The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human

Written by Noah Strycker

Narrated by Paul Boehmer

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, the lifelong loves of albatrosses, and other mysteries-revealing why birds do what they do, and offering a glimpse into our own nature.

Drawing deep from personal experience, cutting-edge science, and colorful history, Noah Strycker spins captivating stories about the birds in our midst and shares the startlingly intimate coexistence of birds and humans. With humor, style, and grace, he shows how our view of the world is often, and remarkably, through the experience of birds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781515987505

Noah Strycker

Noah Keefer Strycker (born February 9, 1986) is an American birdwatcher. In 2015, he set a record for a worldwide Big Year of Birding, seeing 6,042 of the world's estimated 10,400 bird species in a continuous journey spanning all seven continents from January 1 to December 31, 2015.

Reviews for The Thing with Feathers

[evenlake_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the introduction, Strycker sums up what the book is about. "This book may be about the bird world, but it's also about the human world. Birds can behave in curious, flashy, and startling ways, but they seek the same basic things we do: foods, shelter, territory, safety, companionship, a legacy."

Each chapter examines a bird behavior (the ability of Clark's Nutcrackers to create mental maps, the monogamy of the albatross), and often relates this trait to human behaviors. While some may think this smacks of anthropomorphism, Strycker does an excellent job in examining the latest in ornithology and human neurology in order to ask whether some of our own behavior might be biological in origin.

The study of birds will be fascinating to any birder, and the glimpse at human nature will interest any student of humanity.

[undermyappletree · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What’s it about . . .The book is divided into 3 Parts – Body, Mind, Spirit – and contains essays on thirteen different species of birds. For each bird, the author highlights a feature that is similar between avian and human behavior: Parrots that can dance, self-awareness in Magpies, cooperative nesting in Fairy Wrens, and pecking orders in chickens to name a few.What did I think . . .I love birds and have been watching and observing them in the wild for many years. Just the ability to fly makes them amazing creatures, but they have many other attributes. Some species can navigate their way across water or continents, you can take them far from home and they can find their way back, some are self-aware, and many are highly intelligent.As a longtime birder, I was already aware of many amazing bird qualities, but there was still much to learn. In addition to facts and information on bird behavior, the author included his own experiences and short stories from a lifetime of observing birds.This book will appeal to birders old and new, and even those remotely interested in birds.Audio production . . .The audio production was narrated by Paul Boehmer. His pleasant voice and good pacing made for easy listening.This is the type of book that is made for audio. I often recommend non-fiction to new listeners, and this is no exception. With thirteen separate, engaging essays, the listener can find convenient points to stop and start, or listen in the car over a period of time.

[klburnside · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Each chapter in this book focuses on a certain bird behavior, most often that of a particular species, and explores that behavior in depth while relating it to human behavior and psychology. All of the chapters were interesting, and about half were incredibly fascinating. I think what I found most interesting is how different bird species have evolved different types of intelligence and behaviors both in ways we don't understand and for reasons we don't necessarily understand. I'm really amazed by the navigation abilities of many species of birds, even when they are deprived of certain senses and intentionally disoriented by scientists. Even though I'm not a huge fan of starlings, their flocking and flying instincts are incredible. (Do a YouTube search for "starling murmuration" if you have never seen it.) I loved reading about all the intelligent behaviors of magpies and crows and that whole family. The nests that male bowerbirds build to woo females are amazing. (Again, do a google image search if you haven't seen these displays.) I really like the mating/courting/child rearing rituals of albatross. Overall, the book was really accessible and easy to read. I found that it went into just enough detail so that I learned a lot, but I wasn't bored or overwhelmed with too much information.

[bookscatsetc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First of all, thank you Karen for giving me this book – I loved it. The Wall Street Journal describes Strycker as someone who “thinks like a biologist but writes like a poet”, a description I cannot improve on. The fact that he’s also only 26-yrs old make me almost hate him.The contents are divided into 3 parts, Body, Mind and Spirit, and each part features 4 to 5 essays on different birds, some notable quality of theirs and how it compares to the same quality in humans. It’s fascinating stuff and the writing is both elegant and humorous.

[vpfluke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an entertaining and enlightenng book on how birds behave. There are aspects of what some birds do that seemmeither unusual or hard to explain. Many pigeons have a unique ability to fly "hom" fro long distances. We thinik it has something to do with sound waves, but do not fully understand the process. A process of emergence of complex systems can be seen in starlings who fly together in large number following a geometric pattern, but not by a cognitive efforts on the birds' part. We don't know how vultures seem to smell or how owls find food under snow. Hummingbirds have an incessant pace of life that seems unrealistic. These are from the 'Body' portion of the book.The Mind section of the book looks at penguins, parrots, chickens, and nutcrackers, and takes up ideas of their fear, dancing, pecking order, and memory. The Spirit section looks at magpies, bowerbirds, fairy-wrens, and albatrosses and takes up their ideas of self-image, art, altruism, and love. " The Thing with Feathers" is well-worth reading, and each chapter is worth savoring on its own.

[bfgar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great, fascinating book! I'll write more when I finish reading it.

[karenweyant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am a birder by default. When I was a child, I used to sit on the couch in our living room and watch the birds in my mother's birdfeeder, rooting for the Juncos to beat out the Blue Jay bullies. My brothers were both birders, so I learned early the different sparrows and finches that came to feed. The Thing With Feathers by Noah Strycker is a perfect read for anyone interested in what we have in common with our feathered friends. Every chapter is devoted to a specific bird and its similarities to humans. For example, in one chapter, we learn the fears of penguins while in another chapter we learn the reverence of magpies (it is believed that magpies actually hold "funerals" for their deceased peers). Chapters really act as individual essays and don't have to be read in order, so I went right to the section that discussed the Snowy Owl, where I learned about our new white feathered friends. Still, I found other chapters just as intriguing. My favorite chapter turned out to be about Strycker's exploration of albatross love. Of course, as an English professor, the albatross will always be first and foremost, a literary allusion, but Strycker's references to the albatross's life (which is spent mostly in the air) were fascinating. The Thing With Feathers is Strycker's second book, and even if you don't consider yourself a birder, you will enjoy this collection. Afterall, who hasn't wondered about the fast pace of the hummingbird or how turkey buzzards can stomach the carcass of roadkill?

[dickmanikowski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating collection of essays exploring various behavioral aspects of birds. The author investigates phenomena as varied as the incredibly synchronized flight of starling flocks, the elaborate constructions that male bowerbirds build to lure mates, and the crankiness of hummingbirds.

[elenchus_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Noah Strycker spends a good part of each year in the field (such as at a research station in Antarctica, or as staff ornithologist on a cruise ship), using this experience to focus on one interesting characteristic of a given species, and reflecting on what it can tell us of the bird's personality, its adaptive role in its environment, and how it may relate it to the human condition. The linkage is not solely behavioural, which is to say rooted in evolutionary biology, though Part 1 is devoted to the Body, and Part 2 to the Mind, and in these sections of his book much is made of adaptive behaviour and what it reveals about our own activities. But Strycker is reflective enough and affectionate enough of birds, to find in them a reflection of human Spirit, to which he devotes his Part 3. The book offers a nice structure for highlighting some trait or ability of some 13 different birds, and interesting tidbits on evolutionary context. Strycker's enthusiasm is evident, as well as his curiosity in linking what he sees in a bird, to literature generally. For birders, I anticipate this is more diversion than a contribution to ornithology; but it may excite a motivation to learn more about specific birds, and a talent for observing what is interesting in those birds one happens across.So, the nutcracker's singular memory for finding thousands of seed caches vital to surviving winter, literally thousands in a season containing 4-5 seeds each and buried as long as 9 months previously, in locations which change year to year. Turns out, despite the lack of a hippocampus, birds share a spatial memory sense with humans, and like the Memory Palace mnemonic it requires practice and regular use to maintain this level of recall. Or, seeming wanderlust in owls or aggression in hummingbirds (!) serve to focus attention on human wandering and innate aggression. The linkage to Spirit is necessarily further removed: more a prompt for considerations on what it is to be self-aware, than to argue the magpie shares the self-awareness of people. So Strycker launches from a discussion of fairy wren cooperation upon an exceedingly interesting review of Game Theory, and how forgiveness and betrayal fit into tit-for-tat strategies as explored in David Axelrod's political science conferences, especially in the hypotheses of Martin Nowak.Strycker contributes an ink-and-paper sketch of each bird in the section page, nicely done.// Some favourite bits:● Buzzard excrement is itself sterile, a result of the necessary stomach of iron when feeding on bacteria- / -spore laden meat [58];● Possible connection between 7R allele (risk gene) and nomadism, a la Chatwin hypothesis; owl irruptions into lower continent from tundra not linked to lemming population shifts, and do not result in the majority starving or never returning to Arctic [72, 79-80, 88] ● Power law of a species' metabolism rate x life expectancy (a constant of 1 bn heartbeats), which we humans have stretched to 2-3 bn via medicine; ● Hummingbirds are capable of flying backward [94], go into a torpor each night in order to maintain metabolism during the day, and as they have no natural predators (too swift and small) nor need for joint hatching / feeding, do not flock but are solitary birds [98-99]; ● Tend-and-befriend as corollary to fight-or-flight instinct, illustrated by penguins [118]; ● 2 basic outlooks on origin of music: that it has no survival benefit but "a byproduct of our large, complex brains", pleasant like unnecessary fats & oils and sugars [140]; and that there must be an adaptive benefit, for example the musilanguage approach that music predates and stimulates language development in the species (Steve Brown, "motherese"); ● Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe's research into pecking order = eating order = aggression in chickens [147-48]; incidentally, that chickens first bred for cockfighting, and domestic chickens descended from these breeding lines [159]● The generally high intelligence of corvids (magpies, ravens, nutcrackers); magies have funerals for their own [194], and will taunt dogs / cats;● Use of forced perspective by bowerbirds to appeal to prospective mates. ● Martin Novak postulating that cooperation is on par with mutation and natural selection in its central role in evolution. The tit-for-tat strategy enhanced with a "forgiveness" element, such that betrayal was neutralized so long as two or more players established a sound basis for cooperation among themselves. (Implication: betrayal from within the alliance could once again reset cycle of cooperation / selfishness a la Prisoner's Dilemma.)// "If an observed behavior does not exist in the natural behavioral repertoire, it has no potential to increase or decrease fitness and thus cannot be directly selected for or against." [143]

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A nice discussion about bird behaviour, and the insights into being human. The author clearly loves his birds. He is also very intrigued into how they work - Everything is good in this book - The story of the albatrosses is heart breaking (from a human perspective), but other stories such as those about the vultures and the corvids are quite amazing.My only complaint is that I would like to see pictures of the birds - there a few drawings, but not a lot. This is an Early Reviewer book, so maybe it will be in the final version.I highly recommend this to anybody, especially those interested in a deeper look beyond just bird behaviour.

[pennymck_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating look at birds - body, mind, and spirit. I gained a greater appreciation for their intelligence and abilities. Very easy to read and engaging.

[dreplogle_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book compliments of Riverhead Books, via Library Thing’s Early Reviewers book giveaway of an uncorrected Proof. I owe them many thanks for introducing me to a new author.I’ve gone back and read several reviews of Mr. Stryker’s new book and I don’t know that I could provide anything more than most these reviewers. I will say that I totally enjoyed his writing and will be looking for his first book Among Penguins, and perhaps even check out his work as associate editor of the American Birding Association’s flagship magazine, Birding.I tried to pick out my favorite stories but really, I enjoyed them all; from the Murmurration of Starling flocks right through to the “Wandering Hearts” of albatrosses. I even read the man’s end of book footnotes with fascination. It’s a wonderful read, and would be almost perfect while sitting outside with binoculars amongst the birds of your backyard. I think that there’s only one thing that could make this book perfect, and that would be as an interactive ebook, linking to the variety of subjects the author mentions, the Youtube videos, etc. Several times while reading, I pulled myself away to my tablet or desktop to look up the colorful bowers of the Great Bowerbirds of Australia, or the murmurration of the starlings, or the dancing parrots. But this quibble aside, I enjoyed the book thoroughly and will be rereading it soon, this time pencil in hand as I commit the Librarian’s worst nightmare – marking the book up with notes.

[jazznoir_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are already numerous natural science books which explore the similarities between human and animal behavior. However, The Thing with Feathers takes a bird's-eye view on the subject.The author divides his book into three parts: body, mind and spirit. Within each section, he uses computer models, mathematical theories, theoretical physics, biology and behaviorist ideas to examine the collective conduct of both human nature and the personality traits and intelligence of our feathered friends.For some, the surprising behavioral lesson to be gain from this book might not be how strangely connected we are to birds, but how our own decisions and social actions are strongly governed by either scientism or philosophical ethics.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You might not think you could learn anything about humans by studying birds, but Noah Strycker, who calls himself "a full-time bird man," thinks you can. What's more, he has written a terrific new book, "The Thing with Feathers" (Riverhead Books), in which he discusses 13 bird species whose behavior may shed light on human behavior.Do bowerbirds display an artistic sense when males build elaborate bowers to attract mates? Is their behavior all that different from human males who sometimes use art, whether it is rock music or a sporty car, to attract women?Are fairy-wrens being altruistic when they help feed the young of unrelated fairy-wrens? Does their behavior teach us anything about human acts of generosity?Can the lifetime mating of albatrosses really be called love? Why do they seem to do it better than most human couples?Whether he's writing about the militant ways of hummingbirds or the pecking order of chickens, Strycker always returns to the human species and draws some surprising conclusions. I wonder how others in the scientific community feel about Strycker's research. Do they find him guilty of recklessly extending human qualities to animals? But never mind. He writes more for general readers than for scientists, and this general reader, at least, is impressed. Here is one of my favorite of Strycker's conclusions: "Sure, we can never know whether or not real altruism exists in this universe, but wouldn't it be wise for us -- considering the bleak alternative -- to take a cue from fairy-wrens, and act as if it did?

[jaylia3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Author Noah Strycker is not someone to sit back and enjoy birds from a distance. He’s trekked within a few feet of a mating albatross pair, grabbed hold of penguins to attach GPS tags, and as a teenager he brought home a roadside deer carcass in his trunk, which filled his car with such an overwhelming stench that even at 65 miles an hour he had to drive with his head hanging out the window, just so he could could get close up photos the of turkey vultures as they feasted on gore for a week in his backyard. As both a field scientist and bird enthusiast Strycker has lots of fascinating information and personal stories about birds for this book, as anyone who was anywhere near me while I was reading knows since it was impossible not to share (sorry family and friends). Each chapter focuses on the wonders of a particular bird, including homing pigeons, mummerating starlings, fighting hummingbirds, self aware magpies, and architecturally gifted bowerbirds, but from there the discourse spreads out to include such topics as neuroscience, the definition of art, game theory, memory palaces, altruism, the fight or flight response, and what unique species qualities are left to humans (a diminishing list). There were just a few stories I found disturbing, like the one about his friend who hates non-native starlings so much he relishes shooting them with an air gun, clipping their wings, and feeding them disabled but alive to hawks (which Strycker reported as a field scientist neither condemning nor applauding), but those are the exception. Most of the book totally enthralled me with wonderful birds, vicarious birding adventures, and thoughtful commentary.

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fresh, entertaining, and multi-disciplined approach to explaining complex avian behavior/biology and their vital importance to increasing our understanding of human neurology, evolution, and survival. Destined to be one of the, if not THE, best works of bird-related nonfiction in 2014. This book is a shiny jewel any literary bowerbird would be happy to have in their nest.

[barbn_15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Thing with Feathers." This well-written book discusses specialized traits and behaviours of various bird species with both humor and charm. The assertiveness of the smallest hummingbirds, the amazing migratory journeys, the sensitivity of the vultures' nose, the fascinating and distracting irruptions of the magnificant snowy owl; all are described with sufficient detail and scope to both inform and fascinate. My only quibble, and it is minor, is that some of the observations regarding parallels with human traits seemed unecessary and distracting. Rather, I wanted more of the elegant portraits of bird species and their interesting peculiarities of behaviour. The author's expertise on birds is apparent but he is neither patronizing or pedantic in tone; both the experienced biologist or birder and the curious amateur should enjoy this work and find new perspectives and information. My thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for this very enjoyable book.

[janeslist · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, and found it quite readable. It used to be that if scientists identified traits in animals that we find in humans, it was derided as sentimental anthropomorphism, and not science. Some scientists are now moving to where they recognize that we humans are types of animals, and that we can learn about ourselves as we learn about traits in animals that we share with them, traits that we thought were "just ours". In this book, the animals in question are birds. Because the author is a bird scientist, I felt like there were times when his discussions of the human end of things was slightly outside of his expertise. But otherwise, the book was good.I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.

[carolynschroeder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful book of essays on the surprising lives of birds, and also humans. Highly recommended for something a little off the beaten path and a book that educates while being a lot of fun to read.

[jugglingpaynes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker is an interesting study of bird behavior with parallels to our own human existence. The book is broken up into three sections, representing body, mind, and spirit, and covers a wide variety of some of the most intriguing members of the bird world from across the globe. As an avid birder and animal lover, I enjoyed this book. I liked that it delved deeper into various birds' behavior. I sometimes thought the author spent to much time on digressions, but for the most part, Mr. Strycker did a good job of explaining behaviors and drawing comparisons with human behavior. I had favorites in each section. In the Body, I learned more than I knew about The Buzzard's Nostril. I never realized there was such controversy regarding the vulture's sense of smell. In the Mind section, I was intrigued by the nutcracker's incredible recall in Cache Memory. And as an artist, I enjoyed the Arts and Craftiness essay in the Spirit section, about the bowerbird's aesthetic sense. I figure the finished book will include portraits of each bird. The uncorrected proof only had generic illustrations at the beginning of each essay.I think this book would be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in animal or human behavior, and especially any bird enthusiast.

[snash_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent, fascinating collection of essays and commentaries about surprising bird qualities or behaviors. Besides describing the birds, the authors speculates as to what these facts might reveal about humans. All of this is done with humor and at a level comfortable for novice or more serious birders.

[squeakychu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a special treat this book is! It's delightful whether or not you're into birds, but it is especially terrific for those interested in birds and nature. This book is written as a series of essays, each of which highlights one particular species of bird, but not only that. The essay points out a particular feature of each noted species and uses research to compare bird behavior with human behavior. If this sounds boring, it's absolutely not. It's fascinating! The author writes clearly and with humor. He discusses such subjects as the homing ability of pigeons, the aggressiveness of hummingbirds, the pecking order of chickens, and the love (really?!) of albatrosses. I believe that most readers would find this book tremendously entertaining and informative.

[phlegmmy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. I have been casual birdwatcher most of my life but usually find any book other than a field guide on the dry side. Not necessarily boring but they often just don't hold my attention. "The Thing With Feathers" is anything but boring. When I received my copy in the mail I sat right down and read half of it without stopping. It is fascinating and humorous and crams a lot of interesting info into just under 300 pages. Having had several discussions recently with other birders about birds and their sense of smell, or lack thereof, the chapter on Turkey Vultures and birds sense of smell was so educational and not only helped dispel the myths we were all operating under, but gave so much more insight into that one small part of what makes a bird a bird. I also learned about "tend and befriend" in addition to what I already knew of "fight or flight", and a bird's ability to dance. This is a fun book that explains a lot about bird behavior and their operating systems and does so on an easy to understand level for the new and seasoned birder alike. The humor is just an added bonus. If you have a birder on your gift list, buy them this book! I am also really glad I have a tolerant spouse because at several points in the book I stopped and read him some of the statistics and even he was fascinated! (Edited to add that the section on the Snowy Owl irruption is very timely since it is big news again this year!)