Helpers at Birds' Nests: A Worldwide Survey of Cooperative Breeding and Related Behavior

by Alexander F. Skutch, Dana Gardner (Illustrator)

In Helpers at Birds' Nests, renowned naturalist and ornithologist Alexander Skutch provides vivid, detailed accounts of a remarkable aspect of bird behavior - the aid that one bird gives another who is neither its mate nor its dependent young and who may even belong to a different species. Skutch describes the cooperative behavior of more than fifty families of birds. Each family is introduced by a brief sketch of its distribution and outstanding features, followed by intimate, nontechnical accounts of the helpful behaviors that have been most carefully studied. Skutch considers the significance of helpful birds and discusses the theoretical aspects of cooperative breeding, its evolution, kin selection, altruism, and demography.

Genres: Ornithology

298 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Doctor Alexander Frank Skutch was a naturalist and writer. He published numerous scientific papers and books about birds and several books on philosophy. He is best remembered for his pioneering work on helpers at the nest. Skutch wrote over 40 books and over 200 papers on ornithology, preferring a descriptive style and eschewing statistics and even banding.