Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History, from Cave Art to Conservation

by Tim Birkhead

Award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes us on an epic and dazzling journey through this mutual history with birds.

Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art and philosophy, from the ibises mummified by Ancient Egyptians and Renaissance experiments on the woodpecker to the Victorian obsessions with egg collecting and our present fight to save endangered species.
Weaving in stories from his own life as a scientist, this rich and fascinating book is the culmination of a lifetime's research and unforgettably shows how birds shaped us, and how we have shaped them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Birds, History, Science, Animals, Natural History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2022

About the author

Tim Birkhead is an award-winning author and one of the world’s leading bird biologists. He is the coauthor of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin (Princeton) and the author of The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist, The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, and Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, among other books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[BookishWordish · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Us' seems to focus on the British primarily, then Europe generally. Followed by America. A decent focus on Mexican and South American birds, particularly the quetzal. But it is a bit frustrating sometimes, as an Australian reader, to have your entire country (filled with birds!) mentioned in passing about thrice.

Though I do concede that including literally all birds in all places would be impossible.

I was a bit surprised by the total lack of pigeon-related content? EG messengers, racing, pigeon fanciers etc. They were one the first domesticated birds, as far as I know, and it seems odd not to include more about them??

I also could have done with less biographical detail about long-dead scientists. Would have enjoyed reading more about bird-related cultures (eg Mongolian eagle hunting).

THAT BEING SAID the various illustrations were beautiful, and I did learn a lot. Highlights include Magdalena and Oskar Heinroth, who were fascinating. Also the reason some nightjars are called 'goatsucker' birds. I am much better informed about 'study skins' than I ever expected to be, and likewise I never knew people were so keen on eating flamingo tongue.

Also, Aristotle: 'The thinness or weakness of of certain birds' legs, he tells us, makes them prone to copulation, adding that 'this applies also to human beings.' As he explains, this is because the nourishment that was intended for the legs is diverted into semen. Because of their short, thick legs, raptors- he says- do not copulate very frequently." TOP NOTCH STUFF.

[Julie Stielstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful read! This bird nerd was enchanted from the opening chapter describing a visit to a shallow cave in Spain, the walls adorned with hundreds of birds - silhouettes in ochre and yellow skillful enough to be identified as to species, from 8000 years ago. Birkhead starts there, and takes us on a varied and wide-ranging trip through millennia, continents (largely Eurocentric, but with attention to areas of the New World and northern Africa), the arts, and the studies of a number of bird-obsessed people, to illustrate how birds and people have affected each other. He is an expert and genial host, weaving his own passion and experiences with birds (the man cheerfully admits he loves the smell of seabird shit - his words) in with tales of Darwin, medieval falconry and cookery, princely Egyptian hunting, resplendent South American costume, egg collectors, artists, ornithologists, and conservationists. He is attentive to ethical issues - the effects of the Europeans on indigenous people, Faroese whale hunting, wholesale bird killing for the sake of study skins, and human disruption of habitat and climate change. As a young student, he almost went to art school, and his appreciation for the artistic aspect of birds as subjects is lovely, though I was disappointed that he didn't mention my all-time favorite bird artist: the brilliant Edward Lear... yes, that Edward Lear of the owl and the pussycat and "There once was a man with a beard...," whose paintings of parrots take your breath away. (see The Natural History of Edward Lear) I was also pleased to find a kindred soul who openly admires Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

A wonderful read - highly recommended. And boy, would I love to go birding with him.

EDITED TO ADD: Because I liked this book so much, I googled up Birkhead's email and sent him an effusive fan message. This morning I got a lovely, warm reply, thanking me and answering several of my questions and comments. I love when that happens! I'm adding a star just for that.

[Jasper VDS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heerlijk enthousiast.
Toegankelijk genoeg om te lezen als nieuwkomer in de wereld van ornithologie en overweldigend genoeg om te herlezen.

[Reuben · Rating 3 out of 5]

some genuinely interesting moments, but would be better off called ‘Natural History and the White European Man’

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birkhead follows presents engaging highlights from the history of birds with art and science running side by side. The art runs through surprisingly sophisticated cave art, Turner's less-known bird images, Blackburn's sad sketches of cuckoos ousting the rightful fledglings, and a look at an intriguing painting of woodpeckers by sixteen-year-old Froschel, who painted for the Medici and Aldrovandi. The book travels fairly widely, with intriguing sections on India and Mexico. Birkhead also spends a fair amount of time, sometimes a long time, on Birkhead's own research. But it is fitting and mostly interesting to learn about the author's own relationship with birds. Parts of the last chapter could have been more filled out or left out For instance, his one-paragraph discussion of the possible limitation of indigenous ways of seeing nature is awfully abrupt and unconvincing.

[Peter Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an attempt to write a comprehensive history of the interaction of birds and man, Birkhead falls short with a hodge-podge assembly of sporadic history and personal stories. I found segments of this book to be interesting; particularly chapter 8, The End of God in Birds: Darwin and Onithology. I think Birkhead set his sights too wide, leaving more to desire but providing compelling tidbits nonetheless. Overall 3 stars because he doesn’t do what he intended, but produced a semi-entertaining book.

[Boria Sax · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memoir, not a history

This book is more a memoir of the author’s life as an ornithologist than a history. It is informative and engagingly written, but, apart from the broad subject of ornithology, has no unifying theme.

[Henri Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lezenswaardig verhaal over hoe de aandacht voor vogels zich door de eeuwen heen ontwikkelde tot de ornithologie van de 21e eeuw. Niet een ‘page-turner’ en soms kabbelt het verhaal door de hoofdstukken heen met een opsomming van personen, feiten en gebeurtenissen. De beschrijving van de El Tajo-grot en de daarin aanwezige tekeningen is boeiend. Het hoofdstuk over de vogelvangst op de Faeröer en St Kilda - naar huidige maatstaven onverteerbaar- schetst een beeld van het leven van de eilandbewoners dat zwaar was en hoe afhankelijk zij voor hun voedselvoorziening waren van vogels. Leuk is de beschrijving van de poging die gedaan is om degenen die zich met vogels bezighouden, in categorieën in te delen en de definitie van de ‘subclans’. Variërend van wetenschappers, ornithologen, vogelliefhebbers, vogelspotters, vogelaars, soortenjagers tot ‘dudes’ en roodborstjesknuffelaars, met daarbij de verschillen en de overlap tussen de categorieën.

[Madelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting! Birkhead’s aim with this book is very compelling; he asks his audience to use scientific knowledge and compassionate empathy to take care of birds (and the planet at large). His sense of humor and the dramatics of ornithological history make the book enjoyable throughout. I’d definitely recommend the audiobook, as it is read by Birkhead himself and includes birdcalls at the beginning of each chapter!

My only critique is that the book supports a Eurocentric view of the history of humankind’s relationship with birds. While Birkhead explicitly condemns European colonization throughout history, he primarily discusses European history and only touches on the history of other countries/places if they have been connected to Europe (especially Britain) in some way. I would have been fine with this, as European history seems to be what he knows the most about, if he had clarified his focus somewhere in the book. However, it is erroneously presented as a worldwide review of his subject. To fill this gap, I’d recommend seeking out similar works by scholars in other parts of the world.

[RobdawgReads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not finish the audiobook- stopped at 59%. However, I give it two stars for being about birds and for imparting some interesting information in the first few chapters.

This is such a eurocentric discussion of birds. It's basically a historical overview of Britain's discoveries in relation to birds. It is informative but quite dry. How can you write a book about birds and not mention any tropic regions apart from quetzals in Central America?! These are the areas in the world with the greatest diversity in birds! I did some of my PhD research on Taumako Island in the Solomon islands where the entire exchange system was focused on "red feather money" obtained from a tiny honey eating bird endemic to the region! And what about how humans interacted with birds endemic to Africa (Apart from Egypt), New Zealand, Antarctica, China, and Southeast Asia in general?! I was hoping to learn about all the different ways human groups AROUND THE WORLD incorporated birds into their lifeways, belief systems, and cultures.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book, focusing on how humans have thought about, classified, ate, wondered about and worshipped birds is really captivating. But as the book goes on the story becomes more and more personal, outlining the author's personal relationship to birds and ornithological scholarship. It's not a bad thing -- it's exactly what I would write where I in the author's position -- but I didn't expect this book to take that turn. Having said that, it's all quite well written.

And, as you can imagine with this sort of thing, the "12,000-Year History" starts 12,000 years ago and jumps to 2,000 years ago quite quickly...

[Helena Prata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este livro reúne três das minhas maiores paixões: História, Arte e Ciências (especialmente ornitologia). Adorei a forma como o autor conseguiu relacionar a História humana com as aves, a nossa evolução de caçadores, para colecionadores de espécimes raros, penas e ovos em gabinetes de curiosidades até ao surgimento da "empatia" e vontade de proteção, de forma termos um futuro em comum...

O amor do autor pelas aves marinhas, especialmente os airos, assim como as pequenas histórias pessoais que vai partilhando, tornam a experiência de leitura muito enriquecedora, tornando-se difícil parar de ler.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all of Tim Birkheads books, a nice blend of science with some personal anecdotes and a lost of history. Best to keep a device nearby if you wwant to check out the artists and works mentioned in the book, and the various birds depicted

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting but not exactly a page-turner

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a more accessible version of The Most Perfect Thing: Inside and Outside a Bird's Egg. It expands on the historical context for birding and how naturalists became what they are today, while "The Most Perfect Thing" focuses on guillemots, their reproductive habits, the internal structure of their eggs, and how and why they look the way they look. It also explains the specifics of how they were hunted almost to extinction, and their eggs collected without much regard for the survival of the species. In this book that's mostly explained in chapter 7, and the specifics of egg morphology aren't part of it. Since that was what I enjoyed most in the other book, I found this one slightly less enjoyable, but not less worth reading.

If you're more interested in the general study of nature and natural history, you'll prefer this book. I can also recommend The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World. If you feel like enduring a lot of racist comments from Darwin himself, the Voyage of the Beagle is, of course, a first-hand account of it.

If, however, you'd rather zero into birds and how they work, "The Most Perfect Thing" is a must-read (did you know the spots on eggshells are effectively 3D-printed??). Also wonderful are Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle, White Feathers: The Nesting Lives of Tree Swallows and anything Jennifer Ackerman has ever written.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a couple problems with this book. The first is the title. It leads the reader to think it's a cultural survey that might even try to be global when it's at least 75% about the development of ornithology in Europe. And while I have nothing against that topic, I did not pick this book up with that in mind and so spent all but the first two and a half chapters feeling disappointed and frustrated.

The second problem I had was that I did not think it was a particularly good book about the development of ornithology - it just didn't stay focused on its topic well. There were quite a few digressions into non-bird topics (including, and not for the first time, pages explaining Darwin as if he's some minor figure of curiosity, and brief sermons on the way European colonizers did not respect indigenous culture as if a few paragraphs might absolve the book from having very little to say that didn't involve Europe. Or maybe it was in the hopes of later excusing Birkhead's own dismissal of indigenous ways of knowing.) and a lot of tangentially related personal tales from Birkhead. He spent a lot of time detailing the lives of male birders while women's names were rarely more than dropped in passing. (If I am understanding correctly, he and two women were working on related Ph.D. projects for their advisor, and he did nothing more than mention their names though we learned about his work in detail!) Frequently, he'd bring up points as if to start developing them into a larger story or conclusion, then move on so abruptly that I'd wonder if I missed something. There are a lot of amazing writers about birds right now. This book does not make me want to give more time to Birkhead and his earlier books.

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een beetje saai bij tijden. De eerste hoofdstukken en het laatste zijn de beste. Ging teveel over ornithologen en hun (soms boeiende en/of tragische) levens en te weinig over vogels. Had bijvoorbeeld wat meer te weten willen komen over bijv. hoe de prehistorische mensen kippen temden, hoe we zelf leerden te vliegen door naar vogels te kijken, of over vogelsymboliek of mythische vogels als de feniks, harpij of roc. Ook erg georiënteerd op GB. Een betere titel zou zijn geweest "Vogels en ornithologen".

De fabel(studie) dat katten (in Amerika) dagelijks (!) 10 miljoen vogels doden komt ook nog even om de hoek kijken. Ik heb het geciteerde onderzoek opgezocht (Loss et al 2013). Het onderzoek is tot stand gekomen door rekenschattingen te maken van samengevoegde schattingen van andere niet evidence-based studies. Sleutelwoord hier is "schattingen" (estimates). Het is in geen enkel opzicht een evidence-based studie. Ik kan ook een schatting maken: uitgaand van mijn eigen 2 katten, waarvan de een 0 vogels per jaar vangt en de ander gemiddeld 2, met een gedeeld gemiddelde van 1 vogel per jaar per kat, vermenigvuldig ik dit aantal met het aantal katten in Nederland (2.9 miljoen) en doe een net zo slecht onderbouwde conclusie dat katten in Nederland dagelijks minder dan 8000 vogels doden. Ter vergelijking, als mijn Wim en Joris representatief zijn voor alle katten (de onderzoekers van Loss et al lumpsummen immers ook alle katten) zouden katten in Amerika (totale aantal 58 miljoen) in plaats van 10 miljoen, 158.000 vogels per jaar doden. Ik wil benadrukken dat mijn "studie" of schatting nét zoveel (of weinig) onderbouwing heeft als dat van Loss et al.
Birkhead schrijft in zijn boek over de Vermin Acts van 1533 die de Tudors gebruikten om de onvrede en potentiele rellen van Engelse boeren te smoren door o.a. vogels de schuld te geven van de honger(snood), en niet de hoge belastingen. In mijn eigen provincie zijn ze weer begonnen met het vermoorden van marters, omdat deze de weidevogels zouden doen uitsterven, in plaats van dat de bioindustrie, het stikstofprobleem, bestrijdingsmiddelen en megaboerenbedrijven dat doen. Triest.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has a book ever left you so flabbergasted you don't know where to start?

This was one of my most anticipated books on my TBR and also, now, one of my most disappointing. I am a historian and birdwatcher and could not think of anything more interesting than the development of ornithology and the origins of birds in art. Some of the chapters were everything I hoped for - informative, accessible, full of interesting bird facts - but as the book progressed, these seemed few and far between.

This is really three books Frankensteined together. One is a history of natural science so general that it veers into inaccuracy, one is a memoir, and one is actually about birds. I love a cross-genre read when it is done well and accepts that its meandering, untraditional structure is part of its charm. But this book tries so hard to be a comprehensive history and chronological timeline that it misses the mark.

A quick highlight of some of the insane things in this book, some enjoyable and some so jaw-dropping that I can't believe they ended up in print:
- says Early Modern people knew nothing about medicine and they didn't bother investigating why anything worked
- includes reproductions of a Victorian man's self-insert erotic bird art
- dedicates almost the entire chapter on ancient Rome to how he thinks flamingo tongue would taste if he ever ends up eating it
- says we don't know enough about Mesoamerican civilizations to elaborate on their bird mummies in the book (??)
- says Indigenous medicines wouldn't be able to cure Covid so maybe they aren't as great as the scientific method (????????)

tldr; what the hell I just wanted to learn more about the history of bird studies why did this end up feeling like a fever dream

[Kiril Valchev · Rating 5 out of 5]

" Birds and Us ", от английския орнитолог Тим Бъркхед, е историята на постоянно еволюиращото ни отношение към птиците. От дълговековен извор на протеини, украшения и инженерни идеи, през вдъхновение за религията и науката, до осъзнаването на нуждата им от закрила..., от самите нас. Прелитайки през хилядолетията, ще посетите изрисуваните през неолита стени на пещера в Андалусия, ще се запознаете с някои от религиозните практики на древния Египет, ще срещнете първите наченки на научна мисъл в Елада и Рим, ще разчепкате Гоблена от Байо и соколарството, ще отскочите до Ренесанса за няколко урока по анатомия, ще зърнете зараждането на орнитологията, ще се впуснете в диви приключения с обсебената от колекционерска страст и решена да опише и класифицира всичко викторианска епоха, ще се сблъскате с всепроникващата велика идея на Дарвин, Уолъс и сие, ще станете свидетели на възникването на етологията, ще бъдете проглушени от птичата гълчава на Фарьорските о-ви и, най-важното, ще останете поразени от красотата и силата на един от най-величествените клони на Дървото на живота.

[Jared Cobain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, a little bit dry but some good tories. Admittedly more about the history of the study of birds in Europe and North America, with many biographies of scientists with personal information about them thrown in (why did i need to know about the loveless marriages of 3 seperate birders?! ) i had expected more about the birds themselves but appreciate the author's attempt at conveying this scientific history

[Erinn Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read in parts, but I feel misled by the title and blurb. I went in expecting something wider in scope; instead, this reads more like a book about conservation with a heavy biographical emphasis and a small handful of Eurocentric avian "fun facts" thrown in for good measure. 12,000 years is a long period to cover, and this book barely even scraped the surface. Bit of a letdown!

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh. There was much here to enjoy. For me, the book really bogged down in the Faroe Islands and whilst covering various English naturalists from the olden times. In other words, where Birkhead has done academic scholarship or has interests. The title promises a breadth of coverage that isn't possible for one book so I shouldn't have raised expectations.

At any rate, birds are awesome.

[Jente Ottenburghs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book that traces our relationship with birds, from Paleolithic art to our current conservation efforts. A bit too much history-focused for my taste (I prefer the bird-books by Birkhead), but still a great read.

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read.

[Michiel Mestdagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Op de cover… je moet wel een mussenbrein hebben wil je niet vallen voor deze geschiedenis van vogelaars en natuurgekken… prachtig. Toevoeging: d’accord!

[Jerry Hillyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It was brilliant, passionate, and honest. I simply have nothing bad to say about it. Well done.

[Maz · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much to learn! I think I lost interest slightly around the middle during the discussion of the Victorians etc, but it won me back again by the end.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Us" is British. No mention of Asian or African countries, and little of South America of even the US. Still good info!

[Book Time with Elvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic!!

[Elliot Condous · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers a lot of ground and has some interesting stories and info, but Birkhead keeps going on tangents that hold the book back.