How to be a Bad Birdwatcher: To the Greater Glory of Life by Simon Barnes

By Simon Barnes

Glance out of the window. See a chicken. get pleasure from it. Congratulations. you're now a foul birdwatcher. somebody who has ever gazed up on the sky or stared out of the window is familiar with anything approximately birds. during this humorous, inspiring, eye-opening booklet, Simon Barnes paints a riveting photograph of the way bird-watching has framed his existence and will aid us all to a greater realizing of our position on the earth. easy methods to be a nasty birdwatcher indicates why birdwatching isn't the safeguard of twitchers, yet one of many least difficult, most cost-effective and so much lucrative interests round.

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Extra resources for How to be a Bad Birdwatcher: To the Greater Glory of Life

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327 8 Black-­headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 38–43 cm. Palearctic vagrant to harbors and sewage ponds. Nonbreeding plumage with white head marked with black smudges around eye and on ear-­coverts. Juv similar but with black markings on upperparts. Breeding plumage with blackish-­brown head.  327 9 Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae 38–43 cm. Occasional AU visitor to S coast. Adult has all-­white head and bright red bill and legs. ” Juv similarly white-­headed, but with dark bill and legs and black markings on upperparts.

Huttoni, rare in Coral Sea during austral winter, similar but slightly larger and with a dark, almost complete breast band. 52 11 Herald Petrel Pterodroma heraldica 34–39 cm. Rare visitor. Much variation. All morphs have a distinctive underwing pattern with white panel on the outer wing that contrasts with the mostly dark coverts.  274 12 Streaked Shearwater Calonectris leucomelas 48 cm. Abundant Palearctic migrant in austral summer. A large, slender-­bodied, brownish shearwater with white underparts.

CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, AU. Diamond, J. M. 1972. Avifauna of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. Nuttall Club Publication #12, Cambridge, MA, USA. Dickinson, E. , and J. V. Remsen Jr. ). 2013. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4th ed. Vol. 1, Non-­passerines. Aves Press, Eastbourne, UK. Edwards, S. , and W. E. Boles. 2002. Out of Gondwana: The origin of passerine birds. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:347–348. , K. Kampp, K. Winker, and C. B.

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