Birdmania: A Remarkable Passion for Birds

Highly enjoyable."—Thor Hanson, author of Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle"Birdmania delves into the extraordinarily wide range of people who have observed and documented these beautiful and fascinating creatures. Birdmania is a beautiful tribute to the pioneers who immersed themselves in the world of birds."—Gerrit Vyn, author of The Living Bird“Birdmania. Birdmania will make you want to become one, too.

Packed with intriguing facts and exquisite and rare artwork, Birdmania showcases an eclectic and fascinating selection of bird devotees who would do anything for their feathered friends.In addition to well-known enthusiasts such as Aristotle, Charles Darwin, and Helen Macdonald, Brunner introduces readers to Karl Russ, the pioneer of "bird rooms", who had difficulty renting lodgings when landlords realized who he was; George Lupton, a wealthy Yorkshire lawyer, who commissioned the theft of uniquely patterned eggs every year for twenty years from the same unfortunate female guillemot who never had a chance to raise a chick; George Archibald, who performed mating dances for an endangered whooping crane called Tex to encourage her to lay; and Mervyn Shorthouse, who posed as a wheelchair-bound invalid to steal an estimated ten thousand eggs from the Natural History Museum in Tring.As this book illustrates, people who love birds, whether they

She is the translator of the international bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees by German forester Peter Wohlleben. He is the author of an eclectic array of books, including Bears: A Brief History and Inventing the Christmas Tree.Pete Dunne is the author of numerous books about birds, including Hawks in Flight. He