Birdpedia
A Brief Compendium of Avian Lore
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Birdpedia
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
P.J. Ochlan
About this listen
A captivating A-Z treasury about birds and birding.
Birdpedia is an engaging compendium of bird facts and birding lore. Featuring nearly 200 entries - on topics ranging from plumage and migration to birds in art, literature, and folklore - this enticing collection is brimming with wisdom and wit about all things avian.
Christopher Leahy sheds light on "hawk-watching", "twitching", and other rituals from the sometimes mystifying world of birding that entail a good deal more than their names imply. He explains what kind of bird's nests you can eat, why mocking birds mock, and many other curiosities that have induced otherwise sane people to peer into treetops using outrageously expensive optical equipment. Leahy shares illuminating insights about pioneering ornithologists such as John James Audubon and Florence Bailey and describes unique bird behaviors such as anting, caching, duetting, and mobbing. He discusses avian fossils, the colloquial naming of birds, the science and history of ornithology, and more.
©2021 Christopher W. Leahy (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Fungipedia
- A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore
- By: Lawrence Millman
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
Fungipedia presents a delightful A-Z treasury of mushroom lore. With more than 180 entries - on topics as varied as Alice in Wonderland, chestnut blight, medicinal mushrooms, poisonings, Santa Claus, and waxy caps - this collection will transport both general listeners and specialists into the remarkable universe of fungi. Combining ecological, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary knowledge, author and mycologist Lawrence Millman discusses how mushrooms are much more closely related to humans than to plants, how they engage in sex, how insects farm them, and more.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting!
- By Robby on 06-01-23
By: Lawrence Millman
-
What an Owl Knows
- The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
- By: Jennifer Ackerman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ackerman
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 100
For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than thirty thousand years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Jennifer Ackerman illuminates the rich biology and natural history of these birds and reveals remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving
- By Amanda on 11-29-23
-
Life on Earth
- By: David Attenborough
- Narrated by: David Attenborough
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 748
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 662
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 658
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book’s first publication, David Attenborough has revisited Life on Earth, completely updating and adding to the original text, taking account of modern scientific discoveries from around the globe....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
100% Pure Attenborough
- By Dave on 09-25-18
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,441
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,437
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 379
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 378
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Armchair Birder
- Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds
- By: John Yow
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If You Love Birds . . . Grab It!
- By Kathy in CA on 02-23-17
By: John Yow
-
Fungipedia
- A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore
- By: Lawrence Millman
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
Fungipedia presents a delightful A-Z treasury of mushroom lore. With more than 180 entries - on topics as varied as Alice in Wonderland, chestnut blight, medicinal mushrooms, poisonings, Santa Claus, and waxy caps - this collection will transport both general listeners and specialists into the remarkable universe of fungi. Combining ecological, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary knowledge, author and mycologist Lawrence Millman discusses how mushrooms are much more closely related to humans than to plants, how they engage in sex, how insects farm them, and more.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting!
- By Robby on 06-01-23
By: Lawrence Millman
-
What an Owl Knows
- The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
- By: Jennifer Ackerman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ackerman
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 100
For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than thirty thousand years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Jennifer Ackerman illuminates the rich biology and natural history of these birds and reveals remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving
- By Amanda on 11-29-23
-
Life on Earth
- By: David Attenborough
- Narrated by: David Attenborough
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 748
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 662
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 658
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book’s first publication, David Attenborough has revisited Life on Earth, completely updating and adding to the original text, taking account of modern scientific discoveries from around the globe....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
100% Pure Attenborough
- By Dave on 09-25-18
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,441
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,437
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 379
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 378
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Armchair Birder
- Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds
- By: John Yow
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If You Love Birds . . . Grab It!
- By Kathy in CA on 02-23-17
By: John Yow
-
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
- By: David Hone
- Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
Adored by children and adults alike, tyrannosaurus is the most famous dinosaur in the world, one that pops up again and again in pop culture, often battling other beasts such as King Kong, triceratops, or velociraptors in Jurassic Park. But despite the hype, tyrannosaurus and the other tyrannosaurs are fascinating animals in their own right and are among the best-studied of all dinosaurs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An Engaging Biography of the King
- By Erik on 08-06-18
By: David Hone
-
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
- By: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
- Narrated by: Nick Sagan, Ann Druyan, Clinnette Minnis
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 307
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 265
World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits - self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics - are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A very important read, poor audio performance
- By Tyeen Taylor on 03-17-19
By: Carl Sagan, and others
-
The Accidental Species
- Misunderstandings of Human Evolution
- By: Henry Gee
- Narrated by: Martin Dew
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
The idea of a missing link between humanity and our animal ancestors predates evolution and popular science and actually has religious roots in the deist concept of the Great Chain of Being. Yet, the metaphor has lodged itself in the contemporary imagination, and new fossil discoveries are often hailed in headlines as revealing the elusive transitional step, the moment when we stopped being "animal" and started being "human". In The Accidental Species, Henry Gee, longtime paleontology editor at Nature, takes aim at this misleading notion.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too much minutiae, please get to the point already!
- By D. Hellmann on 07-22-17
By: Henry Gee
-
A Naturalist at Large
- The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of elephants in Botswana bruising mopane trees.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Listen and See the World Anew!
- By Thoughtful Learner on 06-03-18
By: Bernd Heinrich
-
On the Origin of Species
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Bill DeWees
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 110
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
This scientific writing, which was considered to be the groundwork of evolutionary biology, presented the theory that species developed over a line of originations through a method of natural selection. It imparted evidence that the variety of life resulted from a common descent via a branching model of evolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This is the 1859 British edition.
- By Barry L. Wolfe on 11-11-11
By: Charles Darwin
-
The Origins of Creativity
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 96
"Creativity is the unique and defining trait of our species, and its ultimate goal, self-understanding", begins Edward O. Wilson's sweeping examination of the humanities and its relationship to the sciences. By studying fields as diverse as paleontology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, Wilson demonstrates that human creativity began not 10,000 years ago, as we have long assumed, but over 100,000 years ago in the Paleolithic Age.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Copy & Paste Book
- By Jiri Klouda on 10-05-18
By: Edward O. Wilson
-
The Sting of the Wild
- By: Justin O. Schmidt
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects, seeing the world through their eyes as well as his own.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An interesting look at stinging insects
- By Colin Mc on 04-13-17
-
Inheritors of the Earth
- How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
- By: Chris D. Thomas
- Narrated by: Bob Reed
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 44
It's accepted wisdom today that human beings have permanently damaged the natural world, causing extinction, deforestation, pollution, and of course climate change. But in Inheritors of the Earth, biologist Chris Thomas shows that this obscures a more hopeful truth - we're also helping nature grow and change. Human cities and mass agriculture have created new places for enterprising animals and plants to live, and our activities have stimulated evolutionary change in virtually every population of living species.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Combating the inconsistencies of today’s policies and emotional principles
- By MM on 05-22-23
By: Chris D. Thomas
-
The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 569
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 495
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 487
In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Tales from the Ant World
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
"Ants are the most warlike of all animals, with colony pitted against colony.... Their clashes dwarf Waterloo and Gettysburg", writes Edward O. Wilson in his most finely observed work in decades. In a myrmecological tour to such far-flung destinations as Mozambique and New Guinea, the Gulf of Mexico's Dauphin Island and even his parents' overgrown yard back in Alabama, Wilson thrillingly evokes his nine-decade-long scientific obsession with more than 15,000 ant species.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration, pointless rambling writing.
- By Kara on 12-09-21
By: Edward O. Wilson
-
The Great Animal Orchestra
- Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
- By: Bernie Krause
- Narrated by: Bernie Krause
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
Musician and naturalist Bernie Krause is one of the world's leading experts in natural sound, and he's spent his life discovering and recording nature's rich chorus. Searching far beyond our modern world's honking horns and buzzing machinery, he has sought out the truly wild places that remain, where natural soundscapes exist virtually unchanged from when the earliest humans first inhabited the earth.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Too frustrating to put up with
- By Steve Gross on 07-17-12
By: Bernie Krause
-
The Genius of Birds
- By: Jennifer Ackerman
- Narrated by: Margaret Strom
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 601
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 522
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 517
Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their weight.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
What a disappointment!
- By S. Benedict on 07-05-16
Related to this topic
-
The Galápagos
- A Natural History
- By: Henry Nicholls
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thought-Provoking
- By Jean on 10-23-18
By: Henry Nicholls
-
Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 72
Ian Tattersall, a highly esteemed figure in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology, leads a fascinating tour of the history of life and the evolution of human beings. Starting at the very beginning, Tattersall examines patterns of change in the biosphere over time, and the correlations of biological events with physical changes in the Earth's environment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
-
The Wonder of Birds
- What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
- By: Jim Robbins
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
-
The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
How are eggs of different shapes made, and why are they the shapes they are? When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks? How are the colours and patterns of eggshells created, and why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt end or the pointy end?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
-
The Armchair Birder
- Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds
- By: John Yow
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If You Love Birds . . . Grab It!
- By Kathy in CA on 02-23-17
By: John Yow
-
What a Fish Knows
- The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins
- By: Jonathan Balcombe
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 505
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 448
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 447
An underwater exploration that overturns myths about fishes and reveals their complex lives, from tool use to social behavior. There are more than 30,000 species of fish - more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined. But for all their breathtaking diversity and beauty, we rarely consider how fish think, feel, and behave.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Title misled me
- By Margaret Weidemann on 08-12-17
-
The Galápagos
- A Natural History
- By: Henry Nicholls
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thought-Provoking
- By Jean on 10-23-18
By: Henry Nicholls
-
Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 72
Ian Tattersall, a highly esteemed figure in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology, leads a fascinating tour of the history of life and the evolution of human beings. Starting at the very beginning, Tattersall examines patterns of change in the biosphere over time, and the correlations of biological events with physical changes in the Earth's environment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
-
The Wonder of Birds
- What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
- By: Jim Robbins
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
-
The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
How are eggs of different shapes made, and why are they the shapes they are? When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks? How are the colours and patterns of eggshells created, and why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt end or the pointy end?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
-
The Armchair Birder
- Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds
- By: John Yow
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
While birding literature is filled with tales of expert observers spotting rare species in exotic locales, John Yow reminds us that the most fascinating birds can be the ones perched right outside our windows. In thirty-five engaging and sometimes irreverent vignettes, Yow reveals the fascinating lives of the birds we see nearly every day. Following the seasons, he covers forty-two species, discussing the improbable, unusual, and comical aspects of his subjects' lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If You Love Birds . . . Grab It!
- By Kathy in CA on 02-23-17
By: John Yow
-
What a Fish Knows
- The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins
- By: Jonathan Balcombe
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 505
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 448
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 447
An underwater exploration that overturns myths about fishes and reveals their complex lives, from tool use to social behavior. There are more than 30,000 species of fish - more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined. But for all their breathtaking diversity and beauty, we rarely consider how fish think, feel, and behave.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Title misled me
- By Margaret Weidemann on 08-12-17
-
The Thing with Feathers
- The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human
- By: Noah Strycker
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Birds are highly intelligent animals, yet their intelligence is dramatically different from our own and has been little understood. As we learn more about the secrets of bird life, we are unlocking fascinating insights into memory, relationships, game theory, and the nature of intelligence itself. The Thing with Feathers explores the astonishing homing abilities of pigeons, the good deeds of fairy-wrens, the influential flocking abilities of starlings, the deft artistry of bowerbirds, the extraordinary memories of nutcrackers, and other mysteries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting book, terrible reader
- By MGM123 on 03-16-18
By: Noah Strycker
-
Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
-
The Great Animal Orchestra
- Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
- By: Bernie Krause
- Narrated by: Bernie Krause
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
Musician and naturalist Bernie Krause is one of the world's leading experts in natural sound, and he's spent his life discovering and recording nature's rich chorus. Searching far beyond our modern world's honking horns and buzzing machinery, he has sought out the truly wild places that remain, where natural soundscapes exist virtually unchanged from when the earliest humans first inhabited the earth.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Too frustrating to put up with
- By Steve Gross on 07-17-12
By: Bernie Krause
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,441
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,437
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
- By: David Hone
- Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
Adored by children and adults alike, tyrannosaurus is the most famous dinosaur in the world, one that pops up again and again in pop culture, often battling other beasts such as King Kong, triceratops, or velociraptors in Jurassic Park. But despite the hype, tyrannosaurus and the other tyrannosaurs are fascinating animals in their own right and are among the best-studied of all dinosaurs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An Engaging Biography of the King
- By Erik on 08-06-18
By: David Hone
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 379
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 378
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
On the Origin of Species
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Bill DeWees
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 110
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
This scientific writing, which was considered to be the groundwork of evolutionary biology, presented the theory that species developed over a line of originations through a method of natural selection. It imparted evidence that the variety of life resulted from a common descent via a branching model of evolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This is the 1859 British edition.
- By Barry L. Wolfe on 11-11-11
By: Charles Darwin
-
A Naturalist at Large
- The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of elephants in Botswana bruising mopane trees.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Listen and See the World Anew!
- By Thoughtful Learner on 06-03-18
By: Bernd Heinrich
-
Becoming Wild
- How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace
- By: Carl Safina
- Narrated by: Carl Safina
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 127
Some people insist that culture is strictly a human feat. What are they afraid of? This book looks into three cultures of other-than-human beings in some of Earth's remaining wild places. It shows how if you're a sperm whale, a scarlet macaw, or a chimpanzee, you too experience your life with the understanding that you are an individual in a particular community. You too are who you are not by genes alone; your culture is a second form of inheritance. And your culture, too, changes and evolves.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It all sinks in over the story—highly recommend
- By Knitting Fisherman on 06-13-20
By: Carl Safina
-
The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 569
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 495
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 487
In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
-
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 296
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 258
The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
For aficionados only.
- By Ary Shalizi on 01-11-12
By: Charles Darwin
-
Genesis
- The Deep Origin of Societies
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 66
Asserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Genesis demonstrates that the only way for us to fully understand human behavior is to study the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, Wilson demonstrates that at least 17 - among them the African naked mole rat and the sponge-dwelling shrimp - have been found to have advanced societies based on altruism and cooperation.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Simply awful
- By Mike A Klotz on 02-07-20
By: Edward O. Wilson
What listeners say about Birdpedia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- J. L. Smith
- 05-10-23
Too many biographies
The material was interesting but there were too many biographies. I wanted birds!
The narrator wasn't suited to the material; he sounded like he was pounding out a police procedural from the 1940's.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful