Garden Bird Behaviour

The book I read for the 2021 NONFICTION READER CHALLENGE in the category Hobbies is Garden Bird Behaviour: How to recognize and interpret everyday bird activities, by Robert Burton, 2005.

I originally bought this book to learn more about the habits of some common birds in my garden – coal & marsh tits, sparrows, blackbirds, crows, (European) robin, and occasional newcomers. This book, however, gives information in areas common to all birds (e.g., “Birds try to choose food that gives a good return of energy for time spent gathering it. The basic rule is: not too big, not too small, but just right. For instance, Spotted Flycatchers prefer to hawk for medium-sized insects, such as hoverflies and blue-bottles.”). This guides readers to find out information by observing birds themselves. So it’s a beginner’s guide to bird-watching.

Burton writes from a very personal viewpoint – the birds he observes, the seasonal changes that affect the birds’ behavior, and the memories he has of bird-watching. In the first chapter he writes,

“This book is not a comprehensive enyclopaedia of garden bird behaviour but concentrates on aspects of bird life that I enjoy watching and trying to understand. It is full of my own observations and those of people who have written to me. As a natural history writer, I believe that if I write about what I have seen and find interesting, there is a good chance it will have been seen by other people and aroused their interest.”

However, he lives in Britain, so all the bird species that are focused on are all native to Britain, and all references to weather and landscape are also only relevant to that part of the world. The specific birds are not mentioned in separate sections, but rather are referred to as examples of general behavior described.

The book is divided into four main sections, with three to four subsections:

·         The Birds in Your Garden

o   Enjoying your birds

o   The garden birds’ year

o   How clever are your birds?

o   In the air and on the ground

·         Their Daily Lives

o   Conspicuous consumption

o   Songs and signals

o   Bird society

·         Raising Families

o   Pair formation

o   Nests and eggs

o   Rearing the young

·         How Birds Survive

o   Birds at night

o   Care and maintenance

o   Survival

The end material includes Useful Addresses (all British), Further reading (mostly British), and an Index. There are both glossy photographs and drawings – of specific bird types and of bird behaviors.

This is a book that can be read cover to cover, like a novel, or just dipped into for specific information. I found it not only enjoyable to read, but also very informative.