Bird manners

This book deals with surprising and sometimes disturbing behavioural manifestations, that are commonplace in birds, on activities, that strongly and sometimes mischievously contradict our usual notions what's "normal" in birds and what we thought that they're capable of.

Based on current scientific findings, Jennifer Ackerman overturns the traditional view of manners, how birds live, how they communicate with each other, they're getting food, mating, raise their young and survive. It reveals their remarkable intelligence as well as strategies and abilities that we once attributed exclusively to humans: Deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnappings, killing offspring, but also sophisticated interspecies communication, cooperation, synergy, Altruism, culture and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviours are so convoluted that they push the boundaries of "birdness" itself - that is, bird nature.

It is clear that there is not just one bird way of life, but rather an astonishing array of species with different appearances and lifestyles. Birds differ from each other in every respect, in plumage, body shape, singing, flight, ecological nice and in behavior. And that's what we love about them. The diversity of biology is fascinating. And it fascinates birdwatchers too, making them make lists of species they have seen in their lifetime (life lists), travel to the far corners of the globe to find rare species, or jump in the car and drive to see a stray bird caught in a storm, or go into the woods and whistle to attract some inconspicuous wake-up call.

Watch birds for a while and you will see that different species do even the most mundane things in completely different ways. This diversity is reflected in the terms we use to describe our own extreme behaviour. We're owls or larks; we carry ourselves like peacocks, or we're ugly ducklings; we're predatory or dove-like; night birds, or early birds. We're sugaring, clucking and cackling. We make music, we titter, we wail, we fiddle, we date. We're either stupid, or we're chickens. We're puffed up like a homing pigeon or frozen like a thrush. We sleep like hoopoes and swear like starlings. We do herons and cuckoos. We have a magpie or a cuckoo chick among us. We've been plucked like a chicken, and we've got a nice colour. We've flown the nest, we're birdies and we do birdies. We steam, we toast, we make a love nest, we are like doves, but we can also be like vultures. Some of us don't close our beaks all day, others can't even open them properly. We talk about how our beak has grown, but sometimes we have to hold it to keep from getting over it.