your
answer here – and, with luck, a lot more besides.
The questions – more than 500 in total – are arranged in ten chapters,
each tackling a major theme, such as feeding, breeding or migration. A
comprehensive index helps you locate any question you want answered.
Having done so, I hope that you will be drawn further in, finding equally
interesting answers on related topics, or simply reading onwards to gain a
deeper insight into a particular subject.
During the book's compilation I used a number of reference books in
order to finalise questions, check facts and glean ideas. Of these, the most
important were those listed in the bibliography by Bird, Brooke &
Birkhead, Campbell & Lack, Clements, Leahy, Todd and Weaver. All
published 'facts' were checked against at least two further sources,
usually more.
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You will find the text liberally sprinkled with headlined boxes containing
little nuggets of information. These are what I call 'record breakers', and
list superlatives such as the biggest, smallest, highest, fastest and so on.
Being records, they are subject to certain qualifications: some, such as
those concerned with longevity, may already have been surpassed by the
time this book has hit the shelves; others have their absolute accuracy
open to question. Many simply reflect what has been measured or studied
to date, which means they are by no means the final word on the subject.
Facts and statistics – especially those related to the latest scientific
discoveries – often show a distinct bias towards European or North
American species, simply because this is still where most research takes
place. Where there is any measure of doubt, I have couched the
information in suitably non-committal terms, such as 'probably', 'it is
claimed' etc. If you do discover a newer or more accurate record, please
let me know (via the publishers), and I'll be happy to include it in any
future editions.
So who exactly is this book for? My long-time friend and birding
companion Daniel Osorio gave me a typically backhanded compliment
when he said that it would appeal to intelligent, enquiring eleven-year-old 9
boys – the same age as he and I were when we first met. I hope that it will
also appeal to eleven-year-old girls, since there are far too few women
birders, and this might just spark an interest that helps redress the
balance. Ultimately, however, I would like to think that the book has
something to offer to all ages and that it is equally suitable for
experienced birders, complete novices and anyone in between.
Most of all, I hope that you enjoy reading it, and that you are motivated
to go out into the field and look anew at birds – which, to my mind, are the
most elegant, fascinating and delightful of all God's creatures.
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WHAT
1
IS A
BIRD?
(Physiology)
10
ANATOMY
What is a bird?
A bird is a warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate (animal with a backbone).
It has a body covered with feathers, and forelimbs modified to form wings.
Technically speaking, birds are all members of the class Aves.
What makes birds unique?
In a word: feathers. This is the only characteristic unique to birds, as
opposed to mammals (which are also warm-blooded), some reptiles and
two strange mammals (which also lay eggs), and bats (which can also fly).
No other creature has evolved feathers, but all birds – even flightless ones
such as penguins – have them.
Are birds ‘warm-blooded’?
Yes, just like mammals, birds are ‘warm-blooded’ or homoeothermic. This
means they can (and must)maintain a constant body temperature of