Customer Reviews

Hummingbirds: THEIR LIFE AND BEHAVIOR

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The wife and husband team of Esther and Robert Tyrrell logged over 30,000 miles of travel to photograph and document the 16 species of North American hummingbirds. Using his own special high-speed strobe techniques, Robert has photographed the tiny colorful birds in a variety of activities flying, perching, and nesting. The book contains over 200 amazing photographs, reproduced in dazzling color. In her text, Esther has culled information from hundreds of sources and provides a comprehensive and well-written overview of the birds' anatomy and behaviors. A must for any bird lover!

Of course, everyone loves the feisty, peppy hummingbird with it's glorious colors. This book shows details that the average birdwatcher never sees. The close up photos, some in action sequence, are a delight and there are pictures even showing the nests made of cobwebs, feathers and lichens.
The text supplements the photos giving details of the author's observations on hummingbird behavior.
One section covers the different hummingbirds, giving each variety a two-page spread. There are several photos plus a listing of the field markings, range, breeding range, winter range, nesting, migration and habitat for each.
Additional graphics are quite useful, like the one showing the names for the body parts of hummingbirds. What a useful (and beautiful) book!

This book conains the most amazing photography imaginable (the authors' companion book Hummingbirds of the Caribbean is just as wonderful). Dazzling colors and awesome stopped-action shots. I can't imagine how it was done.

The physiology of hummingbirds is more amazing than you could possibly imagine without actively studying them. Sure, they're the smallest off birds and they fly like bejeweled toy helicopters. Of course, you can ignore one when it buzz-bombs your ruddy nose. But the complexity of their evolutionary adaptations doesn't stop with size and flight. They can, for instance, regulate their body temperature over an astounding range, even to the point of "torpor", a state of low-temp suspended animation. They also 'control' their own metabolism to a degree we human dieters can't help but envy. Every feature of their anatomy supports some feature of their behavior in some astonishing manner, and in turn their unexpectedly complex behavior corresponds to each curiosity of their bodies, beaks, and feathers. Then there's the complex narrative of their co-evolution with certain flowers, with a whole auxiliary of mites, and with insects. Plus there are mind-bending similarities between the nest-building and brooding behaviors of hummingbirds and those of the nest-building dinosaurs.

The book is labeled "A Photographic Study", and the 235 full-color photos will dazzle most readers so much that they won't even peek at the text until the second time through the pages, but this ample text is full of solid science yet accessible to non-academic readers. There are shots of hummingbirds in flight, at rest, brooding and feeding chicks, courting, and feeding, including 'portraits' of the most colorful tropical species. It's a large-format, well-printed, well-bound book, both the paperback and the hard editions, and you can buy a "very good' copy for less than a dollar.

I've become a hummingbird groupie by chance. A Calliope hummer built its nest just a few feet outside the window of a cabaña where I was staying, and I watched it brood for a week. I didn't get to see the chicks hatch, or to watch the feeding of them. This book had to serve as my consolation.

We wanted a book to give us more insight into the birds that frequent the feeders we put out. This filled the need and exceeded our expectations many times over. Loaded with brilliant color photos. Keen information on the habits of these gentle creatures. Great for amateur bird lovers and old timers alike. Great value and a quality book. Highly recommended.

Bought this book for a backyard hummingbird enthusiast, on her request. She had a borrowed copy from a friend and wanted her own copy of this particular book as she found it informative and interesting.

This book arrived in very good condition and on time. It was used for a gift to a fellow bird lover. Thanks for the good experience.

Fantastic book....everything you'd ever want to know about a very interesting little bird. Lots of colorful, close up photos and very informative. Over the years I've collected several other books on hummingbirds, after buying this book, I need buy no more.