United States
£ GBP
Darryl Jones is fascinated by bird feeders. Not the containers supplying food to our winged friends, but the people who fill the containers.
Why do people do this? Jones asks in The Birds at My Table. Does the food even benefit the birds? What are the unintended consequences of providing additional food to our winged friends?
Jones takes us on a wild flight through the history of bird feeding. He pinpoints the highs and lows of the practice. And he ponders this odd but seriously popular form of interaction between humans and wild animals. Most important, he points out that we know very little about the impact of feeding birds despite millions of people doing it every day.
Unerringly, Jones digs at the deeper issues and questions, and he raises our awareness of the things we don't yet know and why we really should. Using the latest scientific findings, The Birds at My Table takes a global swoop from 30,000 feet down to the backyard bird feeder and pushes our understanding of the many aspects of bird feeding back up to new heights.
"The Birds at My Table is a passionate discussion of the complex ways that bird feeding matters. The author has read every scientific study of bird feeding and visited bird feeders in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He brings his own interest in feeding birds to the table, too. The Birds at My Table is an impressively comprehensive study of why people feed birds and how birds are affected by this practice. This book will be a benchmark for those interested in the social history and ecological effects of bird feeding. Jones convincingly shows that bird feeding is a global practice with ethical implications."
– Jeff Karnicky, author of Scarlet Experiment: Birds and Humans in America
"The Birds at My Table is a delightful and informative read by a keen naturalist and gifted scholar that will deepen your understanding of birds and why so many of us are compelled to feed them."
– John M. Marzluff, Professor of Wildlife Science and author of Welcome to Subirdia
