Wingin' It: On the Wing by David Elliott

The Caribbean Flamingo

Singular, an ember waiting to ignite.                     A conflagration.
The sky is set alight!


David Elliott's On the Wing (Candlewick Press, 2014) is an invitation even for non-birders, to look up in delight. With both lyric lines, surprisingly comic wordplay, and quirky humor, Elliott includes gives us delightful descriptions of seventeen very different birds: the hummingbird, "always in a tizzy, busy, busy, busy;" the crow, "pure caw-caw-phony;" the macaw, "Who spilled the paint?" the sparrow, who "wants to roar: small cousin of the dinosaur; "and America's favorite redbird:

The Cardinal

He's a hot shot Valentine.She's a plain Jane.

But one without the other? A song with no refrain.

From ordinary urban chirpers to the majestic eagle, condor, and albatross, Elliott varies his poetry from decorous couplets and quipping quatrains to haiku and free verse, all set to the elegant artwork of Becca Stadtlander, whose illustrations are both as natural as a snapshot or as stylized as a Greek frieze. This is a poetry book that soars as gracefully as the crane on its cover, a delightful way to see all sorts of birds in all of their glory. As Kirkus Reviews says in a starred review, "From the graceful cranes flying across its wraparound cover to the single feather on the title page to the soaring eagle at the end, this book astounds."

The Whole Truth and Nothing But! Puffin Peter by Petr Horocek

PETER AND PAUL WERE THE BEST OF FRIENDS.

Two puffin pals, Peter and Paul are inseparable, fishing and swimming in the waters around their rocky little island in the ocean.  Although they look just alike--with big, banded colorful bills, big eyes, black and white feathers, and webbed feet--Peter thinks Paul is the boisterous, funny one.

Then one day when they are swimming, a huge storm arises and a rogue wave sweeps Peter away and when he revives, he finds himself being supported by a big blue whale who wants to help. Peter tells him he is looking for his friend.

"WHAT'S HE LIKE?" the whale asks helpfully.

"OH, PAUL IS FUNNY AND NOISY!"

"I KNOW JUST WHERE TO LOOK!" says the whale.

The kindly whale takes Peter on his back and swims off to a warm, tropical island where colorful parrots are calling raucously in the trees

Sadly, Peter tells the whale that Paul is not that sort of bird. He's more... black and white.

The whale knows just where to look for funny, noisy, black and white birds--way down south closer to the South Pole, where he shows Peter some loud birds with formal black and white feathers.

"PAUL IS NOT A PENGUIN!" protests Peter.

Peter points out that Paul is black and white and funny and noisy like the penguins, but Paul also has a big colorful beak. The patient whale takes Peter to a shore where there are some raucous birds with huge colorful bills--a whole flock of toucans! Black and white, loud and funny, with colorful bills, but not Paul! Peter is beginning to despair of ever finding his friend.  But then, as they swim by a rocky, little island in the middle of nowhere, suddenly--there's Paul!

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" cried the whale.

"TELL YOU WHAT?" asked Peter.

"THAT HE WAS A PUFFIN JUST LIKE YOU!"

Petr Horachek's latest, Puffin Peter (Candlewick, 2013). brilliantly illustrated in the glowing colors of  exotic birds, is a little play on the the timeless question, what is truth? In this humorous little parable, all of Peter's statements are true as far as they go, but are not of much value without the whole truth and nothing but!  Horocek's faithful illustration of these featured feathered friends is a delightful little lesson in avian varieties, and the funny story of this ocean-going good Samaritan points out that sometimes it's important to tell all!

Guest of Honor: Tea With Lady Sapphire--Sharing the Love of Birds by Carl Sams and Jean Stoick

Sweet Child gazed out the window,
Making circle clouds
With her breath.

The morning sun came up,
Gifting them with a crystal white snow globe world.

"We have a mission, Sweet Child," Gram's voice sang out.
"Our feathered friends are expecting us."

The tea is brewing in the cheerful Lenox teapot, and a jolly snowman, his red cap and mittened hands filled with bird treats, is waiting just outside the frosty window in the snowy yard. All that is lacking are the guests of honor, including Lady Sapphire, the rare pileated woodpecker.

As the child and grandmother wait expectantly, chickadees and nuthatches, a titmouse and a goldfinch, drop in for a snack, chased away eventually by the more riotous partygoers, the cardinals and blue jays, followed by the party's heavyweight guests, juncos, doves, and even wild turkeys, who partake of the feast and move on, but still the two wait at the window. Will Lady Sapphire and her consort, Mr. Succotash, honor their tea party with their presence?

Jean Stoick's and Carl R. Sams' newest snowtime saga, Tea with Lady Sapphire: Sharing the Love of Birds (Carl R. Sams Photography, 2011) provides a cozy introduction to wintertime birdwatching with no numb toes and red noses, providing sightings of some of the woodlands winter denizens in closeup view with identifying details in the text. Pair this one with either of the creators' earlier snow stories, First Snow in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy, Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy: Snowflake Edition, or for a lovely introduction of the subject of wintertime habitat adaptation, Lost In The Woods: A Photographic Fantasy for an appreciation of the world of winter woods.

Nesting Instinct: Even An Ostrich Needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin by Irene Kelly

Murres are seabirds that lay their eggs on the edges of cliffs--but they don't worry about them rolling off.

The eggs are so pointy that they roll in a tight circle if they are nudged.

Each egg has its own special pattern, so the parents can always find it.

As nest builders go, murres are definitely minimalists--saving their energy for the care and feeding of their, um, non-nestlings. Other birds go the other way. The American eagle constructs a woven stick nest which is a veritable McMansion, weighing up to a ton or more, and the horned coot builds its own "Fantasy Island" by dropping thousands of gathered stones into a lake until the pile is high and dry enough for its nest, a mass of rocks which on completion can weigh more than an elephant! Another variety, the sociable weaver, prefers to go the co-op route, building avian apartments with chambers for up to 200 individual nests.

Harried home improvers can sympathize with the plight of the poor male masked weaver, who painstakingly weaves a complex hanging basket of carefully torn leaf strips to please his mate, However, she has the right of first refusal, and if the nest doesn't please her, her mate willingly disassembles it and begins the home renovation all over again. Still, he has an easier time than the poor male Vogelkop bowerbird, who spends months constructing a double-arched bower of woven straw with an enticing collection of colorful leaves and berries artfully arranged in neat piles before the door to attract his mate. But even he probably feels more rewarded than his cousin the satin bowerbird, whose similarly elaborate bachelor pad is abandoned once he mates with his lady love, who promptly downsizes (too much upkeep on the bower?) for a much simpler nest for her eggs nearby.

Some birds put their energies into protecting their offspring. Cowbirds and cuckoos simply pick out another diligent species and drop their eggs off in the other birds' nests to be raised. One bird, the hornbill, seems to have a Rapunzel complex, sealing the female up inside the hole in a tree with mud and feeding her through a tiny hole for weeks until her eggs are hatched and ready to move on. The yellow-rumped thornbill, however, goes for camouflage, building a double-chambered hanging nest, with the top nest a fake to fool predators who assume it is abandoned while the young nestlings flourish in the lower chamber.

Irene Kelly's Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin (Holiday House, 2009) describes these curious and fascinating birds and many other varied nesters for young readers, backed up with an engaging design which utilizes her skillful watercolor illustrations and the creative use of shaped text and fonts to attract primary students. A world map ("Going On a Bird Safari?" showing the location of each featured nester and and engaging appendix ("You Can Help!), showing nesting materials youngsters can gather to help neighborhood birds build nests, round out this informative book.

This nonfiction book offers intriguing knowledge and the curriculum possibilities for discussion about adaptation to habitat, animal intelligence, and the varied social arrangements which enable survival in these different environments. A great book for the collections of public and school libraries and for browsing by budding young naturalists.