National Geographic Bird Coloration

I first saw this book in my local library. I checked out the book and read the first 42 pages. I didn't have time to complete the book, but had thumbed through the remainder, as well as looking in the index for specific topicality. I thought the consolidation of the volumous research material, and presenting the material to an understandable level for a lay person or someone with a basic biological background, was done very well. I hesitated paying full price for the book in the book stores, however I did want it for my "Nature" library. I found that Amazon, had several listings for a more than fair price. I am a beginning birder, experienced microbiologist and a herpetology hobbyist, and found the book very interesting and informative.

If you have an interest in either birding or color or photograhy or art or biology or genetics or animal behavior or natural history or if you are just a curious person by nature, then there is something for you in this book. While the underlying theme is bird coloration, Geoffrey Hill covers a nice space around this topic with a style that is easy to read and continuously fascinating. As I read I kept saying "wow", and "realy?!??" and "so *that's* how they figured that out". The photography is phenominal and there are beautiful color pictures on almost evey page. The printing is exceptional - colorful and tac sharp. Almost all of the pictures have rich, descriptive captions. For example, on page 118 there is a hillarious picture of an Egyptian Vulture where the second sentence of the description reads "To get the careotenoids needed for facial coloration, these vultures eat the gut contents of dead sheep." The face even looks like something from the gut of a dead sheep. The author covers color vision in birds and compares it to human vision (birds see many more colors than humans), the genetics of color, structures that create color, pigments, behaviours influenced by color, even color beyond the birds themselves - the White-winged Fairy-wrens in Australia brings a blue flower during courtship. For a different use of color, the Variable Pitohue of New Guinea is colorful to warn preditors - it has the same poison in its skin and feathers as dart frogs. The author explains the history of how scientists came to know many of the things they know about bird behaviour and bird coloring, which adds to the already fascinating content. I can't think of any negatives to the book.

In this book, Prof. Geoffrey Hill has created a resource for anyone fascinated by birds, their colors, and the roles of those colors in their evolution and survival. While the colors of relatively few birds have been studied directly, pioneering research on certain species allows scientists to extrapolate general roles of colors in courtship, territorial defense, crypsis, and much, much more. I know of no other book that comes close to treating this fascinating topic in such detail and with such easy-to-digest language.

Excellent, well written book that breaks down the scientific research on bird coloration and explains it in a way that anyone can follow along. If the reader is interested in looking more in depth at the research that is sourced, everything is clearly laid out in the back of the book. If you're interested in the topic, this is definitely an excellent starting point.

its written well....easy to read, a wealth of information, and some great pictures as well......i thought it was great value for money......cheers...:)

I learned a lot about how and why birds are colored the way they are. I didn't know what I didn't know about bird coloration.

This is a magical book for any bird lover----discussing the coloration of all sorts of birds---and the pictures within the book are magnificent. I highly recommend it for all the bird lovers on your birthday/Xmas list!!! GREAT book!!!

This author's publication keeps my daughter interested and involved in college.

Great Book. Enjoying the read.

Amazing book, really clear and well laid out. Plenty of science, but done in such a way as to be accessible. Fantastic photography and explanations. Came across this book by accident - so glad I did. A beautiful book for anyone fascinated by birds and feathers.

Beautiful book. Wonderful photographs. written by an academic but made accessible to the enthusiast.