Rails and Crakes

Evolution of Flightlessness in Rails

Flightlessness in rails represents the selectively advantageous, ontogenetically mediated conversion of anatomical and caloric assets of the pectoral apparatus and associated metabolic parameters related to flight toward multiple evolutionary alternatives of intensified selective importance in insular habitats and the adoption of a nonmigratory lifestyle. Language: : English

  • ISBN-10 : 1891276352
  • ISBN-13 : 978-1891276354

A Waterhen's World

Eliot Howard 1940

  • ASIN : B000Q5QX1O
  • Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 1st British Edition (1 Jan. 1940)
  • Language: : English
  • Hardcover : 84 pages

Shadowbirds: Story of a Quest for Rails

"All the rails, it seems, are out to vex me personally." So writes William Burt in this remarkably absorbing and resonant account of his years spent in pursuit of photographs of rails - tiny, elusive marsh birds that are nearly impossible to find, let alone photograph. Shadowbirds chronicles his quest: the cameras that would not fire, the suspicious onlookers encountering Burt and his apparatus on deserted roadsides, the countless near-misses that make this chronicle of a self-imposed challenge, and his ultimate success, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always provocative and delightful. Yet Shadowbirds is more than the story of a single-minded search for birds. Indeed, it is the tale of the age-old human quest for things elusive, mysterious, unattainable - a story as old as the Holy Grail and as current as our own dreams. All readers will find something of themselves in William Burt, whether they seek birds or other things. No one can fail to be captivated by this sensitive and telling book.

Australian Bustard

The Australian bustard is Australia's heaviest flying bird. It is an icon of the Australian outback where it is more commonly known as the bush or plains turkey. It is also culturally and spiritually significant to Aboriginal people, who prize it as a favourite bush tucker. This book provides the first complete overview of the biology of the Australian bustard, based on the first major study of the species. The author explores the bustard's ecology and behaviour, its drastic decline since European settlement, and the conservation issues affecting it and its environment. Colour photographs of juvenile and adult birds complement the text as well as showcase particular behaviours, such as the spectacular display routines of males when mating. Australian Bustard is the perfect book for natural history enthusiasts.


Rails: A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World

Rarely seen and poorly known, rails can be found throughout the world, absent only from polar regions, completely waterless deserts, and mountains above the snow line. This secretive and intriguing family of birds occupies a diverse range of habitats, from forests to wetlands, grasslands, and even scrub-covered remote oceanic islands and coral cays. Barry Taylor and Ber van Perlo have described and illustrated 145 species of rails, including two that have only recently been described and eleven that are recently extinct.

The book, based on up-to-date references and on new observations, is the first to give comprehensive information on field identification (including voice), covering all species and races for which details are known. It is also the first to provide descriptions of the immature and juvenile plumages of many species. The authors provide a detailed summary of current knowledge of all aspects of rail biology and their often complex behavior, social structure, and family life. They explain how such apparently poorly flying birds can undertake intercontinental migrations and are such widespread and successful colonists of remote oceanic islands. They also discuss the remarkable ease and speed with which species on such islands have evolved into flightless forms in the absence of predators, a fact that has led to the rapid extinction of numerous island taxa following the arrival of humans. Rail habitats are fast disappearing, say the authors, and many rails become endangered before enough is known about them to plan effective conservation measures. The book provides information on distribution, status, habitat requirements, and current threats, and it gives conservation priorities for threatened species.


Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae

Hardcover

  • Publisher : David R. Godine Publisher Inc; 1st edition (1 Jan. 1977)
  • Language: : English
  • Hardcover : 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 : 087923198X
  • ISBN-13 : 978-0879231989
  • Dimensions : 27.08 x 4.95 x 36.93 cm

Corncrakes

Publisher : Scottish Natural Heritage; FIRST EDITION (1 Sept. 1999)

  • Language: : English
  • Paperback : 36 pages
  • ISBN-10 : 1853970492
  • ISBN-13 : 978-1853970498
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