Consider the Birds

This chunky book aims to open up the lives of birds all around the globe. The author has an unquenchable fascination for biology, informed by a zoology degree from Cambridge and a long and impressive career as a science writer. Renowned for his ability to make complex topics intelligible, he has written many well-received books that not only demystify various aspects of biology, but also present a personal vision with passion, as well as precision.

This book is no exception. It does a superb job of surveying the span of avian diversity: its 463 pages include vivid, clear and up-to-date accounts of evolution, systematics and bird biology, from the miracles of migration to the details of their sex lives, as well as presenting an 88-page survey of all bird families and ending with an eloquent and powerful critique of the disastrous effects that our growth-obsessed economies are wreaking on the natural world.

My enthusiasm was somewhat tempered by finding various errors. Though correctly referring to Reed Warbler at first, the text goes on to refer to that familiar bird by the name ‘Reed Pipit’ no fewer than nine times! It was also a surprise to read that Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is now extinct as a breeder in Britain. Other errors include confusing Black Kites and Brahminy Kites, wrongly ascribing to female Malleefowl the task of temperature control in the vast nest mounds, and referring to the late, great wildfowl specialist Janet Kear as Janet ‘Tear’. These are perhaps evidence that Tudge is no specialist in the field of ornithology, though he admits this up-front. However, this does help him see his subject with a fresh, unjaded eye.

These glitches may make some inclined to shut the book. That would be a pity, as it is most delightfully written and conveys brilliantly the specialness of birds with the freshness of someone encountering them as if visiting from another planet. Tudge has an erudite, witty and engaging writing style, infinitely preferable to the somewhat random black-and-white illustrations. I loved his description of the ‘blood-gorged ticks’ so relished by oxpeckers as resembling ‘miniature black puddings’, and that of sheathbills as ‘skuas in chickens’ clothing’.

Nuggets of information new to me include the bizarre case of copulation between a Rusty-margined Flycatcher and a Ruddy Ground Dove and the wax-digesting capability of Myrtle Warblers (the eastern form of Yellow-rumped Warbler). Indeed, this book is as full as a Dundee cake with a fruitful mix of facts and reflections that should appeal to all who ‘consider the birds’.

First published in Birdwatch 202: 54 (April 2009). For a wide range of birding books, some at excellent discount prices, please take a look at the Birdwatch Bookshop.

Tech spec

• Consider the Birds: Who They Are and What They Do by Colin Tudge (Penguin, London, 2009).
• 462 pages.
• ISBN 9781846140976. Hbk, £25.