Review
“This readable guide to the seabirds of the world provides updated material on every aspect of these birds—adaptation and plumage, how they are distributed into communities, feeding behavior, migration, breeding, and more.”
Book Description
This readable guide to the seabirds of the world provides updated material on every aspect of this fascinating group of birds. Ornithologist Anthony J. Gaston has devoted decades to the study of these beautiful and engaging birds, and he explains in detail what is special about being a seabird and why--like us--they live a long time and reproduce very slowly. Enriched with personal anecdotes from the field and remarkable photographs from John Chardine and Tim Lash, this book will appeal to students, birdwatchers, ornithologists, and naturalists alike.
The book covers the gamut of seabirds. It includes information on seabird types, adaptation and plumage, how they are distributed into communities, feeding behavior, migration, breeding, and the consequences of coloniality. The author concludes with a thoughtful analysis and discussion of the population dynamics and life-history strategy of seabirds.
About the Author
Anthony J. Gaston has worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service on the ecology of seabirds for nearly thirty years. Most of his research has been in the Eastern Canadian Arctic, which he has visited annually since 1975 to study Thick-billed Murres and other seabirds. He specializes in researching birds that other ornithologists cannot reach.
Seabirds: A Natural History FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The term 'seabirds' covers a great range of bird families and species, all of which have one thing in common - they are adapted for life at sea." "This book looks at the ecology of the true seabird families - the penguins, divers, tubenoses, cormorants, gannets, frigatebirds, tropicbirds, gulls, terns and auks. It discusses the opportunities available and the demands and restrictions imposed on birds exploiting the marine environment and examines the various ways in which the birds use the resources of the sea and accommodate to the specific problems of marine life." Illustrated throughout with line drawings and photographs, this book is a fine addition to the Poyser series, and will fascinate anyone with an interest in the birds of the sea and why they are as they are.