Around the World in 80 Birds

Product Information

The book follows the formula of the previous two ‘Around the World in 80…’ books and explores a small selection of birds from around the world in the context of their importance, interaction with humans, rarity, or some other factor chosen by the author. Their common prey and predators, and other images and symbols most commonly associated with each bird -- such as the distinctive man-made houses built for purple martins or the green swarm cloud of budgerigars in the wild -- are also portrayed, sometimes in insets, sometimes in two-page spreads. The other is the Crested Caracara which we were told is really intelligent and curious, but has become a pest in certain areas of Central America, raiding houses by going down chimneys and opening doors and windows. This beautiful and inspiring book tells the stories of 80 birds around the world: from the Sociable Weaver Bird in Namibia which constructs huge, multi-nest ‘apartment blocks’ in the desert, to the Bar-headed Goose of China, one of the highest-flying migrants which crosses the Himalayas twice a year. Genuinely unsure how I've become some sort of go-to reviewer for books about birds, but I 100% love it, especially when it brings gorgeous, informative books like these into my inbox!

For while Mike Unwin does in fact (and fortunately) show the conservation status of and the threats facing the bird species he has chosen for Around the World in 80 Birds, Unwin's criticism and his condemnation of what has caused and is causing avian conservation issues (habitat destruction, large scale hunting and poaching, climate change etc. Dit is een boek dat je niet van A tot Z moet lezen, mag natuurlijk, maar ik leg het boek het liefst naast het bed: om er vogel per vogel van te genieten. All are unique and all have their niche that - in many cases - deforestation and chemical pollution is destroying.The prose is wonderfully conversational, perfect for the amateur birder or naturalist (such as myself!

However, that Mike Unwin does not bother with avian evolution in Around the World in 80 Birds, that he has no section devoted to extinct birds and is in my opinion often not nearly critical and condemning enough regarding birds threatened and endangered by us humans, by our actions, by habit loss, by over-hunting, pollution and the like, this has definitely rather bothered me (and enough so that my final rating for Around the World in 80 Birds simply cannot be higher than three stars, still to be warmly recommended, but also with some caveats and reservations). From the Sociable Weaver Bird to the Bar-headed Goose of China, Unwin takes a global survey of some of the most important, intriguing and influential birds on the planet in this exquisite volume boasting gorgeous artwork from Ryuto Miyake. They can sing the most beautiful songs, shriek the eeriest cries, create the most stunning nests, dance the funniest mating dances and so much more! Oh and finally, I also think that Around the World in 80 Birds should be including distribution maps for each of the included species, for one, simply for general knowledge, of course, and for two because some of the birds being showcased in Around the World in 80 Birds actually do not only appear in the countries and areas about which Unwin is writing (and it would thus be nice if Around the World in 80 Birds would for example visually show how the northern mockingbird also ranges into Canada and that nightingales are common in much of Europe and not just in France, and well, with migratory birds, showing their wintering grounds as well as where they breed via maps is not just interesting and informative but is also rather important regarding possible conservation issues). Or did you know that with at least 11000 species they are the most diverse vertebrate class on the planet?

And the entries on birds that were very much unfamiliar to me were absolute cornucopias of information. I'm very taken with Australia's southern cassowary, a 'living dinosaur', weighing 154lb and not to be trifled with. Some are related to mythology, as the little owl is an emblem of Athena, patron goddess of Athens, Greece. Yo he podido conocerlo un poquito mejor, gracias a “La vuelta al mundo en 80 aves”, un precioso libro que he ido leyendo a ratitos, y que de una manera muy atractiva y entretenida, hace un recorrido por 80 especies de aves de todos los rincones del planeta; desde el tejedor de Namibia, que construye bloques de apartamentos en medio del desierto, hasta el ánsar indio de China, un ave migratoria que atraviesa el Himalaya dos veces al año. The Resplendent Quatzal is such a beautifully colourful bird linked with a lot of South American mythology and I’ve always been fascinated by it.