What It's Like to Be a Bird

Introduction

The Diversity of Birds

Birds are dinosaurs [p. 81 bottom]. Some dinosaurs grew feathers more than 160 million years ago and gave rise to true birds. The meteor impact 66 million years ago wiped out more than two-thirds of all terrestrial species on earth, including all dinosaurs and all but a few bird species [p. 81 middle]. The general consensus is that there are about eleven thousand species of birds on earth today, and about eight hundred are found regularly in North America north of Mexico. These species are incredibly diverse, and a sampling of their remarkable adaptations and abilities are presented in this book.

EVOLUTION ­NATURAL­ SELECTION­ ­AND­ SEXUAL­ SELECTION

The incredible diversity of birds is the product of millions of years of evolution. Evolution operates by selection on individual birds, similar to the way breeders of roses or dogs select the characteristics they want to enhance in future generations. In nature, mortal threats like disease, weather, predators, and others remove the less fit individuals from the population. At the same time, members of the opposite sex select characteristics that are appealing. All of this affects which individual birds survive and reproduce, which then influences the characteristics of the next generation. Over the course of hundreds of millions of generations, this process leads to the entire diversity of life on earth. Natural selection is mediated by survival, Darwin s classic survival of the fittest. This leads to the wide range of bill shapes, wing shapes, nesting habits, and so on, as birds with the best adapted features are stronger and healthier, raise more young, and pass along their traits to more offspring. Sexual selection is driven by mate choice, as each sex selects a mate for particular features. This can lead to extravagant plumage, as we see in the male Wood Duck [p. 177, Wood Duck].

Feathers

THE ­FUNCTION­ OF ­FEATHERS

When asked What does a feather look

DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY is the author and illustrator of the series of successful guides to nature that bear his name, including The Sibley Guide to Birds. He has contributed to Smithsonian, Science, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Birding, BirdWatching, North American Birds, and The New York Times. He is a recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Award for Promoting the Cause of Birding from the American Birding Association and the Linnaean Society of New York's Eisenmann Medal. He lives and birds in Massachusetts.

"Lingering over every page of What It's Like to Be a Bird, this is what can be seen: The book's beauty mirrors the beauty of birds it describes so marvelously." NPR

"Any new Sibley book is an event . . . A sprightly, information-packed encyclopedia of bird behavior. What lifts it into the realm of art is Sibley s illustrations 330 of them, many life-size. Captured in pencil and gouache, Sibley s birds are as scientifically accurate as Peterson s or Audubon s, but less static, more alive . . . The American robin with a rust-red Dickensian waistcoat; a martial, copper-feathered red-tailed hawk perched watchful along a country road these and all the birds celebrated in What It s Like to Be a Bird seem ready to take flight." Peter Fish, San Francisco Chronicle

"An afternoon with this sprawling volume on my lap was a lovely way to tolerate a day of social distancing . . . What It s Like to Be a Bird gives Sibley s artwork ample room to spread its wings . . . In a spring shadowed by the darker mysteries of nature, Sibley s book is a welcome occasion to connect with the more pleasing puzzle of what our feathered friends are up to." Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor

"After years of rushing to his indispensable field guides for sure resolution of any bird or tree ID conundrum, I m delighted to find David Allen Sibley stretching his considerable artistic and literary wings . . . Having painted them all in every possible plumage permutation, evenly lighted and in profile, Mr. Sibley s joy in creating chiaroscuro tableaux of birds feeding, flying and tending their young is palpable . . . Expect to be surprised at the mental and physical capabilities of birds." Julie Zickefoose, The Wall Street Journal

"Simply gorgeous . . . Appropriate for general readers as well as bird experts, and it is perfectly suitable for young readers . . . As the world s bird population shrinks, it is helpful and