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Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed Simon Barnes

Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed By Simon Barnes

Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed by Simon Barnes


21,99 $
Condition - Very Good
9 in stock

Summary

This vital book - which comes with a free podcast so that you can listen to the songs themselves - takes you from winter into deepest spring, teaching you to how recognise song after song as the chorus swells. You start with robin, and end up listening to nightingales.

Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed Summary

Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed by Simon Barnes

Learning birdsong is not just a way to become a better bird-spotter. It is tuning in: a way of hearing the soundtrack of the planet earth...Why do birds sing? What are they trying to say? Birdsong is not just about natural history. It is also about our history. We got melody from the birds as we got rhythm from the womb. Birds are our music: they teach us to express emotion and beauty in sound. The first instruments ever made were bird-flutes. This book takes the reader on a journey from winter into spring. Along the way, you will learn something of the science of birdsong - the difference between song and call, the physiology of songbirds, what birdsong tells us about evolution, and indeed the very beginnings of life itself. The aim is to give you a flying start in birdsong so that, after reading this book, you'll be listening to order, not chaos, to Bach, not white noise. You will be more aware of the wild world, and better able to understand it.

Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed Reviews

Barnes is a unique voice, always willing to challenge conventional wisdom and look for deeper meanings... Sunday Telegraph Most of us can see, but not everyone looks. Most of us can hear, but not everyone listens. This book will help you do both. And, above all, it will tell you how to enjoy. --Bill Oddie A gem... All day, I've been fighting the urge to drop everything so I can devour this eloquent book in one siting... exquisite --The Guardian He'll tune your ears to winter's lonely voices - robins, wrens, long-tailed tits - before preparing you for the exultant sounds of spring --The Times Become a bird listener, says Barnes, and tune in to the special podcast of airborne song that comes free with this book, and you will better understand the lives of birds and identify the wild notes that first inspired human music. A delight. -- Iain Finlayson, Saga

About Simon Barnes

Simon Barnes is the multi-award-winning chief sportswriter for the Times. He is also a novelist, nature writer and horseman, and the author of a dozen books, including the bestselling How to be a Bad Birdwatcher and The Meaning of Sport (Short Books). He lives in Suffolk with his family.

Table of Contents

First Winter 1 Muzak to my ears 3 Songs of life and death 5 Robin 8 Double figures 12 A place of my own 16 Wren 19 Talking birds 22 Pee-oo! 26 How to see round corners 28 Dunnock 31 Time and space 33 Birdsong to save your life 37 Long-tailed tit 40 First Spring 45 How to make spring last longer 47 Great tit 50 Keeping it simple 52 Song thrush 54 Get a load of that repertoire 58 Chaffinch 62 Saying your own name 64 Blue tit 67 Great spotted woodpecker 69 How we stole the music 72 Blackbird 76 When the singing began 80 Greenfinch 84 How I invented music 86 Skylark 89 A breath of fresh air 92 Blithe spirit 94 Chiffchaff 99 Crisis relocation 102 Cuckoo 106 Last cuckoo? 109 Swallow 111 Vertebrate chauvinism 114 Pigeons 117 Why warblers 122 Blackcap 126 Demise of the willow wren 129 Willow warbler 133 First Year Birdlistening 137 Turn on, tune in 139 Seagulls 142 Herring gull 144 Swift 147 And now your free gift 150 Seaside waders 154 Hello 158 Crows 161 Bleeding obvious 165 Two more crows 169 World Cup birding 172 Freshwater birds 175 But does it really count? 178 Geese 183 Song of the butterfly 186 Birds of prey 188 Silence 191 Owls 195 Winter thrushes 199 Second Spring 203 Birds and Venice 205 Mistle thrush 209 Starling 212 Learning curve 215 Mozart's starling 218 Goldcrest 221 Green woodpecker 223 Portrait of the artist 225 Goldfinch 231 Yellowhammer 234 The rhythmician 236 Nuthatch 239 Coal tit 241 Rhythm section 243 Pied wagtail 246 Meadow pipit 248 Peasant and phartridge 250 Be happy! 252 House martin 254 Garden warbler 256 Whitethroat 258 Nightingale 260 Heartache 265 Sweet music 270

Additional information

GOR003304882
9781907595479
1907595473
Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed by Simon Barnes
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Short Books Ltd
20111103
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Birdwatching with Your Eyes Closed