Recommendations for books on Ornithology?

[rousseau]

I'm interested in doing some advanced reading on Ornithology. Basically, I already have a heavy science background and am interested in spending some time learning the ins and outs of birds as an evolutionary case study.

Books abound, but I wonder if there are any out there that serve as general over-views, but that are targeted at the scientifically literate and not the novice?

 

[J842P]

Not sure if this will fit your needs, but the Cornell Ornithology book is probably worth a look: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118291050/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

 

[rousseau]

Not sure if this will fit your needs, but the Cornell Ornithology book is probably worth a look: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118291050/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

Thanks. I'll have to see if I can find it's index to see what kind of stuff it covers. I suppose I'm mostly interested in behavior, but if this text has a section on that, it'd probably be even better.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

What you are asking for seems to point to the paleontology of birds. Googling "paleontology of birds, books" pulls up a lot of books on that subject from Amazon. The other aspect of scientific study of birds would be the taxonomy of birds. Of which there seems to be a rather rich subject as far as books go. Or online, there is quite a bit to read. I am not sure how deep you really want to go into all of this, beyond the mere bird watcher books. But there is quite menu to choose from.

 

[rousseau]

I found a free pdf of an ornithology text last night. If it's not ideal, at least it's not 80 dollars. Specifically this one.

 

[rousseau]

What you are asking for seems to point to the paleontology of birds. Googling "paleontology of birds, books" pulls up a lot of books on that subject from Amazon. The other aspect of scientific study of birds would be the taxonomy of birds. Of which there seems to be a rather rich subject as far as books go. Or online, there is quite a bit to read. I am not sure how deep you really want to go into all of this, beyond the mere bird watcher books. But there is quite menu to choose from.

Actually more interested in behavior. Modes of communication, mating, migration patterns, social activity, and all that. Not sure of the term for that area. Behavioral Ornithology maybe?

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

What you are asking for seems to point to the paleontology of birds. Googling "paleontology of birds, books" pulls up a lot of books on that subject from Amazon. The other aspect of scientific study of birds would be the taxonomy of birds. Of which there seems to be a rather rich subject as far as books go. Or online, there is quite a bit to read. I am not sure how deep you really want to go into all of this, beyond the mere bird watcher books. But there is quite menu to choose from.

Actually more interested in behavior. Modes of communication, mating, migration patterns, social activity, and all that. Not sure of the term for that area. Behavioral Ornithology maybe?

Try ornithology monograph.

Monographs tend to be published in journals and specialist publication series. Much of it hard to access for the layman.

Some of the better bird watcher's books may be as good unless you develop a special interest in a specific genus or species. Google ornithological monographs for a peek at the scientific literature on avians. Or there seems to be a lot of online birding sites which might be interesting to peruse.

 

[starwater]

Interesting thread. I too am very interested in birds and I am scientist as well. Based on the above recommendations I found this

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/sab/sab_003.pdf

Which is about bird behavior in a Pine Forest. It's old 1979 - but looks very interesting.

 

[rousseau]

Interesting thread. I too am very interested in birds and I am scientist as well. Based on the above recommendations I found this

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/sab/sab_003.pdf

Which is about bird behavior in a Pine Forest. It's old 1979 - but looks very interesting.

Thanks.

To elaborate a bit on why I'm interested in birds and their behavior, it's because it acts as a microcosm of human behavior. Human society is pretty complex, but when you pare things down to the lives of something like birds you start to see which behaviors are essential and critical to survival and reproduction.

For instance, based on the reading I've done so far most birds have a number of calls, and the brunt of them are used for mating. Makes total sense. And the birds with better communication skills breed more frequently.

Or when you get to breeding you get a formula that looks something like this:

while(isFood)
    breed
endwhile

Sheds some light on child-birth.

The main thing I was curious about was which types of vocalizations were made and why, which really pares down communication to some of it's critical elements, e.g. warnings and mating.