Science and Inquiry discussion

For October 2018 we will be reading The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Not strictly on topic, but I'm excited about seeing a yellow-billed cuckoo up close & personal night before last. For some odd reason, it flew into one of our living room windows while we were eating dinner & knocked itself silly. It was OK & flew off about 5 minutes later, but generally this species is heard & not seen, even with binoculars when trying hard.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/308/...

I have read this book last year. It is really fascinating.

Oh hurrah - I was out of town and missed voting, but this is the book I would have voted for! Looking forward to it.

I picked this book up a month early. Plenty of time to forget to read it, haha!

But I'm looking forward to learning more about birds. Birding is a huge component of photo-tourism and photo safaris, so I'm hoping that there's a lot of great information on avian intelligence in this book!

Starting it today.

This is one of my favorite books. I learned a lot about birds, which is saying a lot. I’m an avid birder of over 20 years. Nice choice.

Interesting documentary about crows:

https://youtu.be/LF77qpbvkxo

Twelve-year-old Grey parrot vs. toddlers:

https://youtu.be/BG-0Bpe0J34

Alexa and Grey parrot:

https://youtu.be/ewptevBIqNk

The book is fun to read! I am enjoying it.

chickadee video of its song:

https://youtu.be/LfMsUuU9KtQ

I only realized after hearing this video I hear these guys all of the time!

mockingbird audio recording:

https://youtu.be/NNNX3f3_svo

Blue Jay peanut fest and party crashers:

https://youtu.be/-F_knXhHVsc

Scrub jay funeral, just like it mentions in the book:

https://youtu.be/VnVH9gkvBLA

Nightingale audio is gorgeous:

https://youtu.be/INzqozVbYL8

marsh warbler:

https://youtu.be/jF67kXazvAE

And the most amazing bird ever for imitating sounds:

https://youtu.be/mSB71jNq-yQ

The Lyrebird!

These dancing birds compilation had me rotf!

https://youtu.be/wTcfDCjBqV0

https://youtu.be/c2c8IhVRlvo

And then, pretty bird pretty bird!

https://youtu.be/axa5KI06RDE

I found this book very enjoyable and informative. I love birds, but there were many facts I didn't know about them yet.

I'm glad there was a chapter dedicated to pigeons and their ability to orientate themselves. I really think they're underestimated.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "And then, pretty bird pretty bird!

You must have really enjoyed this book. :)

I just finished, and I loved this book. Very easy to read. I had no idea birds could be so talented. The part about the navigation was fascinating; I had heard of the magnetic stuff, but never of the olfactory component.
I have not been around that many birds, but it is amazing the personalities they have. Chickens ... not the smartest of birds ... are still very curious and have distinct and often fun-loving personalities, I have found. So it should be no surprise that smarter birds like crows and parrots can truly be characters. As the author points out, each sparrow has it's own individual personality; they are not like ants!

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "And the most amazing bird ever for imitating sounds:

https://youtu.be/mSB71jNq-yQ

The Lyrebird!"


all these videos are amazing, but this one is unbelievable! The camera shutter clicking, the car alarm, and especially the chain saw ... this creative singer incorporates them all into his concert. Wow! Thanks for sharing

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "And then, pretty bird pretty bird!

https://youtu.be/axa5KI06RDE"
Thank you for posting all those cool videos, I really enjoyed them!

:)

I learned so much from this book and I have been a bird nerd all my life (many decades).

I finished this book a few days ago and really liked it. I thought it was interesting comparing it to the last month's selection on octopuses. Both are fascinating studies of nature, but they're also very different. Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness was a little more whimsical, with an almost childlike joy in the subject. The Genius of Birds certainly displayed a joy in her subject, but it was somewhat more scholarly. Here is my review.

I just finished the book yesterday. What a delight! I looked up on YouTube a few of the videos mentioned in the book. Absolutely amazing! I put links to the videos in my review.