The Secret Lives of Birds

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Here’s a great gift book for trivia collectors. Did you know that a
whistling swan has 25,000 feathers or that a hummingbird flaps its wings
nearly 70 times per second? Of course you knew that mockingbirds mock
the songs of other birds and that ravens steal golf balls, but you may
not have realized that blue jays rub ants on their feathers and that
some storks pee on their own legs in order to keep cool.

This collection of tidbits about birds is organized by activity, with
sections on such topics as breeding, flight, feeding, vocalizations,
vision, and migration. The tidbits are pulled from all over the
world—wherever birds exhibit improbable or unusual behaviors.

The text is illustrated with what appear to be 19th-century lithographs
(there’s no acknowledgment or credit for these). Clumps of amateur
color photos—about 30 in total—are inserted into the book, with very
little benefit. (So many books of great photos of birds in the wild are
readily available that snapshots of birds in the hand not only fail to
appeal: they actively repel.)

Although the writer’s style is monotonous and unpolished, the mass of
little-known facts makes the book of some interest to those who have an
interest in birds and a passion for trivia.