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"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.
This collection of poetry inspires the mind and imagination with memories and images of people, places, and changes over the years. An inspired geologist who loved the earth and it's inhabitants, Eileen often spoke of the blackbirds in her garden. This commemorative edition includes photographs from her family album.
In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be. She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels. The author brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds. Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds. In this fascinating volume, the author also presents recent changes in our understanding of the avian brain and links these to life histories and longevity. Following on from Gisela’s well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, as well as two earlier titles on birds, Bird Minds contends that the unique and often difficult conditions of Australia's environment have been crucial for the evolution of unusual complexities in avian cognition and behaviour.
Got wit? We’ve all been in that situation where we need to say something clever, but innocuous; smart enough to show some intelligence, without showing off; something funny, but not a joke. What we need in that moment is wit—that sparkling combination of charm, humor, confidence, and most of all, the right words at the right time. Elements of Wit is an engaging book that brings together the greatest wits of our time, and previous ones from Oscar Wilde to Nora Ephron, Winston Churchill to Christopher Hitchens, Mae West to Louis CK, and many in between. With chapters covering the essential ingredients of wit, this primer sheds light on how anyone—introverts, extroverts, wallflowers, and bon vivants—can find the right zinger, quip, parry, or retort…or at least be a little bit more interesting.
Colleen Lorrah's childhood in the blended white and Native American cultures of Montana's Crow Indian reservation, was marked by omens that held important clues to her future. Her family was Irish-American, but the multi-generational history between the Lorrahs and tribal members provided her the gift of access and participation in rituals and practices of the tribe. Like many young people from the rural West, a successful executive-level career took Colleen away from her family's sprawling sheep ranch on the Reservation. Only her dying father's mysterious request launches her on a mission to trace the family's Irish history, causing her memories to surface and map her destiny. In The Magpie Odyssey, her epic journey weaves her personal history among the Crow Indians together with ancient beliefs still held in tiny pockets of Ireland. The quest brings her face to face with the Irish struggle for peace and with the mysterious McCumhaill, a shadowy hero whose face has never been seen. He is locked in a battle with those who would create violence and chaos in opposition of peace in Ireland. Events unite them, as their passion for Ireland and for each other reaches a violent and astonishing crescendo.
Got wit? We’ve all been in that situation where we need to say something clever, but innocuous; smart enough to show some intelligence, without showing off; something funny, but not a joke. What we need in that moment is wit—that sparkling combination of charm, humor, confidence, and most of all, the right words at the right time. Elements of Wit is an engaging book that brings together the greatest wits of our time, and previous ones from Oscar Wilde to Nora Ephron, Winston Churchill to Christopher Hitchens, Mae West to Louis CK, and many in between. With chapters covering the essential ingredients of wit, this primer sheds light on how anyone—introverts, extroverts, wallflowers, and bon vivants—can find the right zinger, quip, parry, or retort…or at least be a little bit more interesting.
'Riveting, twisty, page-turning stuff' Guardian A 'best books of 2020' pick for BBC Radio 4 Open Book, the Guardian, the Telegraph and Good Housekeeping 'The page turner you've been looking for. Sly, witty and gripping . . . I devoured it' Naomi Alderman 'An utter joy . . . wonderfully skilled' Sarah Perry 'Beguiling, brilliantly creepy, and an utterly compelling read' Claire Fuller 'Tender, creepy and gripping' Sunday Times 'Spellbinding and spooky . . . a dazzling high wire act, superbly absorbing' Sunday Mirror When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother. But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent? Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one. 'Enthralling . . . creepy and compelling' The Times 'Deliciously dark' Alexandra Shulman 'A gorgeously satisfying triumph' Lucy Mangan 'A rare thing . . . simply stunning' Daily Express 'I was gripped . . . highly original' Alex Clark 'Creepy, suspenseful' Independent 'One of the most intriguing narrators since Notes on a Scandal' Sara Collins 'Grown-up and cleverly written . . . a dizzying sense of uncertainty' Literary Review 'Keeps you guessing . . . a real sense of menace' Good Housekeeping 'Wholly beguiling' Mick Herron 'Dazzlingly good' Diane Setterfield 'Beautiful writing' Polly Samson 'Clever, tense and twisty' Amanda Craig 'Highly intelligent' Sarah Vaughan 'Simply brilliant!' JP Delaney 'Darkly atmospheric' Jane Fallon 'Clever and creepy' Erin Kelly 'Highly recommended' Louise Candlish
“I loved every single page.” —Elton John “The best piece of nature writing since H is for Hawk.” —Neil Gaiman ​In this moving, critically acclaimed memoir, a young man saves a baby magpie as his estranged father is dying, only to find that caring for the mischievous bird saves him. One spring day, a baby magpie falls out of its nest and into Charlie Gilmour’s hands. Magpies, he soon discovers, are as clever and mischievous as monkeys. They are also notorious thieves, and this one quickly steals his heart. By the time the creature develops shiny black feathers that inspire the name Benzene, Charlie and the bird have forged an unbreakable bond. While caring for Benzene, Charlie learns his biological father, an eccentric British poet named Heathcote Williams who vanished when Charlie was six months old, is ill. As he grapples with Heathcote’s abandonment, Charlie comes across one of his poems, in which Heathcote describes how an impish young jackdaw fell from its nest and captured his affection. Over time, Benzene helps Charlie unravel his fears about repeating the past—and embrace the role of father himself. A bird falls, a father dies, a child is born. Featherhood is the unforgettable story of a love affair between a man and a bird. It is also a beautiful and affecting memoir about childhood and parenthood, captivity and freedom, grief and love.
Behold the power of nature with this illustrated field guide to recognizing and understanding the messages that the universe sends us through the birds we see in our daily lives. Birds are all around us—pecking at the sidewalk, perching on a nearby tree branch, flying in the sky above our heads. But have you considered the possibility that there is a deeper meaning behind each blue jay sighting or the call of a hawk? The Hidden Meaning of Birds can help you decipher the special message your avian oracle is trying to share. The Hidden Meaning of Birds isn’t just your typical field guide to birds. In addition to a physical description of a variety of common bird species, it also includes the folklore and unique symbolism associated with each to help you understand the changes these mystical creatures want you to make in your life. A blue jay may be urging you to examine your communication habits. A cardinal may be telling you to stand up for yourself. The list goes on. The illustrations and descriptions are easy to follow along, and it includes beginner terms for both spiritual guidance and bird identification. With this enlightening volume as your inspiration, get ready to reexamine your life from a bird’s eye view—one robin, crow, and hummingbird at a time.
When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself- the creator of the world- she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer? At a time when fantasy readers have an embarrassment of riches in choosing new worlds to fall in love with, this first novel by a fresh, original voice is sure to stand out.