Sharon Beals' gorgeous photographs of nests offer a new window onto the life and beauty of birds. Drawn from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, these birds' nests from around the world offer astonishing insight into the intricate detail wrought by nature's most fastidious architects. Lovely images of nests and eggs are set against rich black backgrounds, and are accompanied by fascinating and informative ...
Read More
Sharon Beals' gorgeous photographs of nests offer a new window onto the life and beauty of birds. Drawn from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, these birds' nests from around the world offer astonishing insight into the intricate detail wrought by nature's most fastidious architects. Lovely images of nests and eggs are set against rich black backgrounds, and are accompanied by fascinating and informative portraits--conveyed through words and illustrations--of the birds that built them. A beautiful volume, Nests is the perfect gift for birders, bird lovers, and anyone captivated by the fleeting and fascinating splendor of the natural world.
Read Less
The gorgeous photographs alone are worth the book, but looking at each photo leads to many questions about what kind of bird would make such an extraordinary nest, and how was it ever accomplished. Fortunately, a fascinating page of text accompanies each full-page photo, with facts about birds that: survive in temperatures as low at -89 F, court their mates with hours-long chases, encapsulate food and glue it to trees (as many as 1,000 caches per day) for winter storage, sew leaves together as pouches for nests, use silk of 600 spider cocoons to hold a nest together, and protect their family by threatening other birds with sticks.
