The Bird Way

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, here is a radical examination of the bird way of being and of recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds – how they live and how they think.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, here is a radical examination of the bird way of being and of recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds – how they live and how they think.

‘There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.’ This is one scientist’s pithy distinction between mammal brains and bird brains- two ways to make a highly intelligent mind. But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and, lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviours. What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, and survive. They’re also revealing not only the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, and disturbing abilities we once considered uniquely our own – deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, and infanticide – but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play.

Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect – in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behaviour – birds vary. It’s what we love about them. As E.O. Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

‘A wonderful read. Every page will increase your awe of birds.‘
-Tim Low

‘After reading Ackerman (The Genius of Birds), you may listen harder to the various chirps, cheeps and coos coming from your backyard. Her new book reminds us that we have a lot in common with birds – like us, they are capable of deception and manipulation, not to mention cooperation, culture and communication.‘
-The Washington Post

‘In The Bird Way, Jennifer Ackerman digs deeper and ranges farther into bird behaviour, pulling tasty stories out of rich ground as she hops across the continents … Like a bowerbird, Ms. Ackerman gathers and displays treasures to amaze and delight – then lets the scientists’ stories take centre stage … Refreshingly, Ackerman spotlights a number of female researchers.‘
-The Wall Street Journal

Author Biography

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science, nature, and human biology for almost three decades. Her most recent books include Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream- a day in the life of your body; Ah-Choo- the uncommon life of the common cold; Chance in the House of Fate- a natural history of heredity; The Genius of Birds; and Birds by the Shore. A contributor to Scientific American, National Geographic, The New York Times, and many other publications, Ackerman is the recipient of an National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.