The Pinyon Jay: Behavioral Ecology of a Colonial and Cooperative Corvid (T & AD Poyser)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.51 (891 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 085661064X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 317 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A "deep southern" bird in the Northern Hemisphere? As a student of environmental science, it is a severe problem globally that people do not understand how untenable it is that high-latitude Enriched World nations - to virtually no purpose - have the best environmental records. It is clear to me that academic reforms to emphasise conditions in the "deep south" of Australia and Southern Africa and to a lesser extent the "shallow south" of the humid tropics are a necessity if the present ecological crisis is to be solved. Popular perspectives of the Enriched. "Corvids are cool" according to ex-librarian. If you want to understand jays, you can't go wrong with Marzluff who is now the "guy-to-go-to on Corvids. Formerly studies with Bernd Heinrich, the "raven man".. The Flagstaff Jay Ashtar Command OK, I admit it. I stopped reading John Marzluff's "The Pinyon Jay" after just a few chapters. I have read other books in this series, but this one is just too detailed and technical. Indeed, most of them are - I was apparently lucky picking up "The Magpies" by Tim Birkhead and "Cuckoos, cowbirds and other cheats" by N. B. Davies.I don't doubt that Marzluff is one of the foremost experts on corvids in the United States. I'm sure his 20-year study of a flock of Pinyon Jays in Flagstaff, Arizona (which just h
Packed with information, it presents Pinyon Jay biology in a readable form and places them into the wider context of studies on bird ecology and evolution. This once mysterious bird is now the subject of over 20 years of intensive research involving over one thousand color-marked jays by Russell Balda, John Marzluff and their colleagues and helpers. This plain blue bird has turned out to be anything but plain in its biology and behavior.Uniquely dependent on the seeds of the Pinyon Pine for food, they have developed a number of behavioral and morphological adaptations to best utilize this resource, above all caching enough seeds each fall to supply their needs throughout the
Written in a conversational style, with frequent analogies between pinyon jay and human behavior."--BIRDWATCHER'S DIGEST . "What a story! And it is told with dash as well as depth; the authors' deep involvement with their bird shines through every chapter. Add to that the usual high Poyser standard of production and you have a book that is worthy of a place in birdwatchers' libraries around the world."--FOR HABITAT"reveals a vivid picture of the pinyon jay's complex social system