Selected by Forbes.com as one of the 12 best books about birds and birding in 2016 This much-anticipated third edition of the Handbook of Bird Biology is an essential and comprehensive resource for everyone interested in learning more about birds, from casual bird watchers to formal students of ornithology. Wherever you study birds your enjoyment will be enhanced by a better understanding of the incredible diversity of avian lifestyles. Arising from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology and authored by a team of experts from around the world, the Handbook covers all aspects of avian diversity, behaviour, ecology, evolution, physiology, and conservation. Using examples drawn from birds found in every corner of the globe, it explores and distills the many scientific discoveries that have made birds one of our best known - and best loved - parts of the natural world. This edition has been completely revised and is presented with more than 800 full color images. It provides readers with a tool for life-long learning about birds and is suitable for bird watchers and ornithology students, as well as for ecologists, conservationists, and resource managers who work with birds. The Handbook of Bird Biology is the companion volume to the Cornell Lab’s renowned distance learning course, Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology.

The first comprehensive review of all aspects of the biology of moult, drawing information from across the literature and in all birds, from penguins to passerines. Feathers are amazing structures unique to birds and, for a variety of reasons, they need to be renewed periodically as a whole in a process called moult. During this process, all of the functions of plumage are impaired and most aspects of a bird's life are affected. Every moult determines a bird's appearance anew, and restores plumage efficacy for flight and insulation. Moult profoundly affects physiology and the organization of the annual cycle, and it constrains reproduction and migration. Given these major impacts, which are equal to the other annual challenges of reproduction and migration, it is surprising that research on moult has largely been so neglected a subject. Lukas Jenni and Raffael Winkler have brought together the widely scattered results of studies on the processes and consequences of moult in birds. This book opens with an overview of the functions of plumage, and of feather maintenance and feather wear, and then introduces the two functions of moult: replacement of worn feathers and adjustment of plumage characteristics and appearance. The body of the book then examines feather-growth and the physiology, energetics and control of moult, and how various other physiological processes interact with moult and may compensate for its costs. Significantly, the authors explain how variations in moult and feather quality affect a bird's overall plumage quality, and they highlight the resulting consequences in terms of physical performance, appearance and signalling. Finally, there is a review of all the various solutions that birds have developed to fit moult into the annual cycle. This long-awaited book covers for the first time all aspects of the biology of moult and fills an important gap in the literature, completing our understanding of how the most important annual events in a bird's life fit together into a coherent whole. It draws on a wide range of information – from penguins to small passerines, from raptors to wildfowl – to highlight the variety of the subject and to pinpoint the many gaps in our knowledge along with avenues for fruitful further research.

"Things are going wrong with our environment," writes John Terborgh, "even the parts of it that are nominally protected. If we wait until all the answers are in, we may find ourselves in a much worse predicament than if we had taken notice of the problem earlier. By waiting, one risks being too late; on the other hand, there can be no such thing as being too early." Terborgh's warnings are essential reading for all who care about migratory birds and our natural environment. Why are tropical migrant species disappearing from our forests? Can we save the birds that are left? Terborgh takes a more comprehensive view of migratory birds than is usual--by asking how they spend their lives during the half-year they reside in the tropics. By scrutinizing ill-planned urban and suburban development in the United States and the tropical deforestation of Central and South America, he summarizes our knowledge of the subtle combination of circumstances that is devastating our bird populations. This work is pervaded by Terborgh's love for the thrushes, warblers, vireos, cuckoos, flycatchers, and tanagers that inhabited his family's woodland acreage while he was growing upbirds that no longer live there, in spite of the preservation of those same woods as part of a county park. The book is a tour of topics as varied as ecological monitoring, the plight of the Chesapeake wetlands, the survival struggle of Central American subsistence farmers, and the management of commercial forests.

Biology of Marine Birds provides the only complete summary of information about marine birds ever published. It analyzes their breeding biology, ecology, taxonomy, evolution, fossil history, physiology, energetics, and conservation. The book covers four orders of marine birds in detail and includes two summary chapters that address the biology of shorebirds and wading birds and their lives in the marine environment. Summary tables give detailed information on various aspects of their life histories, breeding biology, physiology and energetics, and demography. It provides a guide to ornithologists and students for research projects.

In Book of Birds: Introduction to Ornithology, John Faaborg, renowned expert on avian ecology and conservation, brings a fresh and accessible sensibility to the study of ornithology. In this beautifully illustrated volume, Faaborg’s approachable writing style will engage students and birders alike while introducing them to the study of the evolution, taxonomy, anatomy, physiology, diversity, and behavior of birds. With its unique focus on ecology, the text emphasizes birds’ relationships with the environment and other species while showing the amazing diversity of avian life. Faaborg pays special attention to the roles that competition, community structure, and reproductive behavior play in the astonishingly varied and interesting lives of birds seen around the world. He discusses variations in anatomy, morphology, and behavior; explains why such vast diversity exists; and explores the ways in which different birds can share the same spaces. Artist Claire Faaborg brings the science behind this diversity to life through her unique, hand-drawn artwork throughout the book. Combining vibrant visuals and knowledgeable insights, Book of Birds offers readers a firm foundation in the field of ornithology and an invaluable resource for understanding birds from an ecological and evolutionary perspective.

This is the first book to summarize the methods, conceptual issues and results of studies using the interpretation of feather growth rates as an index of nutritional condition in birds. The author has coined the term ptilochronology (literally, 'the study of feather time') to describe this technique, which relies on the fact that as a feather grows it produces visible growth bars. Both the technique and its conceptual foundations have been applied worldwide to numerous studies ofavian evolution, ecology, and conservation biology. The author reviews this work, chronicles the various criticisms that have been made, and describes how these have influenced the development of ptilochronology. He goes on to suggest experimental methodologies and analytical techniques to safeguardagainst invalid results. A final chapter summarises this new technique's contribution to avian biology, and suggests potential applications and a future research agenda. An appendix details specific measurements and describes the methodology associated with ptilochronology.Ptilochronology provides a practical resource as well as a conceptual understanding of how this technique can be used to address important questions in avian biology. It will be of relevance and use to professional avian biologists and ornithologists as well as to graduate students of avian behavioural ecology, evolution and conservation.