Andy Swash is also a co-author on several other excellent books including, ¡°The World¡¯s Rarest Birds¡± (which I own), and a nature guide to the Gal¨¢pagos Islands.
Perry Edwards
North Vancouver
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On Oct 23, 2022, at 11:10, Richard James <rich@...> wrote:
?On 2022-10-23 9:53 a.m., Michael Lancaster wrote:
Michael,
From time to time, Princeton University press sends me emails with details of books that might interest me.
A recent email featured a book on hummingbirds. The lead author is a Canadian (Glen Bartlet) the second author(Andy Swash) a British person who as a schoolboy spent many hours in my UK house discussing birds.
Glen is not only Canadian, he is from Victoria.
I have seen his images before and am impressed!
Thanks for posting this.
This book is not an identification guide, nor a 'where to find guide' Although all species of hummingbirds are listed and the countries where one might see them. The taxonomy is detailed.All genera(101) are illustrated. 262 species of the 369 species are illustrated.
Both authors are photographers, and the book contains over 500 stunning photographs, of which, over 80% were taken by the authors. Glen Bartlet, whose main aim is to produce top class photographs of hummingbirds, devised a technique that does just that. Andy Swash has been pursuing a childhood dream of seeing hummingbirds. Both authors share a passion for hummingbirds.
I bought the Kindle version and downloaded it to my Ipad. The photos alone made the price worthwhile.
Reading the book from cover to cover I gained much information about hummingbirds.
I was unaware that Anna's has been recorded in Alaska.
For years I wondered how hummingbirds found feeders where previously they had not been hung. I was told that red attracts them. Well, certainly that colour does, but it is largely irrelevant since I have seen hummingbirds at many different shaped, coloured, and sized feeders. There is no doubt that hummingbirds near human habitation become habituated to feeders early on in life.Whether hummingbirds can smell, is apparently still to be discovered. What I now know, however, is that hummingbirds perceive the ultraviolet spectrum and that plain water looks different to sugar water to them. So stop using red coloured sugar water!!
Anyone who wishes to gain more knowledge about hummingbirds would do well to buy this book.
I thoroughly recommend it, especially the convenience of a Kindle version.
Barry
M B Lancaster
Currently, Oliver BC Canada
Prescience is wonderful if acted upon (MBL 2019)
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Richard James
From an Island in the Pacific,
Victoria, BC
