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My Life with Birds, or, How To Make Birds Very Happy, 2nd Ed.
FROM THE AUTHOR:
The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.
-Carly Simon
I love birds- have interacted with pigeons, doves, seagulls, crows, bluebirds, & many others. I’ve rehabilitated injured birds, some for return to the wild. Injured birds seem to find me, inexplicably. I’ve conducted experiments with crows, pigeons & others (e.g., assessing intelligence- crows are nearly as smart as WE are). I currently live with a variety of birds. In another book, Webcam Magic, I discuss (though in a different context) the unnatural & neurotic behavior of many captive animals, such as zoo animals. I wanted to ensure my birds were as well-adjusted as possible in captivity.
My successes (& failures) seemed of great interest to other bird owners & potential bird owners (e.g., in web forums), so I wrote this guide, written simply, mostly like a long letter to a friend, a series of stories. I detail my experiences (experiments, rehabilitation, how I came to acquire captive birds, etc., for an example, see the excerpt below), & provide trial & error accounts of how I manipulated their environment, what worked & what didn’t, what makes them well-adjusted & very happy. It’s about 40 pages, packed with observations about behavior, the personalities of different breeds, how they interact with other breeds, mating habits, nesting, etc.
There are lots of tips on unique activities, toys, etc. Note: my birds are not caged (that is, their cage doors are left open), but the tips included will help captive birds be much happier & healthier too. I also write about allowing your birds to fly free, both in your home & out of doors. In a nutshell, I think you’ll learn things you didn’t know before, things I discovered on my own.
I’ve been gratified & honored to receive email from readers, especially from bird owners in Japan (I include my email address in the book). This 2nd Edition includes some of their thoughtful tips on keeping happy birds.
An excerpt:
In graduate school, I had a job working in a ticket booth on a pier. It was a wonderful job for a student- I sat on a stool in a little booth with a spectacular view, looking out over the ocean, watching ships slowly enter & exit the harbor. The circular booth had a counter, a ledge, about 18” deep, in a semi-circle around the front of the booth, & a similar semi-circular counter inside. I didn’t see people for long stretches of time, & in between reading & studying, I got to know the birds- seagulls & pigeons. They would l& on the counter & clamor for food when I ate my lunch.
There was one pigeon I became especially attached to. I named him Curio. He stood out from the others because he had no feet, just pink scarred nubs. Someone told me that sometimes birds’ feet are burned off on electric power lines, I don’t know. But this bird was at the very bottom of the pecking order. I brought food every day for the birds, & the other birds were intent on denying him a share, which annoyed me. He was an outcast, small, scrawny, just bones, basically. Whenever he’d approach other birds, or food, they would attack him, peck mercilessly at him, even drawing blood. It didn’t look to me like he would survive for long.
I was just beginning to study animal behavior in school, & I wondered if there was anything I could do to help him. Would it be possible to change the pecking order? I asked a professor, & he said no, the behavior is highly instinctive, designed by nature to “weed out” the infirm, like Curio. “It’s for the best,” he opined.
The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.
-Carly Simon
I love birds- have interacted with pigeons, doves, seagulls, crows, bluebirds, & many others. I’ve rehabilitated injured birds, some for return to the wild. Injured birds seem to find me, inexplicably. I’ve conducted experiments with crows, pigeons & others (e.g., assessing intelligence- crows are nearly as smart as WE are). I currently live with a variety of birds. In another book, Webcam Magic, I discuss (though in a different context) the unnatural & neurotic behavior of many captive animals, such as zoo animals. I wanted to ensure my birds were as well-adjusted as possible in captivity.
My successes (& failures) seemed of great interest to other bird owners & potential bird owners (e.g., in web forums), so I wrote this guide, written simply, mostly like a long letter to a friend, a series of stories. I detail my experiences (experiments, rehabilitation, how I came to acquire captive birds, etc., for an example, see the excerpt below), & provide trial & error accounts of how I manipulated their environment, what worked & what didn’t, what makes them well-adjusted & very happy. It’s about 40 pages, packed with observations about behavior, the personalities of different breeds, how they interact with other breeds, mating habits, nesting, etc.
There are lots of tips on unique activities, toys, etc. Note: my birds are not caged (that is, their cage doors are left open), but the tips included will help captive birds be much happier & healthier too. I also write about allowing your birds to fly free, both in your home & out of doors. In a nutshell, I think you’ll learn things you didn’t know before, things I discovered on my own.
I’ve been gratified & honored to receive email from readers, especially from bird owners in Japan (I include my email address in the book). This 2nd Edition includes some of their thoughtful tips on keeping happy birds.
An excerpt:
In graduate school, I had a job working in a ticket booth on a pier. It was a wonderful job for a student- I sat on a stool in a little booth with a spectacular view, looking out over the ocean, watching ships slowly enter & exit the harbor. The circular booth had a counter, a ledge, about 18” deep, in a semi-circle around the front of the booth, & a similar semi-circular counter inside. I didn’t see people for long stretches of time, & in between reading & studying, I got to know the birds- seagulls & pigeons. They would l& on the counter & clamor for food when I ate my lunch.
There was one pigeon I became especially attached to. I named him Curio. He stood out from the others because he had no feet, just pink scarred nubs. Someone told me that sometimes birds’ feet are burned off on electric power lines, I don’t know. But this bird was at the very bottom of the pecking order. I brought food every day for the birds, & the other birds were intent on denying him a share, which annoyed me. He was an outcast, small, scrawny, just bones, basically. Whenever he’d approach other birds, or food, they would attack him, peck mercilessly at him, even drawing blood. It didn’t look to me like he would survive for long.
I was just beginning to study animal behavior in school, & I wondered if there was anything I could do to help him. Would it be possible to change the pecking order? I asked a professor, & he said no, the behavior is highly instinctive, designed by nature to “weed out” the infirm, like Curio. “It’s for the best,” he opined.
28 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 10, 2010
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May 9, 2012
This was more like a small set of interesting blog posts than a book. What was there was good, but it was very short and somewhat light on content.
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February 25, 2016kindle short book 29 pages
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews