I came across a first edition hardback copy of this book at our local Oxfam shop so I only paid \u00a33.99p for it which was quite a bargain. I mainly know of Dominic Couzens from his regular features in “Bird Watching” magazine where he specialises in articles about the “secret lives” or little known facts about both common and rarer species and also articles on bird identification. He is a very popular and enthusiastic populariser of bird ethology and this book is of this kind.<\/p>\n
Couzens’ covers many of the topics surrounding the lives of garden birds including sections on biology, health, disease \u00a0and illness ; feeding ; pairing, bonding, nesting and breeding ; bird song and calls ; migration, weather and climate, population changes and many, many more fascinating topics surrounding the lives and trials of birds.<\/p>\n
Where this \u00a0book differs, usefully, from other books on the same subjects is that these topics are covered under the structure of a month by month diary of the life of birds. This means that you can always have a quick reminder of the main conditions that will affect the birds that you can observe in your own garden as the year unfolds.<\/p>\n
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Perhaps this sounds rather like a lot of other books but Dominic Couzens is not just another writer ; he has a very easy-going writing style that is both scientific and easy to read. His own enthusiasm for birds comes through on every page and overall this makes for a great garden bird book. There are also illustrations by Peter Partington and a small smattering of photographs. Even now you can get this book in paperback for less than \u00a39 which makes it something of a bargain even new.<\/p>\n
The Secret Lives of Garden Birds by Dominic Couzens (Author), Peter Partington (Illustrator). Publisher: Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd; Hardback, First edition (30 April 2004) ISBN-0: 07136 9286-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The Secret Lives of Garden Birds” by Dominic Couzens I came across a first edition hardback copy of this book at our local Oxfam shop so I only paid \u00a33.99p for it which was quite a bargain. I mainly know of Dominic Couzens from his regular features in “Bird Watching” magazine where he specialises in … <\/p>\n