Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History, from Cave Art to Conservation

In Birds and Us, award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes us on an epic and dazzling journey through this mutual history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by Ancient Egyptians to Renaissance experiments on woodpecker anatomy, from Victorian obsessions with egg collecting to the present fight to save endangered species and restore their habitats.

Weaving in stories from his own life as a scientist, including far-flung expeditions to wondrous Neolithic caves in Spain and the bustling guillemot colonies of the Faroe Islands, this rich and fascinating book is the culmination of a lifetime’s research and unforgettably shows how birds shaped us, and how we have shaped them.

‘Birds and Us wings its way through 12,000 years of our species’ engagement with the avian world. Birkhead tells it all with delightful gusto, plaiting personal encounters with challenging historical research and bewitching scientific rigor’ Tim Dee

‘Thought-provoking at every turn, this inspiring, shocking, wonder-filled exploration of our relationship with birds from earliest times delivers a sobering challenge to us living with birds today’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

‘A fascinating book about the close and often surprising relationship between birds and people, written by one of our leading ornithologists’ Stephen Moss