A lighthearted and broadly cultural and visual approach to learning everything there is to know about birds, bird-watching, birds in history and the arts, and life on the wing. Short narrative pieces are interspersed with sidebars, quotes, top-ten lists, and how-to instructions. Illustrated with photographs, contemporary and archival art, maps, and diagrams, the book has lots of cross-references and riches to find on every page.

Includes a lively introduction featuring the joys of birds and bird-watching, how birds are everywhere you look, why people enjoy and appreciate them, why they are so amazing and so beloved, and why they have been important to every culture throughout history. Chapters include information on bird anatomy with digressions on feathers, color, beaks, wings, and talons; bird myths, legends, and superstitions; the life cycle of birds, starting with mating behaviors of all sorts of species; early ornithologists; flight and how it works; the basics of bird-watching and how to keep a field-guide; birdhouses, bird feeders, bird baths, bird seed choices, and protecting birds from predator animals in your neighborhood.

• Hardcover
• 416 pages
• 200 color and black-and-white photographs, 150 illustrations, 50 maps
• 7 5/8" x 9 3/4"
• © 2012