Field Guide to the Birds of the ACT by McComas Taylor

$27.50 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

This revised second edition of the popular Field Guide to the Birds of the ACT illustrates in colour all the birds likely to be seen in and near the ACT. It has easy-to-follow descriptions in a compact format. Only local birds are shown making this Field Guide much simpler to use than comprehensive nati onal guides. ...Show more

Field Guide to the Trees of the ACT

$27.50 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

EUCALYPTS OF THE SYDNEY REGION A BUSHWALKERS GUIDE by LEONARD GARY

$27.95 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Designed to fit into the backpack of bushwalkers, students, botanists, field ecologists and foresters, Eucalypts of the Sydney Region describes the most common eucalypt species found in the Sydney region (from Newcastle and Nowra and west beyond Katoomba). Each species description comes with a distribut ion map, line drawings of buds and fruit, a coloured photograph of the bark and a diagram indicating growth habit. Species are grouped to assist with easy identification and comparison with similar species. The book avoids the use of specialist botanical terms, is designed for non-technical enthusiasts, and contains a wealth of detail for those wishing to become familiar with individual eucalypt species. ...Show more

Nature's Explorers - Adventurers Who Recorded the Wonders of the Natural World by Natural History Natural History Museum

$40.00 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Nature's Explorers celebrates the individuals who made great personal endeavours to document the natural world. Superb artworks and photographs spanning three centuries have been chosen to illustrate each essay. From ground-breaking theorists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace to evocativ e artists like Ferdinand Bauer and John James Audubon, these explorers shared an ambition to illuminate new worlds and each embodied the spirit of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. It was not until the early eighteenth century that artists were included on such expeditions, they were called upon to illustrate the new flora and fauna they discovered and in doing so were also able to provide new insights from social, cultural and historical perspectives. ...Show more

DIY Chicken Keeping Projects from Fresh Eggs Daily - 40+ Projects for the Coop, Run, Brooder, and More! by Lisa Steele

$29.99 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Build a better life for your chickens Join Lisa Steele, chicken keeper extraordinaire and founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, to learn how to build just about everything you might need for your coop, run, or farmhouse kitchen. Whether you're a DIY novice looking for an easy win or a more experienced builder lo oking for chicken-specific projects, you've come to the right place The chapters are packed with a variety of ideas, covering every skill level: The Basics Lisa will tell you what tools you absolutely need, the ins and outs of pallets, and a few special skills, like how to transfer lettered designs to wood. Quick and Easy Projects Get started with projects that take minutes or hours, not days From a decorative cutting board coop sign and paned window coop mirror to more functional projects like a clothespin herb drying rack and dropping board, you're sure to find the right starter project. Handy Projects Ready to take on a slightly more challenging build? Try the removable coop ladder roost, boot tree stand, feed dolly, chick-sized jungle gym, or chicken-proof herb garden. Pallet Projects What's better than DIY projects? DIY projects made from free wood Use pallets in all forms (whole, partial, and boards) for the projects in this chapter. Make a coop tool holder, chick roosting bar, swinging bench, feeding station, coop shutters, compost bin, and so much more. Weekend Projects More time doesn't necessarily mean frustrating or too difficult. The ambitious, yet easy-to-follow, projects in this chapter include a sliding barn coop door, a-frame integration pen, and a roadside egg stand. No matter what you need for the coop--or what your chickens might want you to build first --you're sure to have fun as you create a coop and run that's the envy of your neighbor's flock. ...Show more

World's Best Birdsongs: The Songs and Calls of 80 Iconic Species by Hannu Jannes

$24.99 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Listening to birdsong provides a huge amount of pleasure to people all around the world, but which species are the most melodious and produce the best songs?   Hannu J nnes has created this beautifully illustrated and very useful book and App combination, bringing together 70 species with the most remarkable voices from around the world. These include the melodious high-quality tunes of the Common Nightingale and Wood Thrush, the splendid mimicry of the Northern Mockingbird and Superb Lyrebird, the far-carrying 'boom' of the Eurasian Bittern, and the quirky 'popping' of the Black-bellied Bustard.   Listening to their performances will provide the perfect inspiration to get out of bed early and take in the next dawn chorus. ...Show more

Birds of Prey of Australia - A Field Guide 3ed. by Stephen Debus

$44.99 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Provides a field guide to Australia's iconic raptors and a handbook of our current knowledge. Raptors are popular and iconic birds, and are important ecologically, with some species listed as threatened. Yet they are among the most difficult birds to identify. This fully updated Third Edition of the pop ular and award-winning field guide Birds of Prey of Australia contains two sections: a field guide with distribution maps, detailed illustrations and information on identification; and a handbook which includes an overview of the current knowledge about raptors, including their biology, ecology and behaviour. An illustrated section on difficult-to-distinguish species pairs is also included, along with new photographs. Birds of Prey of Australia will appeal to a wide range of readers, including ornithologists, raptor biologists, birdwatchers, wildlife rescuers/carers, raptor rehabilitators, zookeepers, naturalists, bushwalkers, ecological consultants, fauna authorities, park rangers, state forestry personnel and students. ...Show more

Bird Love by Wenfei Tong; Mike Webster (Consultant Editor)

$49.99 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Exploring the sex life of birds and their wide range of mating and parenting habits, Bird Love gives you a detailed insight into bird family life. More than 90 percent of birds appear to be monogamous, but beneath the surface there is a huge variety of mating systems in play, from temporary monogamy an d extra pair mating to multiple partners for either sex, with some species switching between these as their circumstances change. Discover the amazing array of courtship techniques employed by birds around the world: male bowerbirds construct extravagant galleries to attract females ospreys bring gifts of food in exchange for sex male skylarks perform simultaneous aerial and vocal acrobatics to impress females the practice of lekking, where males in a species such as grouse gather to display to females, who then complete reproduction solo, from nesting to raising chicks. Learn how male ornament is used as a sign of quality: when a long-tailed widowbird in East Africa shows off his immaculate 16-inch long tail, he is advertising the quality of his genes. Having somewhere safe to bring up chicks is paramount, and a male with impressive building skills or a nest in a prime location will attract a mate. Bird nests shown here range from nothing but a bare branch on which white terns lay their unshielded egg, to the enormous mud and stick mounds constructed by hamerkops. Taking security to the extreme, female hornbills seal themselves in to their tree hollow nests, relying on their mates to deliver food through a narrow slit. But it's not all about males seeking to impress or dominate females: sex roles can be reversed, and the book includes examples such as the black coucal, whose females are 70% bigger than males, sing to defend territories, and leave the males to perform all childcare duties. The limited availability of nest holes for the eclectus parrots of Melanesia means that females fight each other to secure a home, and the winner may have up to seven mates. Which partner looks after the chicks can depend on the population's male-female ratio, and either sex can desert the nest in search of further matings to secure another clutch of chicks. The different levels of parental care are revealed, such as preferential feeding, allowing an insurance chick to die, and how songbirds teach their young to sing their species-specific song. Harsh habitats can make group breeding the best means of survival, and many species have more than two adults per nest, helping to bring food, deter predators or tend young. Brood parasitism, where birds such as cuckoos and cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests, is a strange and fascinating concept, and the book explores how these species have evolved to delegate all parental care. Alongside, it also shows how host species have developed a wide range of tactics to defend their nests and their own families or to make the best of bringing up an impostor. The essential insight to bird family life, Bird Love is richly illustrated with stunning colour photographs, and regular Backyard Bird boxes in each chapter showcase familiar species from around the world.   ...Show more

The Birds At My Table: Why we feed wild birds and why it matters by Darryl Jones

$27.99 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

Darryl Jones is fascinated by bird feeders. Not the containers supplying food to our winged friends, but the people who fill the containers, scatter the crumbs or seeds, or leave the picnic scraps behind for the birds. Here, Jones takes us on a wild flight through the history of bird feeding as he ponde rs this odd but seriously popular form of interaction between humans and wild animals. Jones digs at the deeper issues and questions of the practice of bird feeding, as he raises our awareness of the things we don't yet know and why we really should. This beautifully written and engaging books reveals that what at first seems to be a niche topic - humans feeding wild birds - is in fact something a disproportionate number of us do. Half the citizens of Australia, the UK, and the US feed birds, whether its by planting trees that attract them, putting food out on apartment balconies, setting up birds baths and feeders, or by unwittingly leaving scraps behind in parks. The international bird seed industry is huge and most of the seed is gown in India or Africa. Another way of describing all this activity is as an unplanned ecological experiment on an unbelievably large scale. In The Birds at My Table, Jones draws on an impressive knowledge of the latest scientific findings as well as his own personal knowledge, to reflect and explain the modern practice of bird feeding. ...Show more

Atlas of Oceans: An Ecological Survey of Underwater Life by John Farndon

$50.00 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

A tragedy is playing out beneath the surface of the world's bodies of marine waters, one that began long before the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although many books have explored the environmental problems being faced on land, "Atlas of Oceans" is the first book for a general audience that exam ines how creatures of the marine environment are if anything more vulnerable than their land-based counterparts.Readers are introduced to the dazzling, diverse array of creatures that inhabit the oceans and seas, and to the nature of the problems they face. Special features focus on the threats to particular animals, plants, and habitats, as well as on specific issues like overfishing, global warming, and pollution. The book also includes success stories, recommendations for what can be done to preserve ocean ecosystems, and a complete rundown of the most endangered species of marine life.Beautifully illustrated, packed with maps and diagrams, and containing up-to-the-minute data on the status of endangered marine species, "Atlas of Oceans" is a celebration of Earth's vibrant and awe-inspiring oceans and seas and an urgent call to action to protect one of our planet's most vital resources. ...Show more

Great Migrations: Epic Animal Journeys by Karen Kostyal

$25.00 AUD

Category: Nature Writing

At a riverbank in Africa's Serengeti, thousands of migrating wildebeest try desperately to cross as terrifying crocs feast on the galloping herds - which must attempt the river for a chance at survival. In the Falkland Islands, the albatross - king of migrations - journeys thousands of miles to nest des pite the deadly cara, a predatory raptor. For countless animals species, migration is a dramatic, dangerous, and crucial undertaking...one that is portrayed in vivid color and unflinching candour in this magnificent book, companion to the 10-hour documentary from National Geographic. The book follows the sequence of the film, with each section highlighting a factor that makes these epic journeys essential. "The Need for Speed" documents migration as a race against time, in which freezing temperatures or scorching heat usher in a crisis. Incredible photographs document activity along the Mississippi Flyway, which teems with long-distance travellers: red-winged blackbirds, white pelicans, tundra swans, and the birds of prey that patrol the skies. In "The Need to Feed", the annual search for greener pastures means life must go on the march as hungry predators lie in wait. Dramatic stills show as many as 40,000 walrus trying to evade 200 polar bears...and a jungle terrorised by nature's perfect killer: millions of voracious ants that work as one to overwhelm other species. "The Need to Lead" explains that migrations need generals, admirals and pioneers. How well the leaders keep their charges in line and on track will determine a species' fate. And in "The Need to Breed", the drive to renew the species forces every generation to risk it all. We experience the Falkland Islands, where aggressive, multi-ton elephant seals battle for the right to breed, and the lush rain forest canopy, where primates gather to feed and mate while smaller creatures glide from tree to tree. In every instance, both the migrating herds and the predators they sustain are faced with a new threat: global climate shift. Safe havens are vanishing, and migrating animals must stay one step ahead of a changing planet. Their struggle to survive despite mounting odds, set against the incomparable beauty of the natural world, fills this magnificently photographed book with drama, fascination, and beauty. ...Show more

Animal Languages by Eva Meijer

$35.00 AUD

Category: Nature Writing | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

Dolphins and parrots call each other by their names. Fork tailed drongos mimic the calls of other animals to scare them away and then steal their dinner. In the songs of many species of birds, and in skin patterns of squid, we find grammatical structures . . . If you are lucky, you might meet an animal that wants to talk to you. If you are even luckier, you might meet an animal that takes the time and effort to get to know you. Such relationships can teach us not only about the animal in question, but also about language and about ourselves. From how prairie dogs describe intruders in detail -- including their size, shape, speed and the colour of their hair and T-shirts -- to how bats like to gossip, to the impressive greeting rituals of monogamous seabirds, Animal Languages is a fascinating and philosophical exploration of the ways animals communicate with each other, and with us. Researchers are discovering that animals have rich and complex languages with grammatical and structural rules that allow them to strategise, share advice, give warnings, show love and gossip amongst themselves. Animal Languages will reveal this surprising hidden social life and show you how to talk with the animals. ...Show more