Books – Page 3 – Hoopoe

Author interview with Stephen Moss: The Starling

Marking the sixth volume in Stephen Moss’ Bird Biography series, The Starling delves into the fascinating life of one of our most talented and surprising birds. Starlings are renowned for their iridescent plumage, impressive vocal abilities and stunning murmurations, and this captivating tale explores how they’ve shaped our world, inspired art and music through the decades, influenced the agricultural industry and more.

Stephen is a naturalist, author and broadcaster well known for his work with the BBC Natural History Unit working on landmark programmes such as Springwatch and The Nature of Britain. He currently holds the position of senior lecturer in creative writing at Bath Spa University and is also president of the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

Stephen recently took time out of his busy schedule to answer some of our questions about his latest book The Starling, including what inspired him to write about this species, how his opinions of this bird has changed throughout the writing process and more.

The Starling marks the sixth volume in your bestselling Bird Biographies series. What inspired you to turn your attention to Starlings for this latest volume?

I always look for three things when it comes to choosing a subject for a bird biography.

First, does the species show some unusual or specific behaviour or habit which mark it out from other species? For example, the Robin’s habit of singing and holding territory in winter, the Wren’s bizarre breeding behaviour where the male builds several ‘cock’s nests’ for the female to inspect, or the Swallows’ epic migrations.

Second, does it have a strong cultural presence – in music, literature, mythology, popular culture and day-to-day society? Examples include the Robin’s association with Christmas, the Swallow’s position as a herald of spring, the Swan’s royal connections, and the owl’s reputation as a mysterious bird of the night.

And third, does the species relate to both me and the reader? Basically, is it one of Britain’s favourite birds, and if so, why? It also helps if I like the bird and have had a lifelong connection with it – which is true of all the species I have featured in the series so far – as then I can add personal anecdotes from my life as a birder.

Just like the previous subjects in the series – the Robin, Wren, Swallow, Swan, and owl(s), the Starling fits the bill in all three of these categories. It is a very sociable bird – more so than almost any other species during both the breeding season and in autumn and winter, when they gather in those famous murmurations. There are also plenty of historical and cultural references, including the fact that Mozart kept a pet starling which used to whistle his new compositions, and which he mourned in a solemn burial ceremony after it died. Most of all, we have a love-hate relationship with this bird, giving it a real ambivalence in our eyes – which makes it a fascinating subject for a book. And as you mention later on, like most of us, I grew up with Starlings. I now live on the Somerset Levels, just a stone’s throw from the famous winter gatherings, which I have now enjoyed for almost twenty years.

This book explores how starlings have influenced both farming and the arts throughout the years – were there any discoveries that surprised you on this line of inquiry?

The biggest surprise was that the widely known and oft-repeated story that Starlings were introduced into North America by a German emigrant who wanted to bring every bird mentioned in Shakespeare to the New World turns out to be mostly a myth! He wasn’t German (though he did come from a high-ranking New York family of German descent); he had no interest in Shakespeare, and most importantly he wasn’t the first person to release Starlings into the wild in the USA – that happened over 20 years earlier. Check out the chapter on ‘The Global Starling ‘to find out more details!

You mentioned having been around starlings for most of your life in the first chapter. Has your research and writing of this book altered your opinion of these birds?

Definitely! I do have a real soft spot for Starlings – though I also agree with the expert scientist Chris Feare that they look like second-hand car salesmen when they walk! I love the fact that they live alongside us but don’t really care about us – just going along with their day-to-day lives.

I also discovered a lot more about the science of their murmurations, and also about our human response to them, which ranges from loathing to love.

Finally, their ability to adapt to locations around the world where they have been introduced – including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as well as North America – is also very interesting, and again tells us a lot about our ambivalent attitudes towards these fascinating and often overlooked birds.

Starlings are often regarded with distaste and annoyance by many. Are there any common misconceptions impacting people’s perceptions of this overlooked species? And how can we move towards acceptance, and ideally, appreciation of these birds?

As my old friend and colleague Bill Oddie famously said, people think of Starlings as ‘bird table bullies’! And yet those same people who don’t like them in their garden love watching their spectacular murmurations! They are also often overlooked – like all common, familiar and widespread species, we tend to take them for granted.

Yet paradoxically, as we saw when another common and familiar bird, the House Sparrow, started to go missing from our towns and cities, when we begin to lose a species, we do begin to appreciate them more!

Starlings are in decline, and almost all urban roosts like the ones in the middle of London, including the famous one in Leicester Square that I used to see when I was growing up, are no more. Fortunately roosts in the wider countryside do appear to be making a bit of a comeback.

If anyone still doesn’t like Starlings, I would urge them to come down to Somerset on evenings between November and February, where we still get a quarter of a million or more Starlings murmurating together before going to roost on the Avalon marshes – it really is truly incredible!

How do you think the historical representation of ‘pest species’, such as Starlings, has affected our attitudes towards them, and how do you think we should approach the somewhat controversial topic of conservation vs agriculture vs pest control in the future?

I don’t like the word ‘pest’, though it is at least a bit less loaded than ‘vermin’! As I discuss in the book, Starlings have always been unpopular with farmers, even though they predate on many so-called insect pests in the soil, such as leatherjackets. They do eat fruit and can also cause problems with their droppings, but overall, I think they are less harmful than many people think.

I also believe that we tend to dislike species, especially those that live alongside us, that remind us of ourselves. This includes gulls, crows and of course starlings, which often seem to behave rather like us, and we don’t like that!

Starling Murmuration - Eastbridge. — Starling Murmuration – Eastbridge by Airwolfhound, via flickr.

I, along with many of your readers, will be excited to see where this series will go next. Have you begun working on the next book? And can you give us any clues as to what comes next?

I have, although I am taking a bit of a break from writing as I am trying to get a better work-life balance and travel to see birds around the world – including Starlings (exotic species in Africa and Asia as well as our own familiar species!). I have long wanted to do the House Sparrow, as it has such a fascinating historical relationship with human beings, and lives closer alongside us than any other species of bird. As a result – just like the Starling – we are very ambivalent towards it.

When we chose the Starling, we had a shortlist of three, the others being Skylark and Kingfisher; yet bizarrely, when I did an X/Twitter poll amongst 2,000 people, the vote split almost exactly to one third for each!

I can’t do some species that readers of the series have suggested, either because, like the Blackbird and Blue Tit, they don’t have very unusual or distinctive behaviour or cultural importance; or because others have already written similar (and excellent) books – such as Sam Lee on the Nightingale and Charles Foster and Sarah Gibson on the Swift.

Currently I am keen on either the Peregrine Falcon or the Puffin, both of which have really strong biological and cultural aspects to their lives – I’d be fascinated to hear which of these species NHBS customers – and your excellent staff – think I should choose!

STEPHEN MOSS is a lifelong birder, broadcaster and bestselling author, whose books have appeared in almost twenty different countries. The Starling is the sixth volume in his celebrated ‘Bird Biographies’ series, following the Robin, Wren, Swallow, Swan, and Owl – and of course The Twelve Birds of Christmas, which featured the dozen species in the famous festive carol. In total these have sold over 100,000 copies, and been translated into Dutch, German and Chinese.

The Starling is available to pre-order from our bookstore here.

Author interview with Richard A. Fortey: Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind

For years, Richard Fortey has found the uniqueness of fungi fascinating, from their strange forms, colours, reputation, rapid appearance and disappearance, to their often unseen role within the natural world. Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind takes the reader on an enthralling journey through Fortey’s forays searching for the strangest, most extraordinary and most delicious species. Focusing on a selection of the larger fungi and a handful of microfungi, this charming book celebrates their profusion, diversity and importance.

Richard Fortey is a palaeontologist, nature historian, writer and presenter who worked as the Natural History Museum’s senior palaeontologist until 2006. Richard has served on the councils of the Systematics Association, Palaeontographical Society, British Mycological Society and more. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997 and was awarded an OBE in the 2023 New Years Honours for services to palaeontology and geology.

We recently spoke to Richard about his book, his first introduction to fungi, his hopes for the future of mycological research and more.

The fungal kingdom is enigmatic, and in recent years it has gripped the attention of naturalists and the wider public alike, thanks to books such as this one. Do you remember your first introduction to fungi that sent you on this path of discovery?

As a child in Ealing on the fringes of London, we were lucky enough to have a large garden. I remember wondering at a great clump of glistening ink caps that appeared around a rotting stump – apparently overnight. In a day or two they had turned into a black soup. About the only book available then (I must have been about ten years old) was The Observer’s Book of Mushrooms and Toadstools, but I managed to identify our stump fungus as Coprinus micaceus. Finding others in the book became a challenge.

Fungi are everywhere, spores floating through the air, mycelial networks underneath our feet, and even in the deep ocean. Can you describe one of your most unexpected encounters with the fungal kind whilst compiling this book?

At my sister-in-law’s house in the rainforest of New South Wales, there were a host of fungi on the ground and on fallen trees. One of them growing on a trunk seemed to be an old and edible friend – the Oyster Mushroom. But when I went out in the dark, I was amazed to see it glowing with a ghostly greenish light. It was an Aussie double of our oyster, and a decidedly poisonous one. I used a photo of it taken by its own light in the book, and it still looks quite unearthly even now I know its identity.

You open the book describing an enchanting trip to the hills of northern Italy for a celebration of the foragers’ favourite, the Bolete. If you were to organise a mycologically focused celebration in the UK, which location would you choose?

When it is in top form it is hard to beat the New Forest for variety and number of species. Boletes used to abound there, and every kind of milkcap and brittlegill still does, and it is about the only place to see the extraordinary Nail Fungus emerging from pony dung.

In your book, you allude to the challenges of understanding taxonomy as a novice or intermediate mushroom fan through the lens of species names. However, you also highlight the importance of both binomial nomenclature and common vernacular names. Do you have a favourite species name, both scientific and common? And to take this further do you have any personal/pet names that you find yourself using for species?

The common small bracket that grows in tiers on dead logs is known as the Turkey Tail – and it really does look like a fanned-out tail of this big bird, with a neat white rim and a neatly zoned dark upper surface. The best scientific name really doesn’t beat around the nomenclatural bush, and it must be Phallus impudicus. The Stinkhorn indeed resembles an upright human reproductive organ and even retains a distinctively scrotal sac at its base. And it smells like rotting meat – the species name refers to that. As for pet names, my young nephew always referred to the beautiful but poisonous scarlet Fly Agaric as “Killer Diller” – and that name seems to have stuck.

As someone with a long career in the sciences, a lifelong mycologist, and an inspiring naturalist, which direction would you like to see mycology take in the next few years as it expands as both a field of research and a subject of interest?

There’s no question that DNA studies are taking mycology into a new direction – not least enabling us to ‘see’ fungi even without having their fruitbodies, for example, by sampling soils in different habitats. I believe that fungi are even better indicators of environmental health than our plants, and I really hope that conservation bodies – and farmers – realize that they need to fully recognize the contribution of fungi to total biodiversity. There are so many different species that identification often poses a challenge, and I personally welcome the development of apps to help, but there is no substitute for getting down on hands and knees on the forest floor. If a fraction of those who make birds their hobby took up mycology it would do no end of good to public awareness.

Finally, what’s occupying your time at the moment? Are you working on any other projects that you can tell us about?

I have had an ongoing project raising fungus gnats – which are also very diverse. One large fungus can feed a hundred tiny flies, and these in turn feed insectivores. Their importance in the food chain has been underestimated. Which species of fungi feed which gnats is still incompletely known, however this is the kind of project I can do in a small woodland like my own.

Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind is available from our online bookstore.

Book Review: What a Bee Knows

***** Tells fascinating tales of bee biology

Leon Vlieger, NHBS Catalogue Editor

The collectives formed by social insects fascinate us, whether it is bees, ants, or termites. But it would be a mistake to think that the individuals making up such collectives are just mindless cogs in a bigger machine. It is entirely reasonable to ask, as pollination ecologist Stephen Buchmann does here, What a Bee Knows. This book was published almost a year after Lars Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee, which I reviewed previously. I ended that review by asking what Buchmann could add to the subject. Actually, despite some unavoidable overlap, a fair amount.

Though I will leave a comparison and recommendation for the end of this review, I can already tell you that What a Bee Knows is a different beast altogether. Buchmann’s approach to convincing you that bees are sophisticated insects is to provide a general and wide-ranging introduction to bee biology, telling you of all the things they get up to.

What makes this introduction accessible to a broad audience is that Buchmann goes back to first principles. For starters, what even is a bee, and where did they come from? You might not realise that they evolved from carnivorous predatory wasps and likely did so some 130 million years ago, not long after the evolution of flowering plants. Another basic aspect Buchmann highlights is how myopically focused we are on social bees. The thing is, 80% of all 20,000+ described bee species are solitary. Their biology is the more representative one and Buchmann discusses examples from their lonesome lives throughout this book, many based on his observations working in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and elsewhere. He reminds the reader that “we should not think of honey bees as the pinnacle of bee evolution toward which all bee species strive” (p. 32). Theirs is the exception; a high-risk, high-reward strategy to making a living on this planet.

A close up of a bee in flight flying across grass. — Bee in-flight, by Nikk on Flickr.

This approach of introducing basic concepts is applied throughout the book. Thus, we get a brief tour of the gross anatomy of the bee brain, but not before Buchmann explains the basics of the human brain and the structure and workings of neurons. An introduction to sexual selection prefixes the discussion on the many sexual escapades of bees: from scramble competition in cactus bees involving bee brawls (which is exactly what it sounds like), to hilltop lekking in carpenter bees, to alternative reproductive tactics with different male morphs in Centris pallida. Bees can learn to solve problems, improve their performance, and even learn new tricks from other bees, but what is this process called learning, and how widespread is it? Similarly, chapters on sleep, pain, and consciousness all first discuss more broadly what these are and what we know about them in humans and other vertebrate and invertebrate organisms.

Buchmann is a pollination ecologist by training and he cannot help but indulge in a long chapter on pollination. He is on form here and gleefully reminds readers that, next to billboards for pollinators, “flowers are unabashedly plant genitals exposed on a stem for all to see” (p. xiii), while bees act as “surrogate flying flower penises” (p. 78). Though it is traditionally held up as a wholesome form of mutualism, it has elements of an arms race too. As Jeff Ollerton also points out, active pollination, where a pollinator deliberately places pollen on a flower’s stigma, is extremely rare. Rather, the norm is that both pollinators and flowers have their own interests (food and pollination), at heart first and foremost. Sometimes both parties will benefit, but this is not a given. Orchids trick male bees into pseudocopulation with flowers that look and smell just like female bees, dusting them in pollen in the process without offering any nectar. At the other extreme, carpenter bees have become nectar robbers, using their jaws to cut into flowers at their base to access nectar, and thus not providing pollination services. And here is an interesting recent development: studies on the bee microbiome suggest that bees derive some of the microbial life that populates their gut from the flowers on which they forage. In some cases, the proteins contributed by flower microbes might be more nutritious than the pollen grains.

A solitary bee coming out of a nest in the ground with grass and clover around it. — A solitary bee, by Nikk on Flickr.

A chapter on sensory biology is, of course, obligatory and Buchmann covers all relevant topics: the trichromatic vision of bees that extends into the ultraviolet, their perception of polarized light used in navigation, their excellent smell, their hearing (which is more a detection of pressure waves at close range), their taste and tactile senses, their to-us-alien detection of electrical charges (and the electrostatic footprints bees leave on flower petals after a visit), and the still contentious topic of magnetoreception. What was new to me is that the two mobile antennae produce a three-dimensional impression of an odour field, and some nifty experiments that involved crossing their antennae resulted in bees persistently walking away from the source of a smell, indicating that they really do smell in stereo.

Though an accessible and enjoyable romp into bee biology, I do have a few minor quibbles. There is a limited number of general black-and-white illustrations and photos, and the reproduction of the latter is so-so as this is a print-on-demand book. And though What a Bee Knows avoids getting too technical, I do feel that in some places Buchmann wanders a bit off-piste from exploring the inner world of bees into more general fascinating tales of bee biology. Nevertheless, the book achieves its mission of instilling a renewed respect and a better understanding of how bees live.

Having now reviewed both Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee and Buchmann’s What a Bee Knows, how do they compare and which one should you read? Both books broadcast the same message loud and clear: bees are darn sophisticated creatures and even individually are far smarter and more capable than you might initially give them credit for. As mentioned, Buchmann goes back to first principles on many topics and wanders into bee biology more generally, while I remarked that Chittka delivers an information-dense book with numerous explanatory illustrations that is very focused in its approach, talking bees, bees, and the occasional other hymenopteran. Consequently, Buchmann does not delve as deeply into many subjects, though he does discuss some experiments in detail (including Chittka’s work on several occasions). My recommendation would be that general readers with little background in biology or entomology pick, or first start with, What a Bee Knows. Biologists, in particular entomologists, might want to skip straight to Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee and get stuck in the wealth of detail there.

What a Bee Knows by Stephen Buchmann is available from our online bookstore.

Author interview with Stuart Ball and Roger Morris: Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland

Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland is a beautifully illustrated photographic field guide that details the hoverfly species readily available in Great Britain. This revised and updated third edition details 13 additional species and features more than 840 stunning photographs, alongside a host of other improvements to aid reliable identification. As such, this is the most accessible, authoritative and easy-to-use guide available, and a must-read for all entomologists and naturalists alike.

Stuart Ball and Roger Morris have been running the Hoverfly Recording Scheme since 1991 and published the Provisional Atlas of British Hoverflies in 2000. Stuart and Roger both worked as entomologists for the statutory nature conservation agencies, are both active members of the Dipterists Forum, a society that promotes the study of flies, and have subsequently run many hoverfly identification courses prior to their retirement.

We recently had the opportunity to talk to both Stuart and Roger about the book, including how they first became interested in working with hoverflies, where the ‘new species’ that are now detailed in the third edition have come from and more.

Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourselves and your history of working with hoverflies?

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, we worked for the Nature Conservancy Council’s ‘Invertebrate Site Register’ and were active entomologists with a broad interest in flies. Alan Stubbs, our boss at the time, was looking to re-vitalise the Hoverfly Recording Scheme following Philip Entwistle’s retirement and twisted our arms to take it on. The idea was to combine Stuart’s interest in computing and data interpretation, and Roger’s interest in hoverflies, to try to get the scheme back off the ground. At that time there were about two cubic metres of record cards and about 50,000 computerised records. We took the project on, knowing that we would have to computerise those cards, check the existing computerised data and draw in data from numerous other datasets. Little did we realise what it would entail and how it would change our lives! We produced a provisional Atlas in 2000, a second one in 2011 and now have maps available online. Although we are still running the scheme, we do want to see it safely transition to a new generation before we become too long in the tooth!

Volucella zonaria, Britain's biggest hoverfly enjoying the buddleia om the summer sun. — Volucella zonaria by Martin Cooper. via flickr.

You are both involved in organising and managing the database of the Hoverfly Recording Scheme. Can you tell us a little bit about it and why the scheme is important?

We split responsibility – Stuart manages the database and deals with data import and final validation processes, whilst Roger deals with day-to-day contact with recorders, including verification of iRecord data and active engagement via the UK Hoverflies Facebook group. The dataset now comprises over 1.8 million records and is the largest dataset for an insect group, except for Lepidoptera and Odonata. The size of the dataset, combined with the unique ecological significance that arises from their various larval feeding strategies, makes hoverflies an excellent subject for many lines of research. The most obvious one has been interest in pollinators, but there are growing avenues of interest in hoverflies because they are sensitive to climate change and also because they are often highly habitat specific. Scheme data is also used in the triennial ‘State of Nature’ reporting.

There are 13 additional species included in this updated edition. Where have these ‘new’ species come from?

When we started work on the new edition there was scope to expand the book, but obviously much less scope to completely re-organise its structure. The species chosen were mainly included because experience has shown them to feature among the species whose photos are posted online and, therefore, people want to know about them. One big change we have made has been to make sure that all Eristalis species are covered and that we have a key to assist in their identification.

Hoverfly perched on a green plant with seeds. — Hoverfly by nmahieu, via flickr.

The third edition includes a new section on putting data to good use. Why was this important for you?

Our objective from the onset has been to produce a book that is somewhat different from a traditional identification guide. We wanted to make sure that readers thought about both the animal they saw and its larval biology. Moreover, we wanted to encourage high-quality recording. Our background in nature conservation has taught us that the biggest impediment to insect conservation is a lack of reliable data. So, we felt it was necessary to show readers how records might be used and what messages they can convey. The use of models to investigate aspects of wildlife biology and conservation is relatively new, so showing readers that data can be used for a lot more than just ‘dots on maps’ is essential if we are to foster an ongoing high-quality recording community.

Traditionally, hoverfly guides use dichotomous keys as the primary aid for identification. What challenges did you face in producing an identification guide based on photographs and why did you feel that a photographic guide was the right choice for this book?

When we originally developed the book, it was not our intention to replace the existing monographs which include full keys, such as British Hoverflies (Stubbs & Falk 2002), Hoverflies of Northwest Europe (van Veen 2010) and the newer Hoverflies of Britain and North-West Europe (Bot & van de Meutter 2023). Our intention was to produce a companion to these books which illustrated the key features using field photos of live flies and close-up shots of specimens to make the identification process more accessible. The huge growth in records coming from photos posted online meant that we especially wanted to target photographers who wish to put a name to the animals in their pictures. Moreover, had we used traditional keys, the book would have been 400+ pages long and would have been considerably more expensive. Britain’s Hoverflies was quite a brave move for WILDGuides at the time because they had not tackled such a large insect family. The design and the contents had to be marketable, appealing and affordable to people who might not normally buy a book on flies. Coming up with guidance that does not involve keys has been a challenge and we must credit Rob Still for the design inspiration and turning our rough ideas into something workable. Since that first edition, the book has evolved and expanded. It is now a lot bigger, but we have held to our basic belief that it should be complimentary to these other works rather than a replacement.

Syritta pipiens - Thick-legged Hoverfly taking nectar from a small, yellow flower. — Syritta pipiens – Thick-legged Hoverfly by Nikk, via flickr.

This updated edition includes revised maps, flight-period charts and population trends for hoverfly species across Britain. Have you observed any changes in behaviour or distribution in response to developing environmental challenges? And do we have a clear idea of how these insects are likely to be impacted in the future?

All insects are responding to a plethora of environmental changes, but we are in a better position to investigate the challenges facing hoverflies because there is such a big dataset and new data arrives in volumes that we could only have dreamt of 30 years ago. Some species are expanding their range, while for others the frequency with which they are recorded is diminishing and/or their range is contracting. Species that were once at the edge of their European range have moved northwards, some quite dramatically. Several new species have arrived, apparently under their own steam, as their European ranges have expanded, but others have been assisted by lax biosecurity. A few species have disappeared from south-east England or are in the process of doing so.

It might be assumed that the twin evils of habitat loss and agricultural intensification (including pesticides) are primarily responsible for these changes; however, we think that climate change is having a far more profound impact than is currently accepted. Flies have very thin-skinned larvae and are highly susceptible to changes in humidity, so increases in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves and droughts will have a big impact on them. This sensitivity makes them important indicators – they are arguably climate change canaries that help to explain why so much of Britain’s precious biodiversity is disappearing. Flies are at the bottom of the food chain, so if you lose flies there will be fewer insectivorous birds and mammals, let alone predacious invertebrates such as wasps and spiders.

Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland is published by WILDGuides and is available to pre-order from our online bookstore.

Author interview with Gabriel Hartmann: Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds, Volume 1: Introduction

This book (or rather book series, since it will be more than just one book) has been an incredibly long time in the making, and the sheer scale of the project alone makes it a huge achievement. What were the main challenges you came across and how were they overcome?

Our project began in 1998 when the French publisher Delachaux et Niestlé requested us to create a new feather identification guide based on colour photos. The illustrations of feathers in our Atlas are arranged according to a unique, recognisable pattern on a standardised grey background, each of them depicting the feathers of an individual bird, which allows readers to grasp the essence of different feather types at a glance. We use a method of directly scanning feathers on a flatbed scanner that was developed at the University of Amsterdam. But printing costs were prohibitive. Print-on-demand technology made it possible to produce smaller, more affordable print runs. We used this technology to produce our first collective work of the Feather Research Group titled The Tail Feathers of the Birds of Central Europe. We also produced two feather calendars with a series of colour plates that were composed for our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds as a test run to see how the colours came out in print.

In 2009, after 10 years of intense work, we produced a DVD with 1,280 colour plates featuring illustrations of feathers for 330 Passerine species. This compilation from many sources resulted in a wave of interest in our project. Meanwhile, the number of Passerine species for which colour plates were ready had nearly doubled to more than 600 species. We decided to publish our collective work under the name The Featherguide rather than any individual names. In this way, everyone in our group can identify with this eponym and no one needs to feel that anyone is adorning themselves with borrowed plumes.

The most time-consuming aspect of our work is the composition of feather images for bird species that are not found in any feather collections. Thanks to the kind support of the Feather Identification Laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution, and generous curators at Natural History Museums, it was possible to develop a technique that allows us to extract depictions of isolated feathers from photographs of bird skins. The missing part of the feather that remains in the skin is digitally added in a seamless way. A single colour plate produced in this way from many different puzzle pieces takes up to one week. With 1,350 bird species to be covered in our Atlas and our goal of illustrating all important plumages, you can imagine how many months and years this adds up to. We thank readers for their patience and interest.

Our project has inspired a number of off-shoots that will be welcome by most readers. For example, the French feather identification book by Cloé Fraigneau, which is now available under the title An Identification Guide to the Feathers of Western European Birds, emerged from the initial planning sessions we had with the director of Delachaux et Niestlé. The series of books on feather identification by Professor Hans-Heiner Bergmann was inspired by our flyer distributed at the International Ornithological Congress in 2006. A book titled Feathers: Displays of Brilliant Plumage by world–renowned photographer Robert Clark features several photographs of original feather sheets that were mounted for our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds, each depicted on a full double page. Even Audubon Magazine featured a series of photographs of original feather sheets from our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds. The Feather Atlas for North American Birds, published online by the Forensics Laboratory of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was inspired by our original project description in the Conference Proceedings of the International Bird Strike Committee. The Featherbase website, which gets several million visitors per year, adopted the same grey background colour that we had chosen for our illustrations and also adopted the idea of depicting wing and tail diagrams in the way that we presented in our original project description.

Group photograph of the Feather Research Group in 2016. — Group photograph of the Feather Research Group in 2016 © Jessica Louise Wright.

The study of feathers has an obvious application for species identification, particularly when dealing with bird remains. But can a study of feathers also provide us with an insight into bird evolution and taxonomy, or indeed other areas of research?

Yes, indeed, much can be learned on these topics through the study of feathers. Subtle variations in the phenotype constitute the raw material for natural selection to act upon. Through the study of feathers, we can gain a deeper understanding of evolution. The high amount of phenotypic plasticity in bird wings is a clear example of evolution in progress. Many species exhibit subtle fluctuations in the extent and depth of emarginations on their primaries, resulting in different numbers of slots in their wings between different individuals. Another area of phenotypic plasticity is unusual variations in the number of flight-feathers. Our Feather Research Group compiled a large body of such variations from scientific literature and from our own research.

While feathers were not unique to birds, emarginations are. Birds as we know them today are thought to have evolved from Mesozoic stem birds that coexisted with feathered dinosaurs. The only line that survived the cataclysmic event on Yucatan 66 million years ago evolved emarginations in their wings. If we consider birds as a class of their own, then the feature that distinguishes birds from feathered dinosaurs is the presence of emarginations. The evolution of emarginations can bring clarity into today’s scientific discussion on the origin of birds, which largely portrays birds as living dinosaurs, thereby blurring the line between reptiles and birds. Emarginations make birds unique. Neither bats nor insects nor pterosaurs have emarginations in their wings. Not all bird families living today have emarginations in their wings, giving rise to the question whether these bird families never evolved emarginations or whether their emarginations disappeared during the course of evolution. Emarginations can be lost either through the evolution of very narrow, pointed wings or through devolution into flightlessness.

Whether our findings have any relevance for taxonomy is up to taxonomists to decide. In the past, taxonomy was entirely based on phenotype, while today it is largely based on genotype. Phenotypic variations do not play a significant role in current taxonomy, unless one is interested in the possible inheritance of epigenetic switches that regulate the expression of the genotype into the phenotype. For example, it is not clear whether the fine-tuning of the gradient in retinoic acid that is linked to two genes on the sixth and eighth chromosomes (and is responsible for the regulation of the vane width of feathers) was already inherent in the genome of Mesozoic stem birds and was activated through one of these epigenetic switches, giving rise to emarginations in modern birds. This question may be possible to answer by looking at the genome of bird families that appear to have never evolved emarginations so far, such as rails.

Close up of an orange feather. — **Feather by Quinn Dombrowski, via flickr.**

Who do you think these books will appeal to and who will benefit from such a comprehensive and high-quality atlas?

Anyone who visits the Featherbase website and finds the scans of feathers depicted there to be useful or interesting will also benefit from our work. If only 1% of the millions of visitors to this website see any value of having a printed Atlas with feather images of similar or even higher quality, this will make our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds worthwhile.

Many of the scans shown on the Featherbase website are from the collection of Dr. Wolf-Dieter Busching, the former director of the Naumann Museum in Köthen, Germany, who built up the largest scientific feather collection in the world, comprising feathers of around 2,500 bird species. During the time of the former communist regime in East Germany, it was difficult for Dr. Busching to obtain paper of a consistent colour for mounting the feathers in his collection. Therefore, his feather specimens are mounted on paper of many different colours, sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes yellow. Since the vanes of feathers are semi-transparent, the colour of the paper they are mounted on influences the colour of the feathers. In addition, the feathers in Dr. Busching’s collection often overlap each other, thereby hiding parts of the neighbouring feathers. In our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds, we show all feathers on the same standardised grey background and without overlap. In this way, each feather is fully visible and the colours of the feathers can be reliably compared.

Of course, the production of a series of books with high-quality colour plates is more expensive than running a website. The cost of such a series in printed form will limit the number of potential buyers compared to the number of visitors to the Featherbase website. We will keep the cost as low as possible to maximise the number of people able to afford our series in printed form.

Close up of black and white rooster feathers. — Rooster feathers by Ruth Hartnup, via flickr.

The first volume in the series provides readers with a global overview of feather characteristics. Were there any particularly surprising data or revelations that resulted from compiling such a comprehensive collection?

There were several surprises indeed. Two of the most peculiar discoveries, or rather rediscoveries, were made in the families Tityridae (tityras, becards and allies) and in the family Trochilidae (hummingbirds). In the families Tityridae, two genera, Tityra and Pachyramphus, have a small, crippled primary number 9 in between normally-sized neighbours in the wings of adult males, while females and juveniles have normally formed wings. The function of the reduced-sized P9 may be related to sound production (sonation) during the display of adult males, but so far, we could not find any references in the scientific literature that would substantiate such an assumption. Amazingly, this peculiar phenomenon had even escaped the attention of Dr. Wolf-Dieter Busching, who devoted his entire life to the study of feathers, and none of our other collaborators in the Feather Research Group noted this phenomenon.

There are currently three mounted feather specimens of adult males of these two genera on the internet, one of them from the collection of Dr. Busching and two from other feather collections. In each of these three feather collections, the reduced-size P9 was mistakenly glued in front of P10 rather than in its correct position between P8 and P10, indicating that the respective feather researchers had no clue where this feather belongs and seem to have misjudged it to be a reduced outer primary, as is found in many passerines. However, when we consulted an older publication on feathers from 136 years ago, it turns out that this odd, reduced-size feather was already noted by Hans Gadow in 1888, at least in the genus Tityra, while its presence in the genus Pachyramphus seems to have escaped his attention, too.

The second peculiar discovery in the family of hummingbirds concerns the presence of emarginations at the tips of the outer primaries in males of 22 species from five genera. Most of us in the Feather Research Group had assumed by default that none of the hummingbird species have any emarginations, based on our experience with the many species for which we had examined feathers. The great majority of the 377 extant hummingbird species do not have any emarginations, as in the related family of swifts. So, it would have been easy to miss these exceptional few species if the effort had not been made to look at every single hummingbird species based on photographs of live birds. Again, the fact that only males of these exceptional species have emarginations, while females are missing them, leads to the assumption that these emarginations have something to do with the display flight of males. In this case, there is indeed a scientific paper dating back to 1983, which confirms this assumption for just one of the 22 hummingbird species in which males have emarginations. The only feather experts who knew about this study are Professor Lukas Jenni and Dr. Raffael Winkler from Switzerland. The authors of this study found that males create noises with their emarginated primaries and that these noises are used to protect nectar resources. Filling the slot between emarginated primaries with a glue film or clipping the distal 2–3 mm of these primaries caused males to sing more to protect their territories. We can deduce that the other hummingbird species in which males have emarginations use them in a similar way to produce sound. There is, however, a sixth genus of hummingbird in which males have inverse emarginations at the base of the primaries, not at their tips. This phenomenon of emarginations at the feather bases instead of at their tips does not make any aerodynamic sense, so it is likely that these inverse emarginations have some type of ornamental function in males.

These two discoveries, or rather rediscoveries, in the families Tityridae and Trochilidae teach us to remain open and not adhere to preconceived ideas. They also teach us to consult old literature that may have been forgotten or considered outdated.

The first volume will initially be published in black and white to make it affordable to as many people as possible. The online database of feathers is also available to everyone in the hopes that citizen scientists and members of the public will help to verify and correct the results. Given that birdwatching is such a popular pastime, do you think that there is a large body of untapped knowledge within the birding public?

There definitely is a large body of untapped knowledge within everyone, not only within the birding community. The key is to allow everyone to express their inner potential themselves. We are in favour of encouraging birders to publish their own data under their own names. Professor Peter Finke, who advises our Feather Research Group, calls this approach of empowering citizens to publish their own data Citizen Science Proper. What has been prevalent so far is Citizen Science Light, in which so-called experts scoop off the knowledge of the public and make a name for themselves with borrowed plumes, so to speak. Professor Finke published a book titled Citizen Science: The Underestimated Knowledge of Laymen (, which answers this question in much greater depth, giving many examples for birdwatchers in particular.

With regards to the global survey of emarginations in all bird species of the world, that became possible on the basis of photographs of live birds, which citizen scientists generously share on the internet. Our approach of opening our research findings on the number of emarginations in all bird species of the world by listing the internet links of the original photos that were used for this study is a way of thanking these many thousands of photographers. They all deserve to be mentioned as co-authors of our study. By sharing our findings and providing the original links to the photos that were used, we offer these photographers a way to give us their feedback on what we discovered thanks to their generosity. Anyone else who likes to share their observations on the photographs of live birds and scans of feathers that were used for our study is also welcome. We greatly value this interaction with birdwatchers and the general public.

close up of grey and brown feathers, — Photo by Tina Hartung, via unsplash.

How many volumes will the series eventually comprise, and do you know when they are due to be published?

After our last meeting in 2016, the World Feather Atlas Foundation purchased ten large scanners for our Feather Research Group. Five of these scanners went to the Featherbase team to support their endeavour of creating a World Feather Atlas. The remaining five were given to other collaborators in our group. The Featherbase team adopted the same grey background for newly mounted feather specimens as we adopted in 1998 for our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds. This unified the backgrounds on all scans, creating the basis for a potential cooperation to speed up the work on our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds.

The production of colour plates for the passerines took 24 years because they were all produced by only one person. If the work on the colour plates for the non-passerines is divided up by the holders of these ten scanners, it will be possible to produce the remaining colour plates more quickly. At the same time, the holders of these scanners can use them for their own projects.

Most important to us is to respect the copyrights of everyone who produces scans of feathers. Any contributions to our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds must be based on mutual respect for everyone’s free will. Those who contribute scans of feathers are treated at an equal level to those who contribute text. In the past, illustrators of bird guides were often underappreciated compared to the authors. All too often, illustrators were not even mentioned on the book cover. We feel that this relationship between illustrators and authors needs to be amended. Illustrators deserve to be cited alongside authors. In our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds, the work of those who produce scans of feathers is even more important than those who write the texts, because the texts can only be written on the basis of these scans.

The Full Edition of our Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds will comprise a total of ten volumes including the introductory volume. Each of the subsequent nine volumes will cover about 150 bird species, adding up to a total of about 1,350 bird species. The Concise Edition will consist of two volumes. . The most precious thing we have to offer are the large-size colour plates in the full edition. The illustrations of feathers in the Concise Edition will be a cut-down version of the original colour plates and considerably smaller.

Atlas of Feathers for Western Palearctic Birds, Volume 1: Introduction is available to pre-order from our online bookstore.

Book Review: Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs

***** A richly illustrated entry-level book

In this review, I am revisiting the spectacular diversity of marine reptiles that flourished in the planet’s oceans and waterways during the time of the dinosaurs. After having gone without popular titles on the subject for almost two decades since Richard Ellis’s Sea Dragons in 2005, suddenly we have three. Last year (April–May) I reviewed The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles and Ancient Sea Reptiles, and mentioned that this book was in the works. Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs was originally published in French in 2021 as La Mer au Temps des Dinosaures by Belin/Humensis and has been translated into English by Mark Epstein. Technically speaking that makes it the first of this recent crop, though the English translation was only published in November 2023, after the aforementioned two works. It brings together four French palaeontologists and one natural history illustrator for a graphics-heavy introduction. So, what is in this book, and how does it compare to the other titles?

Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs breaks down into two halves. The obligatory first short chapter introduces the state of the world during the Mesozoic Era 252–66 million years ago (mya), specifically the position of the continents (the palaeogeography) and the various extinction crises by which we divide this time span. After this, the first half is a very long chapter 2 that discusses all the major and minor groups: the “big three” (ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs); the groups with survivors today such as the crocodylomorphs and sea turtles; and lesser-known groups such as hupehsuchians and thalattosaurs. The second half of the book consists of five chronological chapters that help you put all this diversity into some sort of logical order. This starts with life’s first coy attempts at reptiles-returning-to-the-sea in the Palaeozoic Era, the main event of the Mesozoic in three chapters (the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous), and the Cenozoic Era in which the survivors of the K–Pg extinction continued and sometimes thrived.

The book’s second half stood out to me for two reasons. First, it helps prevent the same rookie mistake that is often made regarding dinosaurs: they did not all live at the same time. This may sound incredibly obvious and yet is easily and frequently forgotten. Where marine reptiles are concerned, a good example of this is that the ichthyosaurs evolved ~252 mya and went extinct ~90 mya, while the mosasaurs evolved ~100 mya and went extinct 66 mya at the K–Pg boundary, the two groups thus overlapping for “only” 10 million years. Turtles and crocodylomorphs survived the K–Pg extinction and positively flourished, though some groups subsequently went extinct and left no living descendants, such as the dryosaurids (a crocodylomorph lineage, extinct ~40 mya). The second reason I liked this chronological section is that it is largely told through the lens of key fossil localities around the globe (here, among others, Monte San Giorgio, Holzmaden, and the Oxford Clay). Though their names are often familiar and each of these deposits offers a unique view of a certain ecosystem at a certain time, they rarely get much attention themselves. The authors here provide just that little bit of extra information on their geography and stratigraphy, the history of their discovery and exploitation, and the palaeoenvironment that can be deduced from them.

Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs is richly illustrated in full colour with photos, diagrams, and paleoart by Alain Bénéteau, including single and double-page spreads. There are several cladograms mapped onto timelines, with the simplified phylogeny of crocodylomorphs on page 69 particularly useful in visualising the uncertain placement of thalattosuchians. Drawings show unique anatomical adaptations, explaining e.g. the evolution of turtle shells. The text is regularly interspersed with boxes discussing notable species or concepts such as proposed forms of swimming or adaptation of bones to life underwater. In short, the visual presentation of this book is outstanding.

I normally prefer to review each book on its own merits, but given that we now have two richly illustrated introductory books, there is no avoiding the mosasaur in the room. How does Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs stack up against Darren Naish’s Ancient Sea Reptiles? As I also observe about his Dinopedia, Naish is particularly interested in taxonomy and species diversity. Whereas the discussion of the different groups here takes up 55 pages in chapter 2, Naish does this in 132 pages and six chapters. He goes into more detail on taxonomic conundrums and for most groups discusses more species. What the French quartet here adds are the five chronological chapters, extending their coverage of evolutionary events to before and after the Mesozoic. As mentioned, they also give more detail on key fossil sites whereas Naish briefly mentions some of these in his chapter 1. My impression is that palaeontology buffs will want to get both books, despite the inevitable overlap. If, however, you are looking to buy just one book then Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs is the most entry-level of the two, while Ancient Sea Reptiles provides more detail (and in that scenario would be my book of choice). My original observation regarding Greg Paul’s The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles, that it is more of a reference work to be consulted after either of these books, still holds.

Ocean Life in the Time of Dinosaurs is available from our online bookstore.

Book Review: The Redemption of Wolf 302

**** Tells the story of an unlikely hero

Ever since wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 they have been intently observed by biologists and wolf enthusiasts. Amongst these, biological technician and park ranger Rick McIntyre has to be the most dedicated, having watched these wolves from dawn to dusk every day for around two decades now. The Redemption of Wolf 302 is the third book in the Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series and tells the story of an unlikely hero.

Though this book can be read by itself, you will get more enjoyment out of the unfolding multi-generational story arc if you read the previous two instalments. Furthermore, McIntyre refers to earlier wolves quite frequently and this book picks up right where The Reign of Wolf 21 ended, meaning the earliest part of wolf 302’s life is not told here. However, a brief introduction brings you up to speed.

One thing this book makes clear is that wolves have individual characters. Whereas wolves 8 and 21 were devoted males looking out for their pack, the current protagonist is anything but. With the death of 21 in 2004, the second-ranking male 253 temporarily takes over but is quickly ousted by two neighbours from the Leopold Pack: 302 and his younger nephew 480. 302, however, is not a natural leader. An increasingly baffled McIntyre spends the first half of the book describing many instances of his unusual behaviour: he runs away during confrontations with other packs, quickly becomes subordinate to his much younger nephew 480, sneakily tries to mate with females when 480 is distracted, occasionally steals food from pups, and is easily spooked by prey carcasses moving when his packmates tear pieces of meat off them. When 302 snoozes on a nearby hill while the Druids battle a rival pack, ignoring their howls, McIntyre seems truly exasperated: “I had been rooting for 302 to do better in life for over four years, but his total noninvolvement as 480 rushed to confront these wolves made me think 302 was a lost cause” (p. 118).

Two black wolves on the waters edge of a pond in the snow. — Yellowstone National Park by NPS / Jacob W. Frank, via flickr.

As a consequence, the first part actually revolves around male 480 who steps up as the new Druid alpha male. Through the years 2005 and 2006 McIntyre witnesses the waxing and waning of power between the packs. Several Druid wolves are killed by the neighbouring Slough Creek pack in 2005 and the Sloughs expand their territory aggressively. The tide turns from 2006 onwards, though, when an unknown pack moves in from the north and subjects the Slough’s breeding den to a brutal siege and later kills its adult males. Subsequent accidents and poor breeding seasons for the Sloughs allow the Druids to regain much of their territory by 2008.

It takes until 2007 for wolf 302 to redeem himself, by which time he is over 6.5 years old, well beyond the average lifespan of wolves in Yellowstone. He finally starts helping the Druid females and pups, and assists male 480 during hunts and fights with other packs. By 2008 he leaves the Druids with a group of yearlings in tow and, together with a female from the Agate Creek pack, forms the newly-named Blacktail pack. In one example of stories coming full circle in this book, 302 takes up residence in the territory of the now-extinct Leopold pack, the same territory he was born in. Without giving away further spoilers, several other storylines come full circle at the end of 302’s life. Although not tugging on the heartstrings quite as much as the story of wolves 21 and 42, I was nevertheless so invested emotionally in the fully-lived lives of these wolves that by the end of the book I struggled to hold back tears. 302 ultimately transitions from a rebel to an alpha wolf deserving of that status.

3 wolves from a yellowstone wolf pack stood on either side of a trench with scrubland all around. — Yellowstone Wolves by Larry Lamsa, via flickr.

If you read the previous books then you know what to expect: no embellished writing but a detailed rendition of McIntyre’s field notes that recounts the day-to-day lives of these wolves. This book retains the same structure as The Reign of Wolf 21: short chapters bundled into parts, one part for each year. McIntyre has reverted to putting just one map with home ranges at the start of the book, together with diagrams of the changing pack compositions over the years. The Reign of Wolf 21 put maps and diagrams at the start of each part, which was a useful convention that helped keep track of all the players. It looks as if McIntyre decided that was not necessary for this book as it follows fewer packs.

Like previous volumes, this book overflows with interesting biological observations on e.g. play behaviour of pups and interactions with other species such as bears and ravens. A notable problem is the outbreak of mange, a mite-caused disease that leads to fur loss. Research using infrared cameras has shown the substantial loss of body heat this causes, and the resulting deterioration of health in the subzero temperatures of Yellowstone winters. McIntyre furthermore uses one chapter to shortly summarize observations on wolf injuries and mortalities that he mentioned in this and the previous two books. His observations mirror those of Wolves on the Hunt which showed wolves regularly suffer serious injuries while hunting prey, from broken ribs to fractured jaws. Sometimes these are fatal, though more wolves die as a result of fights with other wolves.

Close up of two wolves in Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, walking over a snowy ridge. — Wolves in Hayden Valley by NPS / Ashton Hooker, via flickr.

As before, McIntyre rarely inserts himself in the narrative. He mentions notable visitors to the park and personal achievements such as his nine-year streak of daily observations, even when temperatures drop to lows of -44°C. There are two other striking examples of McIntyre’s detachment in this book. One is an incident where he leaves an injured wolf after several hours of observation and finds him dead the next day. McIntyre sticks to an iron rule that he is here to observe, not to interfere, and that means all facets of life and death in the natural world. The second incident is the start of the wolf-hunting season in Montana when wolves are removed from the endangered species list in 2009. The wolves in Yellowstone National Park are still protected, but those venturing outside are at risk. Despite expressing his concern for their safety, he refrains from giving his personal opinion on the hunting of wolves.

This series was originally going to be a trilogy, but by the end, McIntyre foreshadows the subject of the fourth book: the alpha females, particularly female 06. Named after her year of birth, 2006, she was a granddaughter of male 21 and was legendary for her fierce independence. Though she has been the subject of Blakeslee’s book American Wolf, McIntyre is uniquely placed to give an account of her life. For now, wolf aficionados can delight in The Redemption of Wolf 302. With each book, the payoff of following their story in this level of intimate detail is getting bigger – these books are in a class of their own.

The Redemption of Wolf 302 is available from our bookstore.

Book review: The Killer Whale Journals

***** A balanced and non-judgemental account of people’s differing attitudes

As some of the world’s largest predators, orcas are both loved and loathed, though these sentiments sometimes come from unexpected corners. Danish marine biologist Hanne Strager has studied orcas and other whales for some four decades, working with a wide range of people. In The Killer Whale Journals, she plumbs the complexities and nuances of people’s attitudes, writing a balanced, fair, and thought-provoking insider’s account. Given the preponderance of research and books on Pacific Northwest orcas, hers is a refreshingly cosmopolitan perspective, taking in the experiences of people past and present in many other parts of the world.

Strager’s involvement with whale research started on a whim when she volunteered as a cook on a small research vessel going around the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. This was in the 1980s and would, with some interruptions, be the start of a career in research and education that lasts to this day. Though she is fully qualified to write a scholarly work on orca biology, this is not that book. Rather, this is “a patchwork of stories I have collected over my years on the ocean about our relationship with the biggest predator on Earth” (p. 17). And what a wide-ranging, multi-hued patchwork it has become!

Born Free by Christopher Michel, via flickr.

Some of these relationships are as you would expect. In her early days in Norway, both the whalers and fishermen she spoke to disliked orcas, considering them a pest species that frightens away other whales and eats all the herring. Similarly expected is the strong respect expressed by First Nations people in British Columbia. Other people hold attitudes you would not expect, breaking with stereotypes. When Scottish whalers emigrated to Twofold Bay, New South Wales, Australia in the mid-1800s, they continued the cross-species relationship established by the Aboriginal Thawa tribe, leading to an unlikely, century-long alliance between orcas and whalers. At the other end of the spectrum, Strager visits Inuit hunters in Greenland who continue to rely on the sea for their sustenance. They kill orcas on sight, convinced they eat narwhals. However, data from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources do not back up this assertion: orcas rarely share the waters with narwhals, nor have narwhal remains been found in their stomachs. Hunting organizations disagree and stick to their narrative, continuing to kill orcas even though the meat is unsuitable for human consumption due to high levels of bioaccumulated pollutants. Strager is loathe to judge these people given their hospitality and willingness to talk to her, but she candidly admits that she is left troubled.

What further contributes to the book’s full-bodied picture is that Strager, as a Danish scientist, provides a non-US-centric perspective and has access to material written in other languages. With the help of a friend, she translates hundreds of newspaper articles from Iceland’s National Archive to puzzle together the story of how the US Air Force got involved in massacring orcas here in the 1950s, doing bombing raids on pods. Being plugged into the Scandinavian research community, Strager can furthermore draw on her connections to visit and speak to people in Denmark, Greenland, Russia, and various places in Norway.

Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) by Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith, via flickr. — Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) by Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith, via flickr.

Increasingly, the demonization of orcas has made way for a different understanding, seeing these as intelligent mammals, not unlike us. A new generation of fishermen in Norway is less hostile. The extra income generated by wildlife tourism and whale watching does not hurt, but, adds a Norwegian marine ecologist, there is also a sense of pride in one’s local patch. Having tourists visit from around the world and witnessing their awe can make people realize that their humdrum backyard is maybe not that humdrum after all. Captive orcas in aquaria and marine parks are another reason why public attitudes shifted from fear to fascination to concern over animal welfare, as has been so carefully documented by James M. Colby in Orca. Despite opposition, the capture and trade of orcas continues and one harrowing chapter delves into the infamous Russian “whale jail” that was exposed by journalist Mashaz Netrebenko in 2018.

As mentioned earlier, this is not a scholarly book, so orca biology takes a bit of a backseat. Nevertheless, you will learn about, for instance, the different orca populations and their dietary specializations, and how they do not mix genetically, causing a headache for conservation biologists. This behaviour is a prominent example of culture in cetaceans as it is learned and passed on from generation to generation. Strager also discusses the recent spate of attacks by orcas on pleasure craft in the Mediterranean. A marine mammal researcher from Madeira admits that she does not know if this is retaliation or just rambunctious play, but its rapid spread in the region sure points to orcas learning new behaviours from each other. Conservation concerns are the main recurrent biological theme in this book. Reflecting on the situation in the Pacific Northwest and the tremendous efforts expended on returning one orphaned orca, Springer, back to its pod, Strager writes how: “saving one orphan whale is a trivial task compared to changing the conditions that threaten these whales” (p. 214). Overfishing, chemical and noise pollution, shipping, aquaculture, hydroelectric dams—the long list of environmental insults is a poignant reminder that, in the words of Michael J. Moore, we are all whalers, even if only indirectly.

Orcas in the Lemaire Channel, Antarctica, surrounded by icebergs. — Orcas in the Lemaire Channel by Pedro Szekely, via flickr.

The other aspect that takes a backseat is Strager’s personal story. This book covers some four decades of her life, from a young student in the 1980s to a seasoned researcher now. And yet, important life events are mentioned rather than elaborated upon. They help provide a sense of place and circumstance, but never play a central or even supporting role in her stories. The fact that she would have a child with the man who helped her onto that first research vessel all those years ago is one of those offhand, blink-and-you-miss-it comments. Nor does she mention that she is now working as a Director of Exhibitions, turning the local Whale Center in Andenes, Norway, where she worked for years into a world-class museum, The Whale, to open in 2025.

The Killer Whale Journals takes in an impressively broad range of people past and present. There are various other fascinating stories I have not even touched upon here. Strager remains mild-mannered and non-judgemental throughout as she carefully charts the nuances, inconsistencies, and complexities of people’s attitudes. If you have any interest in cetaceans or marine biology more generally, this absorbing book comes recommended.

Book Review: The Alpha Female Wolf

**** A long overdue recognition of the female wolf

The wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 are some of the best-studied mammals on the planet. Biological technician and park ranger Rick McIntyre has spent over two decades scrutinising their daily lives, venturing into the park every single day. Where his previous books focused on three notable alpha males, it is ultimately the females that call the shots and make the decisions with lasting consequences. This book is a long overdue recognition of the female wolf and continues this multigenerational saga.

If wolf 21, the subject of the second book, was the most famous male wolf in Yellowstone, then his granddaughter 06 (named after her year of birth, 2006) can safely be called the most famous female wolf. This fourth book picks up where the third book ended, covering the period 2009–2015. It tells 06’s life story, her untimely death, and the fate of one of her daughters. To refreshen your mind, some prefatory sections give a brief list of notable matriarchs through the years and a short history of the Druid Peak pack, which were the ancestors of 06.

The fact that wolves have unique characters is again confirmed here: 06 is a gorgeous wolf that has many suitors but, until age four, she rejects them all and is a rare example of a lone female wolf. Lone wolves, quite rare to begin with, are usually males in search of a new pack with unrelated females. In 2010 she forms the Lamar Canyon pack with two brothers younger than her: 754 and 755. Three successful years follow in which she has a litter of pups every year. Through a combination of fearlessness and wise choices, all pups survive their first year. A particular challenge is the nearby Mollie’s pack, led by an aggressive female, that starts making incursions into 06’s territory. There is a long-running feud between the Mollie’s and the very successful Druid Peak pack and its descendants, which can be traced back to 1996 when Druids killed several wolves of Mollie’s pack.

Eurasian Wolf in a forest. — Eurasian Wolf by Tom Bech, via flickr.

This book has the task of both continuing the story but also looking back. Several chapters end with boxes that briefly tell the story of other notable female wolves past and present. If you have read all or some of the previous trilogy, you know that the writing might not win prizes for its style. Instead, McIntyre distils thousands of days spent in the field and as many pages of notes into a deeply informed, unembellished eyewitness account of the daily lives of these wolves. He always clearly indicates where he reconstructs likely events not observed first-hand or imagines the inner lives of the wolves. As before, The Alpha Female Wolf is divided into parts that each cover a year, usually subdivided into several chapters. This time there are unfortunately no family trees included, which I would have found helpful, though the cast of characters remains manageable.

My impression is that this book contains more references to scientific research than the previous ones. There are observations on chronic wasting disease, contagious to elk, and how wolves are likely limiting its spread by selectively killing sick elk. McIntyre asks a wolf geneticist just how different the introduced wolves from Canada are from the original wolves that lived in this area, and gives some deeper insights into the genetic history of US wolf populations. And he speaks to two researchers studying wolf howling and how each individual produces unique harmonic overtones by which the wolves might recognize each other, to which McIntyre contributes some informal observations later in the book. There are also numerous interesting behavioural and natural history observations. Food features in particular, with chance observations of wolves feeding on eggs of ground-nesting birds, fruit from a rosebush, and the occasional beaver. McIntyre observes hunting sequences that show the wolves using the local terrain to their advantage.

McIntyre is on form in the first two-thirds of the book, detailing how 06’s fierceness and intelligence help her not only to survive but to thrive. She carefully chooses her partners to form a strong, cooperative team, while her choice of denning site under a natural rockfall provides superior protection from a raid by the Mollie’s pack. At various points in the book, McIntyre highlights how the actions and choices of 06 and others show the important role of alpha females in shaping pack life and pack dynamics in the park. Inspired by the many military veterans that visit Yellowstone, he draws a human parallel, describing the alpha female as a commanding officer while the alpha male is an executive officer carrying out her agenda.

Gray Wolf. — Gray Wolf by David Williss, via flickr.

How cruel, then, is the sudden death of first 754 and then 06 when they venture just outside park boundaries and are shot, legally, by hunters. I have to admit that I found this twist of fate really upsetting to read. Both McIntyre and the book never really recover from the blow. While the first three years (2010–2012) take up two-thirds of the book, the next three years (2013–2015) are covered in the remaining one-third. McIntyre commits himself to documenting the fall-out of these killings, which sees 755 go through several failed attempts at establishing a new family, and follows the fate of one of 06’s daughters, 926. Although there are happy endings of a sort, the lives of both these survivors are shot through with hardship and loss. Where the threat of hunting was only theoretical in the previous book, here it becomes reality with the removal of wolves from the endangered species list. Remarkably, even though the events have an emotional impact on both him and other wolf biologists and spotters, McIntyre continues to refrain from voicing his opinion or discussing in any depth the reasons for, and problems with, the hunting of wolves. He hints at the why of this when talking to a group of schoolchildren: “being a National Park Service employee in uniform, I could not voice a political opinion about wolf-hunting regulations outside the park” (p. 233). There is much here that remains unsaid, and Nate Blakeslee’s book The Wolf offers an outsider’s perspective on the whole situation that is well worth reading.

Ecologists know how important long-term research is, but also both how hard and rare it is. McIntyre’s decades-long commitment to observing the Yellowstone wolves, and then turning these into books for the general public, is commendable. The Alpha Female Wolf succeeds in both celebrating 06’s remarkably successful life and in indicating the important role of the female of this species. In a conversation with McIntyre last year, he mentioned one more book is planned that will cover events up to 2021. There are yet more stories to be told about these iconic animals and I am looking forward to immersing myself one more time in their lives.

Book Review: The Ant Collective

***** A wonderful graphical introduction to the inner workings of an ant colony

This one grabbed my attention as soon as it was announced. Not a comic or graphic novel, but an A4-format book about ant colonies that is chock-a-block with infographics? Yes, please! Showcasing the best of what science illustration can be and combining it with a genuine outsider’s interest in entomology, The Ant Collective makes for a wonderful graphical introduction that will appeal to a very broad audience of all ages.

This book was originally published in German in 2022 as Das Ameisenkollektiv by Kosmos Verlag. It was quickly snapped up for translation into French and Spanish before Princeton University Press published it in English in 2024, courtesy of translator Alexandra Bird. Armin Schieb is a freelance science illustrator based in Hamburg, Germany, and this book is derived from his master’s thesis in Informative Illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. His portfolio shows infographics, 3D models, and cover illustrations for a range of clients, from magazines to newspapers to publishers, but this book represents his first published work to date.

Based on direct observations, sketches, and photos of red wood ants (Formica rufa), Schieb has designed 61 highly detailed computer-generated illustrations showing ants from a bug’s eye perspective that entomologists can only dream of. The eight chapters each contain a mixture of full-page spreads with naturalistic 3D renderings of landscapes full of ants, and pages with numerous smaller infographics that explain how colonies function. Annotations are scattered throughout to provide context to what you are looking at. Neatly, many of the full-page spreads continue overleaf, forming eight-page tableaux. One can only imagine what they would have looked like if the publisher had included them as gatefolds!

Next to obligatory drawings introducing ant anatomy, the focus of this book is on colony-level behaviour, with chapters depicting nuptial flights, nest establishment and construction, seasonal cycles of nest maintenance, foraging, trail formation, food acquisition and defence, reproduction, nest defence, and the formation of new colonies. The clever use of cutaway illustrations reveals processes that normally play out unseen underground.

There are some memorable scenes in here showing e.g. green woodpeckers and boars raiding ant nests. The woodpecker illustration stands out in particular. Red wood ants defend themselves by spraying formic acid and are normally inedible. The birds, though, have turned the tables on the ants twice over, picking them up in their beak and rubbing them on their feathers where the ants discharge the contents of their poison glands. As an added bonus, the formic acid repels feather parasites. This whole story is illustrated by overlaying several semitransparent motion frames of a woodpecker twisting its head and is glorious to behold. Elsewhere, Schieb uses motion blur to good effect to highlight the action-packed nature of spiders and antlions catching hapless ants.

Needless to say, this book is full of fascinating titbits of information. Schieb explains the phenomenon of age polyethism that I first encountered in Ant Architecture. Young ants tend to stay inside or close to the nest, while older ants venture further out to do the dangerous job of foraging (though Ant Encounters for some criticism of this idea). Schieb (perhaps unwittingly) offers an excellent illustration of colony behaviour arising through interaction networks when he shows how foraging trails wax and wane as a function of behavioural interactions between ants. There is similarly a deft explanation of the anatomical details of the eyes that allow them to see both polarized and unpolarized light: straight or spiralling stacks of light-sensitive tubules. It is one of those concepts where a picture says more than a thousand words. The only criticism I have of this particular section is that I would have opened it with the otherwise excellent illustration explaining sky polarization. Additionally, I would have added an infographic that explains what polarized light actually is, as it is a surprisingly tricky phenomenon to explain. Michael Land’s book Eyes to See contains a good picture, whereas Schieb basically takes it as a given that readers will understand what he means when writing that “almost all photons in a polarized light ray vibrate in the same plane” (p. 64).

The promotional blurb for the book mentions it draws on the latest science though I was left somewhat confused when I finished it. Schieb is obviously not an entomologist but a graphic artist. There is no mention of the project having benefited from one or several entomologists acting as consultants to give the contents the once-over for scientific accuracy. There is no acknowledgements section where Schieb credits scientists for advice and input. There is not even a list of references or recommended reading included. Or is there? Since I do not have access to the German original I had to resort to some online sleuthing and found a preview on Amazon.de that includes the reference list on p. 126. This reveals that, yes, he has consulted books and scientific papers in both English and German, including that evergreen The Ants, an older edition of Insect Physiology and Biochemistry, and both specialist and general German books on forest insects. So, Schieb did his homework, Kosmos referenced it, but for some bizarre reason, Princeton simply omitted it, as the page between 125 and 127 is… blank! Did I just happen to receive a dud to review? Checking eight other copies at our warehouse confirmed that, no, this is a feature, not a bug. Hopefully, if there are future print runs, this is a detail that can be rectified, as it could easily leave readers with the wrong impression.

Over the years, I have reviewed some seriously impressive photographic books on ants, covering amongst others army ants, desert ants, and myrmecophiles. Despite being a slimmer volume written for a general audience, The Ant Collective rubs shoulders with the greats where visual content is concerned. This is a feast for the eyes that will lure newcomers into entomology but should also please seasoned myrmecologists.

A final thing to note is that this book tells the biology of a *single* species. Wood ants are well-studied as far as ants go, but as the subtitle indicates, this is a look inside the world of *a* ant colony. It would be a mistake to come away from this book thinking that this is how colonies of all ant species function. The world of ants is one of bewildering diversity, though themes and unifying principles are starting to emerge.

The Ant Collective is available from our online bookstore.