This Bird

This Bird written and illustrated by Astred Hicks (CSIRO) HB RRP $3.99 ISBN 9781486318452

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This comprehensive picture book for older readers, aged 9 to 12, was written in collaboration with bird scientist Dr Holly Parsons. Basically, it’s focussed on noticing urban birds no matter where you live in Australia. Each double page introduces different types of birds listed under criteria such as ‘This Bird Has a Sweet Tooth,’ ‘This Bird is a Master of Disguise,’ ‘This Bird Looks Different from Its Partner,’ and so on. In all there are twenty-nine categories of types of birds.

One category, for instance, ‘These Birds are Architects’ shows birds which build structures for shelter and nesting, while some build them to impress potential mates or fool predators. There are illustrations and blurbs of six such birds: willie wagtails, brown gerygones, wedge-tailed eagles, zebra finches, yellow-rumped thornbills, and mistletoes, with additional reference made to powerful owls and yellow-tailed black cockatoos which use tree hollows for nests. I wondered why bower birds weren’t included in this section: I live in the suburbs of NSW and have a bower in my backyard with frequent visits by male and female bower birds.

There are some interesting facts scattered throughout the book, such as the fact that Australia has more than 67 species of honeyeaters, kingfishers sometimes make their homes in abandoned termite nests, and owls have poo that looks like big globs of white yogurt to pellets which are regurgitated material that can’t be digested, such as small bones and bits of fur and feathers. We also learn that for the past 20 years, peregrine falcons have been nesting in an aeroplane hanger at Sydney Airport. And that fairy penguins, also known as little penguins, grow to just 45 centimetres tall – roughly the height of an adult’s knee – and weigh 1 kilogram. There’s so much more, and each double page also includes a map of Australia that shows where you’d find the featured birds.

This very informative book, with a final fly page of different types of bird species (and a blurb about the authors), also includes a glossary, habitats where birds are found and an index of species. Recommended.