“Why Do Birds Sing” by Dr. Grainne Cleary, published by Allen and Unwin. Price $37.99. Reviewed by Tony Orman
Dr. Grainne Cleary, author of a recently published book, “Why Do Birds Sing” wrote an earlier book “Why Do Birds Do That?”. Following the publishing of that previous book, readers asked many questions such as “why do birds sing?” and “what’s the dawn chorus about?”. So wondering herself she went searching. This book “Why Do Birds Sing?” answers those two questions and a host of others that evolved as she delved into the matter.
And she found as she began writing her latest book that there were parallels relating to humans such as how we humans learn our own language.
“It blew my mind!” she confesses.
It was particularly relevant to her for from an early age, she had difficulty pronouncing words and language development was slow. Stage five she was diagnosed with dyslexia.
“Thanks to this book and everything I learned while researching it, I now know what was going on in my brain,” she reflects. “So even though I started this book asking why birds sing, I ended up finding out why I mispronounce so many words and don’t always speak correctly. I would have made a poor songbird!”
In “Why Do Birds Sing” wisely the chapters are short thus enhancing “technology transfer” making for the reader’s easy “mental digestion” of the science.
The questions, probably 100 or more, range from “Do parents help build brainy birds?” to “Why do we call them bird brains”, “How do young songbirds learn to sing?” “Do birds learn new songs?”,”How do female birds assess male song?” and oodles more.
It’s a funny-peculiar thing about humans’ misconception. The term “bird brain” is used to describe a dimwit, but birds are far from limited intelligence as this book illustrates. There’s some intriguing scientific studies gone into birds and their interactions.
The book is based on Australia with magpies often featuring. But magpies are here so it’s relevant to New Zealand. This is a book that will open up a whole new avian world for the reader.
The book lacks photos and illustrations yet it’s such a fascinating read.