Secret Life of Birds: Who they are and what they do

With illustrations by Jane Milloy.

'Enjoyable … entertaining … masterful' Stephen Moss, Guardian

'Simply fizzing with ideas … his heart is with the birds' Literary Review

Birds are beautiful, intriguing and life-enhancing. They can do everything mammals can, and even more besides. In Consider the Birds lifelong bird enthusiast Colin Tudge explores the lives of some of our most extraordinary fellow creatures, including birds who navigate using the stars, tool-making crows, territorial robins, cooperative penguins and swans who mate for life – among hundreds of others.

Revealing everything from why birds sing to how they fly, think, bond and survive, from how they evolved (and whether it really is from dinosaurs) to why, in so many ways, they are very much like us, this rich, evocative book will make you love and admire the birds that are all around you.

'Only when we read this scintillating study do we see how little we've known about the creatures we see around us' Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman, Books of the Year

'An author whose own deep relish for the extraordinary lives of birds seems only marginally less pleasurable to him than sharing that wonder with others' BBC Wildlife Magazine