From the birds who wake us in the morning with their cheerful chorus to those who flock to our feeders and brighten a gloomy winter day, birds fascinate us with their lively and interesting behavior and provide essential services from controlling pest populations to pollinating crops. And yet for all the benefits they provide, many species across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio are in danger of extinction due to

...

For hundreds of thousands of years Great Auks thrived in the icy seas of the North Atlantic, bobbing on the waves, diving for fish and struggling up onto rocky shores to mate and hatch their fluffy chicks. But by 1844, not a single one of these magnificent birds was alive. In this stunningly illustrated non-fiction picture book, award-winning author and illustrator Jan Thornhill tells the tragic story of these birds that "weighed as much as a sack...

"Did you know that birds find their way around by following invisible pathways in the sky? Or that they can call to each other in thousands of different ways? Hear bird stories from all around the world, and learn about nest-building and baby birds. Discover why birds are important to us all, in this enchanting first guide to birdlife around the globe."--

"Following the alphabet, poetry and sidebar text explore all aspects of bird life, from identification to habitat to how to be a bird watcher. Includes a glossary."--

"The African Penguin population is critically low, due to various factors including climate change. Scientists and volunteers with a South African organization are helping to rescue these endangered birds by rearing abandoned chicks."-- Despite South African government efforts to protect the penguin colonies and their ocean fish supply, young penguins still struggle to survive. Fuzzy chicks waiting for food in open nests may overheat in the sun or...

""Birds are my almanac. They tune me into the seasons, and into myself." So begins this lively collection of essays by acclaimed filmmaker and novelist Priyanka Kumar"-- Growing up at the feet of the Himalayas in northern India, Kumar took for granted her immersion in a lush natural world. After moving to North America as a teenager, she found herself increasingly distanced from more-than-human life, and discouraged by the civilization she saw contributing...

"Save Birds focuses on the importance of birds and the extinction crisis, what is threatening birds, what we can do to help birds, and what is already being done to combat the bird extinction crisis. The Take Action: Save Life on Earth series lays out environmental problems in easy-to-understand language and provides practical advice to readers about meaningful ways they can influence important change for our planet. Part of our 21st Century Skills...

"It's July on Alaska's North Slope, and scientist Denver Holt is in Utqiagvik surveying nests. Denver has been coming here since 1992, and the snowy owls he studies have been coming here much longer: thousands of years. With its mix of coastal, low-elevation tundra and a rich presence of lemmings, the North Slope is the only area in Alaska where snowy owls regularly nest. How do snowy owls decide where they will nest? How do they manage to arrive...

Describes the tremendous effort the female penguin makes to find food for her newborn.

Gardens make a significant contribution to the amount of urban green space and are the main contributors to urban biodiversity. Birds are one of the most visible components of this urban biodiversity, and many of us enjoy attracting wild birds into our gardens. This timely addition to the New Naturalist Library examines the ways in which birds use gardens, revealing the many new discoveries that are being made and explaining why individual species...