Summary of Jennifer Ackerman's The Bird Way

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:

#1 Birds are the great communicators of the animal world. They speak with their voices, their bodies, and their feathers. They may not have the facial musculature we primates use to express ourselves, but they can powerfully communicate their inner states with head and body movements.

#2 The quelea bird’s facial plumage is extremely variable, and scientists have struggled to find any correlation between fitness and color. However, the birds know who they are, and they know who is trustworthy, so they can stop harassing one another and get down to the business of nest building.

#3 The dawn chorus is a baffling behavior that occurs in the dark hours before dawn, when many birds sing at the same time. It may be because cool temperatures, calm air, and less ambient noise from insects allow their songs to travel farther.

#4 bird songs and calls range from the odd comical cluck and rattle of the willow ptarmigan to the elfin chucklings of Leach’s storm petrels. They are a tapestry of vocal behaviors that helps birds coexist and become the wildly successful and diverse group they are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669375005

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Jennifer Ackerman's The Bird Way

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

birds are the great communicators of the animal world. They speak with their voices, their bodies, and their feathers. They may not have the facial musculature we primates use to express ourselves, but they can powerfully communicate their inner states with head and body movements.

#2

The quelea bird’s facial plumage is extremely variable, and scientists have struggled to find any correlation between fitness and color. However, the birds know who they are, and they know who is trustworthy, so they can stop harassing one another and get down to the business of nest building.

#3

The dawn chorus is a baffling behavior that occurs in the dark hours before dawn, when many birds sing at the same time. It may be because cool temperatures, calm air, and less ambient noise from insects allow their songs to travel farther.

#4

bird songs and calls range from the odd comical cluck and rattle of the willow ptarmigan to the elfin chucklings of Leach’s storm petrels. They are a tapestry of vocal behaviors that helps birds coexist and become the wildly successful and diverse group they are.

#5

The voice box of birds is a structure called a syrinx, which is buried deep in a bird’s chest cavity. Sound emerges when the membranes of the syrinx vibrate, shifting the flow of air through the organ.

#6

Birds cry like children, grunt like pigs, meow like cats, and sing like divas. They speak in dialects and carol in pairs and choruses. They glean information from calls and songs, and they use sound in ingenious ways to share information, negotiate boundaries, and influence one another’s behavior.

#7

The whipbird is a small bird that lives in Australia’s rainforest and coexists with the bell miner by keeping a low profile. It has a female-biased sex ratio, and uses its unique call to defend its position in a partnership with the male.

#8

The timing of human chat is extremely precise. The duets of canebrake wrens, which are songs sung by male and female canebrake wrens in Costa Rica, are extremely precise.