Animals Birds Dinos
From the time they lived on the island of Corfu, Gerald Durrell's family hoped he'd outgrow his love of animals. Instead he became a zoologist and worldwide conservation hero.
In 1945, young zoologist, Gerald Durrell, finally came to work at his first actual zoo; Whipsnade Zoo--then a new concept in open-range animal exhibits--where Durrell joined in as a student keeper with Albert the lion, Babs the polar bear, and a baby deer among his first charges. In this entertaining history, he recaptures all the passion that permeated those early years, while conveying his insight into and affection for four-footed creatures. The book is full of larger-than-life animal characters: the bear who sang operatic arias with one paw clasped to his breast, his bosom friend Billy the goat, playful zebras, and a host of equally endearing and memorable critters. This is Durrell at his best. Fans of the PBS Masterpiece series, The Durrells in Corfu, know Gerald Durrell as a young boy with endless curiosity about animals. This is where that interest led. Durrell's great life work, the Wildlife Preservation Trust International, was still ahead in his future. Beasts in My Belfry is a wonderfully entertaining memoir for anyone who loves animals and a life lived with great purpose.
Anglers and flytiers have been after Harry Darbee for years to write a book—a book, one of them requested, "full of memories and hopes, stories and trout talk, with some-thing of that hallowed mist that hovers around the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill." Finally, here it is! Not only does Darbee evoke the full cast of characters who earned for his native rivers their reputation as the cradle of American fly fishing, he also reveals the tricks and techniques that have made him and his wife, Elsie, two of the world's greatest flytiers. In Catskill Flytier, we meet Herman Christian, Edward R. Hewitt, and Roy Steenrod, who passed on the teachings of the legendary Theodore Gordon; the other pros who made their livelihood as flytiers in the Catskill style; the millionaire fishing-club members who became Darbee customers; the poachers who came by night—and some in broad daylight—to take the big trout out of the club waters; the conservationists who fought and are fighting to save the fish.
Signed first edition in DJ protector; dj has some chips along top and bottom edges; light soiling; brown cloth over tan boards; front endpapers lightly foxed; text clean; binding tight. VG/G
Gentle Giants: A Book of Newfoundlands is Bruce Weber's loving 1994 tribute to his beloved "Rowdy," the breed itself, and the owners that love them. If you own a Newf, or more aptly are or were owned by one of these saliva slinging bears, this book is for you. Impeccably designed and printed in gravure, it includes text by the author-photographer, the original poem "A Newfound Prayer" by Patti Smith, and brief quotes from Eugene O'Neill, Carl Sandburg, Will James, Zane Grey, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, and Joseph Conrad.
Bulfinch Press, 1994. 1st edition. Photo-illustrated boards with blue cloth spine; spine lightly faded; binding sound; text and photos clean and bright. VG
Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and peculiar behavior of horses, both good and ornery. You'll meet buckers, tricksters, and trusted partners: Bearcat is not just a plain crazy hardheaded bucker...but a wise, coolheaded cross between a whirlwind and a ton of brick, Joker is full of old nick and plenty of snorts, and Little Eagle is the seeing eye for a blind cowboy. First published in 1940, Horses I Have Known contains some of Will James' most acclaimed short stories.
World Publishing; Forum Books Edition, 1st printing, 1945; dj protected; top and bottom of spine chipped; top edge chipped; covers lightly soiled and tanned; red cloth with black lettering; water damage to bottom of spine and spine edges of covers; the red color from cloth binding has stained inside bottom of spine of dust jacket; binding good; text clean; illustrated by author. G/G
Living on the Wind is a magisterial work of nature writing from author Scott Weidensaul.
Bird migration is the world's only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and myriad songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent decades. Migration paths form an elaborate global web that shows serious signs of fraying, and Weidensaul delves into the tragedies of habitat degradation and deforestation with an urgency that brings to life the vast problems these miraculous migrants now face.
Everything you ever wanted to know about owls, from behavior to history and mythology, all written in the author's engaging and accessible style. With gorgeous illustrations by Leonard Baskin, this 1st edition volume is a very special gift for any fan of these nocturnal birds of prey.
Dust jacket in protective cover; price clipped; one small tear at bottom of front cover; lightly soiled; white cloth over blue boards; spine very lightly foxed; front cover has embossed illustration of owl; illustrated endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright. G+/G+
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
Longlisted for the National Book Award
Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction
A Finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award
Best Nature Book of the Year: The Times (London) A terrifically exciting account of [Slaght's] time in the Russian Far East studying Blakiston's fish owls, huge, shaggy-feathered, yellow-eyed, and elusive birds that hunt fish by wading in icy water . . . Even on the hottest summer days this book will transport you."
--Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, in Kirkus I saw my first Blakiston's fish owl in the Russian province of Primorye, a coastal talon of land hooking south into the belly of Northeast Asia . . . No scientist had seen a Blakiston's fish owl so far south in a hundred years . . . When he was just a fledgling birdwatcher, Jonathan C. Slaght had a chance encounter with one of the most mysterious birds on Earth. Bigger than any owl he knew, it looked like a small bear with decorative feathers. He snapped a quick photo and shared it with experts. Soon he was on a five-year journey, searching for this enormous, enigmatic creature in the lush, remote forests of eastern Russia. That first sighting set his calling as a scientist. Despite a wingspan of six feet and a height of over two feet, the Blakiston's fish owl is highly elusive. They are easiest to find in winter, when their tracks mark the snowy banks of the rivers where they feed. They are also endangered. And so, as Slaght and his devoted team set out to locate the owls, they aim to craft a conservation plan that helps ensure the species' survival. This quest sends them on all-night monitoring missions in freezing tents, mad dashes across thawing rivers, and free-climbs up rotting trees to check nests for precious eggs. They use cutting-edge tracking technology and improvise ingenious traps. And all along, they must keep watch against a run-in with a bear or an Amur tiger. At the heart of Slaght's story are the fish owls themselves: cunning hunters, devoted parents, singers of eerie duets, and survivors in a harsh and shrinking habitat. Through this rare glimpse into the everyday life of a field scientist and conservationist, Owls of the Eastern Ice testifies to the determination and creativity essential to scientific advancement and serves as a powerful reminder of the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of the natural world.