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With nearly ten thousand species of birds scattered throughout five continents, bird societies swarm with diversity. People have long been fascinated by birds' ability to fly, yet these magnificent creatures boast a multitude of other remarkable and mysterious faculties. Building on more than 20 years experience travelling and photographing in locations both familiar and remote, nature photographer Gilles Martin offers a collection of images of some of the world's most charismatic birds, from Peru's Toco Toucan, to Australia's blue-winged Kookaburra, to the United States' Bald Eagle.
Through Martin's intense photography and the informative text of Myriam Baran-Marescot, we learn to admire the emperor penguin's capacity for survival, applaud the artistic talents of Oceanic birds of paradise, and distinguish a tree pipit from a meadow pipit. The book is structured around 12 major themes that enable a better understanding of the evolution, migratory habitats, and survival techniques of birds, as well as their place in the world.
Gilles Martin is an independent photographer living in Touraine, France. Nature is his favourite subject, and his images explore every aspect of nature in all its richness, from the tiniest, virtually invisible animal to the blue whale weighing 140 metric tons. For some years now Martin has travelled extensively in order to accomplish a project that constitutes a first in nature photography: the creation of a "Planetary Photographic Noah's Ark," a visual census that reveals the beauty and vulnerability of the animal world. Its mission is to raise consciousness regarding the extremely fragile balance of the world's ecosystems and the obligation incumbent upon us all to conserve the extraordinary biodiversity that surrounds us. Learn more about him and his work at www gilles-martin.com. Myriam Baran-Marescot is an ethnologist, naturalist, and author specializing in animal behaviour. Her work on ape behaviour was published in Maman-Singe following the inauguration of the first European Program of Simian Aid for Quadriplegics. She has also written extensively about horses, in 100 Chevaux de Legende and for various documentary films. A contributor to the Encyclopedia Universalis and to a number of scientific and naturalist periodicals, she has also written documentaries for French television.
