My Snowdrop is rare, he is exotic. He is the most wonderful squirrel in the whole wide world. I want my squirrel back.' The Rose Garden's beloved squirrel, Shikar-Snowdrop to young Mitalee-has vanished without a trace. No one can find him! Last seen in the company of a paradise flycatcher-a stunning bird with a long white tail-he has left no other trail. So, to save their friend, the loyal bird gang must fly to distant forests to track down the glamorous creature, who might just be able to help. Return to the ledges of the fountain in the Rose Garden to read about the enthralling capers of your favourite feathered friends and bird-squirrel as they swap stories of daring and wonder.

'My Snowdrop is rare, he is exotic. He is the most wonderful squirrel in the whole wide world. I want my squirrel back.' The Rose Garden's beloved squirrel, Shikar-Snowdrop to young Mitalee-has vanished without a trace. No one can find him! Last seen in the company of a paradise flycatcher-a stunning bird with a long white tail-he has left no other trail. So, to save their friend, the loyal bird gang must fly to distant forests to track down the glamorous creature, who might just be able to help. Return to the ledges of the fountain in the Rose Garden to read about the enthralling capers of your favourite feathered friends and bird-squirrel as they swap stories of daring and wonder.

This guide profiles 101 garden birds likely to be found in gardens across southern Africa, informing readers about what to look and listen for, and where and when. It is also an inspirational guide to creating a bird-friendly garden that is also a reservoir of biodiversity, wherever you are in the region. With an attractive layout and multiple colour images, it offers the following: Descriptions and photos of 101 garden birds. How to get to know your local species, their feeding, breeding, calls and general behavior. How to design your garden to attract the widest range of birds and other wildlife. The best plants and structures to provide food and shelter for birds. Detailed lists of recommended trees, shrubs, climbers, aloes and grasses.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. “There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries –– What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

An exploration of the causes and patterns of avian vagrancy Avian vagrancy—the appearance of birds outside of their expected habitat—is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries, from Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen to today’s bird-chasing “twitchers.” Yet despite the obsessions of countless ornithologists, what do we actually know about the enigma of vagrancy? In Vagrancy in Birds, Alexander Lees and James Gilroy explore the causes, patterns, and processes behind the occurrences of these unique birds. Lees and Gilroy draw on recent research to answer fundamental questions: What causes avian vagrancy? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors present readers with everything known about the subject, and bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution. Filled with a wealth of photographs, Vagrancy in Birds will fascinate avian enthusiasts everywhere.

"Peregrine falcons are hunters, the fastest creatures in the world. But when Talon is locked in a cage--his wings stilled forever--his mighty heart and spirit are broken. He bemoans the loss of his wings, crooning the song all caged birds sing. No bird or squirrel anywhere in the world would ever dream of rescuing a falcon. But in the Rose Garden lives a squirrel like no other. Shikar the squirrel, a kind-hearted creature, is friends with the birds of the garden. His tiny heart bleeds for Talon and the terrible fate that has befallen him. And late one night, Shikar and his bird friends mount a daring rescue attempt."--Page [4] of cover.