Bird Brains: Inside The Strange Minds Of Our Fine Feathered Friends

This book contains photos and stories dealing with a hundred bird species. Most, but not all, are North American birds. Budd Titlow draws on his long history as a lover and observer of birds. He always finds some attribute that sets each species apart from the others. These characteristics can range from the roadrunner having two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing backward to the call of the barred owl that sounds very much like “Who cooks the soup?”I imagine that the photography in this book must be gorgeous in color. Unfortunately, the Kindle on which I read this book displays in black and white only. So I’m unable to comment about the quality of the color in the bird photographs. Titlow’s biography states that he is a photographer, and he discusses his adventures in photographing various types of birds. So I was surprised to discover in the photography credits that almost none of the pictures in Bird Brains are Titlow’s. I wondered about the reasons for this decision.Titlow’s writing style is engaging and insightful. He gives us the history of how each type of bird has been viewed and in some cases the cultural role that it has played. He reveals the threats to the preservation of certain species and how well they are currently thriving. In his Afterword, Titlow discusses the measures needed for bird conservation in general . They are key principles for maintaining the environment for all species including our own.I don’t know enough about birds myself to judge Titlow’s accuracy on this subject, but he quotes a source that apparently described the Puebloan peoples as living in teepees. This has never been the case. Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of a source before choosing to include a quote.Despite the error I mentioned in the above paragraph, I did enjoy reading Bird Brains. I feel that I got to know the included bird species a great deal better, and can therefore appreciate them more.

I love photography and birds so when I came across the book, Bird Brains: 'Inside the Strange Minds of Our Fine Feathered Friends' by Budd Titlow, I was really interested in reading it, the only thing holding me back was the price. Believe me, it was money well spent! Mr. Titlow not only tells his personal experiences (as both a wildlife biologist but photographer as well) the photographs of the birds are amazing.The book is broken up into areas of where the birds were found and pretty much covers the US as well as touching on those on the Galapagos Islands. (I found that amazing since the Galapagos Islands is the only foreign land on my 'bucket list'.) The photos are approximately a quarter of a page so don't think this is a picture book (although it does contain these photos, it is not page after page of photos with just a sentence or two about the bird) because it is not and then he starts his description of the bird, its behavior, some personal experiences, what it eats, sometimes a little history and if it is a native species or endangered along with other related information that I found both educational and interesting.Some of his stories are down right funny. I can't imagine looking through my camera to take a picture of a bird on the ground who keeps walking toward me getting bigger and bigger in my camera so I had to change my lens. Then it still kept coming until I finally had to move my camera and tripod because the bird wanted to walk right where I had it. I am not sure if I'd be shocked and sitting there with my mouth open at my fantastic fortune of being in the right place at the right time or on the ground laughing at this crazy bird who hasn't the sense to walk the other way.I also learned quite a few things throughout the book about different birds. I know I will never look at a turkey or a bald eagle the same way again. Nor did I ever know there are birds that fly far enough in their lifetime to do a couple of trips to the moon and back. Even some of the more common birds that I have seen here in New England that are covered in the book have some interesting facts told about them that I didn't know and these are birds I see all the time.The photos are outstanding! Although I will admit I wish there were more pages in the book so the photographs could have been bigger. Not that this is a short book (over 200 pages), it isn't what I consider short and every page is packed with information but those were some amazing shots. Speaking of the shots, the very last one at the end of the book is "haunting" as I can't get it out of my head.I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes and are interested in birds.

The chapters are short, usually only a few pages long each, and they relate amusing and interesting information about a variety of birds. Each chapter is accompanied by a stunning photograph of the bird in question. Despite being a photographer, not all of the pictures are Titlow's. I imagine that finding a breathtaking photo was easier than traveling around and getting the perfect shot. I found myself smiling every time I picked this up, and as the chapters are freestanding you can read it in order or skip back and forth as it pleases you.I didn't have any problems with the formatting; it is well done. The writing style is informal and relaxed, and Mr. Titlow pulls on things like tv references, memories of his trips, and camera metaphors to deliver all the information and make it interesting. Each chapter has a good sense of humor written into it, and often there's some kind or moral or lesson as well.The cover looks very professional and caught my attention. Overall this was a cute book, good as a diversion and a source of "edutainment." I think fans of birds will enjoy this a lot.

the title and the background of the author attracted me to the book Rather then real insight the book shares nice little stories that anyone with a mild interest in birds would already be aware of