A biologist presents the natural history of feathers, applying the findings of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and art historians to answer questions about the origin of feathers, their evolution, and their uses throughout the ages.

Forty million years ago, giant birds that stood thirteen feet tall, weighed over 500 lbs, and had 17 foot wingspans soared over our planet. Today's raptor species are not nearly as large in size but no less exceptional in their behavior. This breathtaking photographic portfolio presents a captivating, original look at these beautiful and tenacious birds of prey. [From publisher's description] This book, full of photographs, addresses the physical...

""There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." This is one scientist's pithy distinction between mammal brains and bird brains: two ways to make a highly intelligent mind. 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...

"Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool―a...

Collects over four hundred watercolor paintings depicting the rapid development of seventeen bird species that live at the author's wildlife sanctuary.

Follows the life cycle of two loon chicks, from breaking out of their eggshells to learning to swim, find food, avoid predators, and finally fly and migrate to the ocean.