Winged Wonders: A Celebration of Birds in Human History

by Peter Watkins, Jonathan Stockland

Celebrating the powerful role of birds in human customs and traditions from around the world and throughout history, this sourcebook explores the delightful stories surrounding some of the world’s best-known birds—including the eagle, owl, pelican, falcon, dove, swan, and raven. With topics including folklore, literature, music, dance, and spirituality, this eclectic and enchanting encyclopedia of avian–human relations is an ideal companion for any bird-lover. Brilliantly illustrated and filled with intriguing research, it illuminates many astonishing aspects of bird life, including their dazzling colors, intricate nest-building habits, finely structured feathers, amazing feats of migration, and breathtakingly beautiful song and movement.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2007

Reviews

[Gail Kennon · Rating 2 out of 5]

some interesting information but much that was tedious.

[Kevin McAllister · Rating 1 out of 5]

The sub title of this book is a Celebration of Birds in Human History. The problem with that is that the authors used only a fraction of the sources at their disposal. Time and time again they quoted from Shakespeare, Chaucer, various British poets, and the Bible. The favororitism shown towards British writers was bad enough but the absurdly ridiculous amount of silly superstitious religious references was at times insulting. I bought this book hoping to be educated on birds. Most of the time, I felt like I was being preached to.

[Tuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

not that exciting, but this could make a great quirky reference source of a lot of things bird:

ex. from pelican pg. 127
"to his good friends thus wide i'll ope my arms,
And , like the kind, life-rendering pelican,
Refresh them with my blood."
hamlet

[Colleen Mondor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a small book but an exceedingly interesting one and quite well written. Should be considered a valuable resource not only for bird lovers for historians of all stripes and writers engaged in any sort of bird-related research.