The Private Lives of Birds: A Scientist Reveals the Intricacies of Avian Social Life

There are many great things about birding. To me, one of the foremost is that the birds we seek out are endlessly fascinating and so much more than mere ticks on a checklist. You could watch the same birds daily and every day gain insight into their lives. Or, and this is in no way a substitute for making your own observations, you can learn from those who have devoted themselves to the study of birds, such as Bridget Stutchbury, the author of The Private Lives of Birds.

According to the author, she is…

…a bird detective, revealing the behind-the-scenes details of the social lives of birds to understand why females cheat on their mates, what makes a male attractive, why some pairs divorce, how birds claim a territory – and what all this means not only for our avian friends, but for us as well.

The author pulls back the curtain (or the branch, if you will) on the day-to-day lives of birds, including:

• Mating – including infidelity and the influence of appearance and song
• Divorce
• Parenting
• Finding a territory
• Territoriality
• Coloniality
• Migration

Birders of all knowledge levels will learn something from this book. It makes a great introduction to bird behavior, while also presenting cool facts, and even entire topics, with which long-time birders may not be familiar. For instance, why do many migrant songbirds not attempt to breed multiple times a year, even though it seems like they have time to raise another brood? Stutchbury provides a likely answer*. I was also very pleased with the chapter on how birds find a territory, as I don’t think I had ever read anything dealing with that topic before.

The author uses birds that she has studied, or otherwise is most familiar with, as examples. This means that North American species are referred to for the most part, along with a few from the tropics of Central America. While the specific details presented here will be most relevant to those familiar with these birds, the overall concepts, and thus the book as a whole, are globally germane.

I realize that learning about how birds live may sound dull to many people, and even some birders may wonder of what benefit it is to them. But most people would be shocked to find out how much like a soap opera birds’ lives are. There are loose females, jealous males, and putting on appearances to make yourself look better than your neighbor. This is juicy stuff, and that’s just the first couple of chapters!

Further, knowing more about a bird and its behavior will enhance your birding. If I were to see a Blackpoll Warbler in New England during the fall, I’d know that it is trying to eat enough to fuel an amazing, non-stop, 2,200 mile, overwater flight all the way to South America! On the other hand, if I saw one at home in Georgia at that time, I’d be very surprised, as the bird should be somewhere over the Atlantic at that moment. So I’d know that I should carefully determine that it is, in fact, a Blackpoll instead of the very similar Bay-breasted Warbler. And if it is, I should alert others to this unusual sighting.

But the author gives an even more compelling reason why we should learn about birds’ lives: how can you save a species that you don’t know? Stutchbury ties many of the topics she covers to conservation. For example, one drastic effect humans may have on bird populations was uncovered by a study of mate choice in Savannah Sparrows. The fields they were breeding in were mowed mid-season, destroying the nests. Afterward, the larger, fitter males no longer held better territories and had fewer mates. The result is that, even though the sparrows renested, the young produced were less fit and probably less likely to survive, contributing to the species’ decline.

Stutchbury is a professional ornithologist, but since her target audience is amateur birders, she writes like a non-scientist. Her writing isn’t as riveting as a good novelist’s is, but it is far from the dry and impersonal text of academia. I appreciate that she does more than just present the facts; she often describes the studies that were done to uncover those facts. However, she eschews the practice of giving references within the text, but does include an appendix with a list of sources for each chapter for those who want to delve deeper.

This book is not heavily illustrated, but there are a few. A lovely, black-and-white drawing by Julie Zickefoose graces the first page of each chapter, usually depicting a bird discussed therein. Additionally, eight color photographs are clustered together in middle of the book.

Recommendation

The Private Lives of Birds is an excellent introduction to the behavior and social lives of birds. Anyone wanting to learn more about how birds live would be well advised to give it a read.

*Possible reason why more birds don’t attempt second broods: I’m summarizing extensively here, this is explained much better in the book. Many migrants actually would have time to raise another brood. But the problem is that they wouldn’t be able to do that AND complete their molt in time to migrate. Molt is either too expensive to be done at the same time as raising young, or if they try it, it just takes too much out of them so that they have a lower survival rate. And if they try to fit it all in, either they or their young might not have time to make it to the wintering grounds in time to get a good territory, thus making them less likely to be able to breed the next year. It’s a give-and-take that Stutchbury describes excellently.