Product Description

Have you ever wondered what the birds in your garden get up to when they're not tucking into peanuts and seeds on the birdtable?This book takes us, month by month, into the secret lives of our mostfamiliar garden birds, revealing inspiring, intriguing and scandalousreal-life dramas such as the ferocious turf battles of Robins, the profound family ties of Long-tailed Tits and the remarkable sex-life of the Dunnock.The amazing facts that it reveals will help you to understand,encourage and enjoy your garden birds more than ever before. Writtenwith engaging humour and enlivened throughout with dazzling colour paintings and photographs, this wonderful book will appeal to anyone who enjoys watching birds in their gardens.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7424 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-30
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
"Dominic takes us on a lively, informative and enthusiastic trip around the birds of Britain." Birds (February 2006) 'If you've ever wondered why the birds on your bird table behave the way they do: this book will explain it all. Beautifully illustrated with paintings by Peter Partington." The Travel and Leisure Magazine (March 2007)

About the Author
Dominic Couzens has worked as a freelance ornithologist for severalyears, running birdwatching courses and leading birding tours inBritain and abroad. He has a monthly column in the popular magazine Birdwatching, and has written several books.

Customer Reviews

Light reading and unsentimental approach
I'm not quite as stunned as the other reviewers of this book. It's in A4 format and contains a series of short articles (one to two pages long) about individual bird's behaviours divided into the months of the year. Photographs and paintings by Peter Partington are liberally scattered throughout.

Couzens has a very unsentimental, striking approach. He compares the strife at the bird table in winter, as different individuals establish a pecking order, to desperate refugees fighting over humanitarian food drops. That Robin perching on your spade couldn't care less about you as a gardener- to the bird you're a substitute for a wild boar, disturbing the ground and bringing to light food.

Ultimately though it's a book to dip into as a pleasant read. It lacks real factual depth. whereas I agree with the other reviewers that it is a very pleasant book, it's not one that I wished to keep to read again.

An excellent book
This book is a great read; the text is easy to read and is written in an engrossing style by the author. The illustrations really capture what the page is talking about. I can't see how anyone would not learn something about garden birds after reading this. It has made me watch my garden birds more closely. A highly recommended read.

Getting to know them...
I am thoroughly enjoying the information provided by this book, which is very well-written and clearly based on a great deal of personal bird-watching experiences. The illustrations are also of a very high quality, the drawings are superb! While I consider myself as quite knowledgeable with regard to birds, I have already learnt some new facts which I have not found in other books, and am now getting to know birds intimately! Great book!