Several birds of Washington made the cut for “Tales of Remarkable Birds” by Dominic Couzens, including the white-throated sparrow, black-capped chickadee, cliff swallow and marbled murrelet.
How can they match up with the straw-tailed whydah with its extremely long tail; the male superb fairywren that brings a female a pink flower petal; or the ferocious cassowary?
Each of the 40 birds has a distinct characteristic that qualifies it for “Remarkable.” Through text and photography, Couzens gives each its due, whether it’s a bird with leftist tendencies or one that digs burrows and constructs mounds with its big feet.
“Remarkable” offers 40 opportunities to learn about avian stories, both near and far.
Here are some other interesting nature-related books:
“Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature.” How does a cuckoo get away with laying its eggs in another bird’s nest? How does a cuckoo chick know to muscle out a non-cuckoo egg over the side? What is a defense for a female unwilling to be a foster parent? Nick Davies, after three decades of studying cuckoos, brings us the answers in an understandable fashion.
“Morning Light.” Barbara Drake and her husband “temporarily” left Portland for a small farm in western Oregon in the late 1980s. Now 74, she has no intention of returning. She’s happy with her decision to stick with the country’s rough edges in return for its beauty, its peace and its wildlife.
“The Eponym Dictionary of Birds.” Did you know that Cassin’s finch was named after John Cassin, a Quaker businessman and one of America’s giants of ornithology? He died a slow death from arsenic poisoning, the effect of handling bird skins with arsenic as a preservative. Or that A. Wilson (Wilson’s phalarope) is often called the father of American ornithology?
These and about 4,000 more names are in the reference book. Eponym refers to people’s names, either in the common name or Latinized in the scientific nomenclature. But it’s the stories behind the people that are fascinating.
“Why Do I Sing?” and “Where Do I Sleep?” are young children’s books with sturdy cardboard pages and four rhyming lines. While “Sleep” is accurate, “Sing” takes a few liberties. Even so, both will place familiar Pacific Northwest animals in their environment.
“Ozette: Excavating a Makah Whaling Village.” Besides the informative behind-the-scenes look at the archeological dig, Ruth Kirk’s latest illustrates the connection between humans and their environment. Mammal bones and fragments alone numbered 260,000 and there were 10,000 bird bones from 42 species of birds. Two-thirds of the bird-bone tools came from albatross and gull bones.
Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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