The Bird Way

A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think

By: Jennifer Ackerman

Narrated by: Jennifer Ackerman

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think.

“There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” 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 lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play.

Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter.

Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

I learned so much I'll have to read it again

I follow birds, but I don't usually read about them. I have a deck full of bird feeders and photographs of all the birds who live and breed in our woods, but until I read this book, I don't think I understood them. Now, I feel as if I do. This book is packed with information to such a degree that it will take more than one reading to get it all sorted out.

For anyone who is into birding, this is a great book. I'm going to have to check out the author's other books. I have to admit, even though I read a lot of nonfiction, this book surprised me by being a LOT better than I imagined. The author's a pretty good narrator, too.

loved it

I don't often leave reviews, but this book was noteworthy for me. I feared it might be too similar to the author's other title The Genius of Birds, but it was not. There was little crossover, so nearly everything I heard was new information to me. I loved the variety of birds that were covered, and I was especially fascinated by the brood parasitic birds and the communal raising of chicks. The final words at the end of the book struck me deeply. A great thanks goes out to the author for creating this work.

A very inspirational and motivational book. Animals and all other creatures on this green pearl floating around the sun need

All fellow souls whether the tiniest or the gargantuan amongst us need a voice to speak for them until we make the effort to learn their language.

Marvelous book

Every page of this book captivated me. Serious science told as a lively conversation . I hope it inspires readers to become bird nerds and truly study these miraculous creatures .

Unadulterated bird love!

I loved this book! So many myths busted and confirmed my long held belief that birds are brilliant.