Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds

625 Pages·2015·98.13 MB·English

by  Laura Erickson, Marie Read

Contents
Part One: The Facts of Bird Life
Courting and Mating
Enter the Egg
Nesting and Parenting
Part Two: The Family Lives of Selected Species
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, and Turkey Vulture
Killdeer
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon and Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Hummingbirds
Woodpeckers
Peregrine Falcon
Phoebes
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree and Barn Swallows
Chickadees and Nuthatches
House Wren
Bluebirds and Robins
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Tanagers
Northern Cardinal
Blackbirds and Orioles
American Goldfinch
Appendix
Glossary
Acknowledgments
Other Storey Titles You Will Enjoy
Copyright
Share Your Experience!
P A R T O N E
The Facts of Bird Life
When parents teach their children the facts of life, they often refer
to “the birds and the bees,” even though birds and bees have
entirely different equipment than mammals do and few people
have the slightest idea how birds or bees actually “do it.” This book
aims to shed light on the family lives of birds, a topic that has
captured our collective imagination and enriched our language
despite being shrouded in mystery.
Diverse Lifestyles
Every species has its own approach to every aspect of reproduction:
finding mates, claiming and defending territories (or not claiming
one at all), finding or building a nest or other structure in which to
deposit eggs, protecting and incubating those eggs (or finding
another bird to do it in certain cases), and feeding, protecting, and
“educating” the young. In some species, the reproductive process
can last a few weeks from start to finish; in others, it lasts for
longer than a year.
The processes of bird reproduction are so intertwined that it’s
difficult to separate them out. For example:
A male House Wren’s territory and nest cavities are his primary
ways to attract a mate.
Herons include nest-building as part of courtship.
Feeding a prospective mate during courtship helps prime an
Evening Grosbeak to feed nestlings.
Success or failure in rearing their young influences whether a
pair of robins will stay together the following breeding season.
This book focuses on the varying ways some familiar species
conduct their family lives. Evolution provided each species with
different strategies, but in every case the goal, to produce new
birds to carry on the parents’ genes, is the same.