Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

(Paperback, 2nd Edition)

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Description

The Australian magpie is one of our nations most popular and iconic birds. It is loved for its impressive vocal abilities, propensity to play, excellent parenting and willingness to form enduring friendships with people. Written by award-winning author Gisela Kaplan, a leading authority on animal behaviour and Australian birds, this second edition of Australian Magpie is a thoroughly updated and substantially expanded account of the behaviour of these birds. With new chapters on classification, cognition and caring for young, it reveals the extraordinary capabilities of the magpie, including its complex social behaviour. The author, who has devoted more than 20 years to studying and interacting with magpies, brings together the latest research on the magpies biology and behaviour, along with information on the origin of magpies, their development and health not published previously. This fascinating book has a wide appeal to bird lovers, amateur ornithologists and naturalists, as well as those with a scientific or professional interest in avian behaviour and ecology and those interested in the importance of native birds to the environment.

Reviews

"This updated and extended second edition provides a fascinating account of magpie biology and behaviour, and will have wide appeal to bird lovers, ornithologists and naturalists." * Crikey! Magazine, Winter 2019 *
"I found this book a joy and delight to read, with the colour illustrations to exemplify the points particularly entertaining." -- Wendy Morris * Western Australian Naturalist News, 28 January 2020 *
"The book is profusely illustrated with 75 black-and-white photos and 16 color plates that illustrate many behavioral and other aspects of Magpie biology. I found the book a good read and would recommend to anyone with an interest in songbirds." -- William E. Davis * The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 131(4) *

Author Bio

Gisela Kaplan is Emeritus Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of New England and an Honorary Professor at the Queensland Brain Institute. She is the author of more than 250 research articles and has conducted ground-breaking research into vocal learning, communication and cognition in birds and other vertebrates. She holds two PhDs and an honorary DSc for her contributions to life sciences. In addition to extensive field research on birds, for the past two decades she has also raised and rehabilitated injured native birds. Her other recent books include Bird Minds: Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds and Tawny Frogmouth.