Birds Of Brisbane

A comprehensive pocket-sized guide to the birds of Brisbane. This pocket companion is just the thing for any avid Brisbane bird-watcher. From frogmouths to falcons and crows to cockatoos, this little book contains images, calls and behaviours of every bird you're likely to find in and around Brisbane.

When Silvester Diggles arrived in 1855 there was little artistic or scientific talent in the small frontier town of Brisbane. By the time of his death in 1880, his paramount legacy was a large book on Australian birds, profusely illustrated with hand-coloured lithographs. Acting as his own publisher from 1865 onwards, Diggles produced the first substantial zoological work to commence publication in Australia. The compilation and content of this rare work of art and natural history is examined here in the light of Diggles’ life and times, as well as his ornithological predecessors and contemporaries. So too is his role in establishing the first scientific society and museum in Queensland. Also presented in this lavishly illustrated publication are colour plates from his bird book, and some of his original bird paintings for the first time. Diggles was indeed the preeminent birdman of his day, not only in Brisbane but also Queensland if not Australia-wide. Dr Rod Fisher Brisbane historian

"Moreton Bay & Islands, Gold Coast & Hinterland, The Scenic Rim, Sunshine Coast & Hinterland, Fraser Island & Northern New South Wales"

The Greater Brisbane Region is one of Australia's richest natural environments, supporting a remarkable diversity of wildlife across a wide range of habitats. South-east Queensland is home to an astonishing variety of wild creatures -- large and small, seen and unseen, common and rare -- that share our backyards, parks, bushland and waterways. From biting ants to brilliantly coloured birds, sun-loving lizards and tiny marsupial mice, our native animals are impossible to avoid.Twenty-five years after it was first published, this third edition of one of Australia's most successful wildlife guides features full-colour photography and updated information on more than 1000 species, describing the animals most likely to be encountered by residents and naturalists alike. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane is an essential handbook for anyone who cares about our wildlife.

A book of Australian birds commonly found in the bush. Each page contains a riddle to engage the reader with the illustration and try and guess the name of the bird. This book aims to both familiarise readers with the twelve birds included within the pages but also teach them what to look for when trying to identify birds in real life.

In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be. She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels. The author brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds. Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds. In this fascinating volume, the author also presents recent changes in our understanding of the avian brain and links these to life histories and longevity. Following on from Gisela’s well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, as well as two earlier titles on birds, Bird Minds contends that the unique and often difficult conditions of Australia's environment have been crucial for the evolution of unusual complexities in avian cognition and behaviour.

The type of local and school history before the reader may be unfamiliar. It is a definitive and scholarly history in the style of many grammar school histories in Queensland. Although it is not unknown for Australian public and private schooling, it is unique for Queensland state schools. By saying it is a ‘definitive and scholarly history’, what is meant is not that the history is complete; only that it reaches decisive conclusions in a substantive treatment. In this particular case, the historian is someone who has been trained at the level of a higher degree.