Fiction Books on Birds (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

Well that's pretty unequivocal ;-) Knowledge, memory, assumption (and how was it portrayed in the film?) and a long tome ago, so not sure if I can still be made to do penance?


I still think he may have been better to go for Herring in the book though - a normal BH Gull would be no match for even the usual aggressive bun?, let alone dogs, cats or evil super-bunnies??!

Its the difference in weaponry though - look at a BHG's bill as a stabbing weapon on a long flexible neck, not to mention the manoeuvrability in three dimensions and it's fearsome, especially to an animal with two big front-mounted eyes and not much offensive weaponry besides incisors.

John

 

[dantheman]

Its the difference in weaponry though - look at a BHG's bill as a stabbing weapon on a long flexible neck, not to mention the manoeuvrability in three dimensions and it's fearsome, especially to an animal with two big front-mounted eyes and not much offensive weaponry besides incisors.

John

And hind legs ...

I can see one of those who would win out of 'Tiger vs Bear' or 'Guinea Pig vs Sandwich Toaster' etc threads in the offing ;-) ;-)

 

[Sterngucker]

I remember reading Kes (and enjoying it) at school for my 'O'-levels. More moons ago than I care to think about.

 

[Nutcracker]

Its the difference in weaponry though - look at a BHG's bill as a stabbing weapon on a long flexible neck, not to mention the manoeuvrability in three dimensions and it's fearsome, especially to an animal with two big front-mounted eyes and not much offensive weaponry besides incisors.

John

At least not GBB Gull - last video I saw of one of those with a Rabbit, the Rabbit ended up wholly inside the GBB (except for the toes of the hind legs) 😜

 

[AlexNillson88]

"The Genius of Birds" is really a good book. This is a marvelous book about the intelligence of birds. In this book, Jennifer Ackerman describes a wide range of bird species, brain sizes, and capabilities. Bird brains, in size relative to body weight, are similar to those of mammals. Of course, in absolute terms, they are small, as their total weight must be minimal in order to fly.

 

[Tired]

Guardians of Ga'Hoole is a book series about owls who have become as intelligent as humans, after humans have gone extinct. There's some really interesting worldbuilding, and also the author has thrown magic in. Not all of it is completely accurate to how owls actually function (intelligence and tool use aside), but it's interesting, and fun. Theoretically intended for children, but a bit dark in spots, and there is definitely a good deal of violence. Most of it isn't too graphic. I recently re-read the whole series, and I can solidly recommend it. If you don't like magic in your stories much, the first book (and I believe the first three?) are pretty low on it. It gets a little wilder in spots later on. The logic is all consistent in-universe, though, which is the important part when dealing with magic in fiction.

 

[jring]

I remember reading Kes (and enjoying it) at school for my 'O'-levels. More moons ago than I care to think about.

Yeah, here too - no such thing as O-Levels in germany but we read it (or rather the novel version called "A Kestrel for a Knave" by Barry Hines - Kes is the name of the movie adaption) in english class - must have been 9th or 10th grade...

Joachim

 

[jurek]

Somebody should write a book about birds of prey, owls and carnivore mammals as main characters. This seems to be the best way to protect them.

Give them a code of honour, like animals in The Jungle Book, give them well developed and contrasting characters, like Wind in The Willows, put one or another cute little one for children to identify with, put another at the border between youth and adulthood like Chronicles of Redwall, make some fun of clumsy, clueless humans, like Muggles in Harry Potter. And whoa!

 

[Surreybirder]

If you are desperate for a bird story book for c10-year-olds, mine is on Kindle for £1.99!

Crispin and the egg thieves eBook: Noble, Kenneth, Noble, Laura: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Crispin and the egg thieves eBook: Noble, Kenneth, Noble, Laura: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[bonxie birder]

I like reading fiction about burds.

I like Kes.
And Lord of the Rings has flying creatures.
I also found this book on birds.
Politics of Birds – The Parliament of Rooks and Owls

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08272TP2G

A short story based on a land or birds who have a parliament.

What fictional birds books have you read?

I thought Kes was a great book, but I couldn’t say I enjoyed it. As a young boy reading it many many years ago I found it very traumatic

 

[macdoc]

I guess The Big Year is too true for the topic tho the movie was wonderful.

I enjoyed The Wild Road - as a magpie has a major role. Most of my books on birds are like this...pop sci versions that never fails to fascinate.

Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs: How the Struggle for Survival Has Shaped Birds and Their Behavior​

 

[kennethwfd]

OK it wasn't the Famous Five, it was apparently the 'Adventure' series:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/adventure-series.php

Something similar in Great Northern, where John has become a decoy Dick, and to check whether he is being followed, both he and Nancy decide to spot a Great Auk and rapidly turn round without warning

 

[kennethwfd]

I was surprised this year to find out that S & A, Coot Club and the Big six are also movies.

S&A has been set twice as a movie, perhaps the well known version was from 1974 starring Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser. There was a TV adaptation in 1963 with Susan George as "Kitty" Three radio adaptations, one for Children's hour, read by Derek McCulloch "Uncle Mac" and a 1999 adaptation of the story as recalled by Titty, now 70 years older. Also a musical of S&A has been produced

 

[maj.sujan]

I wanted to make a Buckbeak (Hippogriff) of my own when I read and watched Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban. That's a very small reason why I'm in clinical research 😉

 

[jogresh]

Manka by 'BB' is a superbly evocative book based on the life of a Pink Footed Goose on The Wash in North Norfolk. If you're not familiar with BB's writing, he's an artist who also writes, and his descriptions of the natural world are incredible - you're right there in the picture, so to speak. All of his many books concern the natural world in some way.

 

[paranoid numanoid]

I remember "My Side of the Mountain" from primary school, about a boy who goes off on his own to fend for himself, lives in a tree stump, and trains a kestrel to hunt for him. A part of me is still out there!! Must have a hunt for it.

 

[jogresh]

I'd totally forgotten that! Seem to recall reading it early teens and really liking it.

That's just reminded me of Victor Canning "Flight of the Grey Goose". Though iirc i preferred The Runaways - great concept of roaming Salisbury Plain with a tame Cheetah.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I remember "My Side of the Mountain" from primary school, about a boy who goes off on his own to fend for himself, lives in a tree stump, and trains a kestrel to hunt for him. A part of me is still out there!! Must have a hunt for it.

I read that too as a kid. I remember being quite amazed to read a novel that talked about nuthatches. There's a nice bit about it by Helen Macdonald here:

Helen Macdonald: the six books that made me

Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk, which has won the Costa book of the year, portrayed a writer in urgent dialogue with the natural world. Which were the books that opened her eyes to nature?

www.theguardian.com

 

[jogresh]

I read that too as a kid. I remember being quite amazed to read a novel that talked about nuthatches. There's a nice bit about it by Helen Macdonald here:

Helen Macdonald: the six books that made me

Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk, which has won the Costa book of the year, portrayed a writer in urgent dialogue with the natural world. Which were the books that opened her eyes to nature?

www.theguardian.com

That's a good article, struck a chord when she describes how seeing a bird takes you back to your first encounters with that bird as a child, i still get that for instance when i hear Blackbird song - instantly transported to a warm summer afternoon in the back garden with one high in the Lombardy Poplar warbling contentedly. I used to pore over the AA Book Of The Countryside too, and i remember Dutch Elm disease being covered on John Cravens Newsround, and the big upset about hedgerow loss, as well as the RSPB campaigns against upland afforestation. And i'm glad she mentioned Brendon Chase. I can still remember when they find a Honey Buzzard nesting deep in the forest!

 

[kennethwfd]

In John Buchan's The Isle of Sheep, there is an episode where two children are being chased by the baddies, they make good their escape by a flock of pink foot geese, the young birds are curious rather than frightened, so their pursuers think they are behind the geese, not in front. Sir Archibald Roylance is a birder, he refers to birds here and there in other novels such as John Macnab.

In the final chapter of Richard Adams The Plague Dogs, Snitter and Rowf are rescued by Sir Peter Scott

Michael Morpurgo's book Why the Whales Came, set on the Isles of Scilly, features a recluse, shunned by the other islanders known as the Birdman, he befriends two children, Daniel and Gracie. He carves birds from wood and teaches Daniel to do the same