A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects

David Callahan

• Publisher: Helm
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781408186183
• eBook ISBN:
  9781408186657
• Edition: 1
• Subtopic: History Reference

This book looks at 100 items that have profoundly shaped how people watched, studied and engaged with the avian world.

Each item contains around 500 words on a double-page spread and include an illustration of the object in question. The book includes the objects listed below as well as many more.The range of items is international and cross-cultural. Subjects include:

*An Egyptian 'field guide' (early tomb decorations of birds, identifiable as species)
*Ornithologiae libri tres: the first British bird guide (a 1676 publication that attempted to itemise all British birds known at the time)
*The Dodo specimen held at the Horniman museum
*Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus (the first-ever system of scientific names in 1758, and still the international standard today)
*The shotgun
*The book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne by Gilbert White (1789)
*HMS Beagle (the ship on which Darwin made his ground-breaking discoveries)
*Aluminium bird rings (used to record movement and longevity of individuals and species)

Along with many more modern innovations including walkie talkies, pagers, radio tags and apps.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Editor’s foreword
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Arnhemland rock
• 2 The geese of Meidum
• 3 Papyrus bird painting
• 4 Lysippe’s bust of Aristotle
• 5 Gutenberg printing press
• 6 Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch
• 7 Bird-nesting pot
• 8 First scientific paper
• 9 Ornithologiae Libri Tres by John Ray and Francis Willughby
• 10 Stuffed Dodo at the Horniman Museum, London
• 11 Systema Naturae (10th edition) by Carolus Linnaeus
• 12 Gilbert White’s The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
• 13 18th-century wood carving knife
• 14 Hummingbird cabinet of curiosities, Natural History Museum, London
• 15 Montagu’s Ornithological Dictionary
• 16 Observations on the Brumal Retreat of the Swallow by Thomas Forster
• 17 Camera obscura image
• 18 Pig bristle paintbrushes
• 19 Raven cage
• 20 HMS Beagle
• 21 Wildlife garden
• 22 Gould’s paintings of Darwin’s finches and mockingbirds
• 23 Policeman’s notebook
• 24 Bird table
• 25 First issue of The Ibis
• 26 Archaeopteryx specimen
• 27 Wallace’s map of the Earth’s biogeographical regions
• 28 Microphone
• 29 Meinertzhagen’s Forest Owlet specimen
• 30 Photographic film
• 31 Egret plume hat
• 32 Winchester shotgun
• 33 Parabolic reflector
• 34 Wax cylinder
• 35 RSPB membership card
• 36 Mortensen bird ring
• 37 The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
• 38 Telephoto lens
• 39 Porro-prism binocular
• 40 Egg collection
• 41 Answering machine
• 42 Box Brownie budget camera
• 43 British Birds
• 44 Map of breeding migrants
• 45 Aeroplane ticket
• 46 Public telephone box
• 47 Milk bottle top
• 48 Swiftlet’s nest
• 49 Road sign
• 50 Television set
• 51 Ernest Holt newspaper cutting
• 52 Peterson field guide
• 53 Leica SLR camera
• 54 Kodachrome 35mm film
• 55 Motorola walkie-talkie
• 56 Witherby’s Handbook of British Birds
• 57 Great Northern? by Arthur Ransome
• 58 Questar telescope
• 59 Mass spectrometer
• 60 Sonogram
• 61 Swoop wild bird food
• 62 Tiger Tops
• 63 Dictaphone Travel-Master
• 64 Super 8
• 65 YOC badge
• 66 Where to Watch Birds by John Gooders
• 67 Gore-Tex
• 68 Nancy’s Café
• 69 Hand-held mobile phone
• 70 Petzl head lamp
• 71 Radio tag
• 72 Seventy Years of Birdwatching by H G Alexander
• 73 Asolo Scout shoe
• 74 The Atlas of reeding Birds in Britain and Ireland
• 75 Big Jake Calls the Waders
• 76 Compact disc
• 77 IBM PC
• 78 Sony Handycam
• 79 Kodak Electro-Optic Camera
• 80 Perkin Elmer Cetus DNA Thermal Cycler
• 81 British Birdfair poster
• 82 Microsoft Powerpoint
• 83 First website
• 84 Rare Bird Alert pager
• 85 Birdwatch magazine
• 86 Gitzo Mountaineer carbon fibre tripod
• 87 MP3 file
• 88 Open Diary blog
• 89 eBird
• 90 Nikon Coolpix 4500
• 91 The Migration Atlas
• 92 BWPi
• 93 Kowa Prominar ED TD-1 Spotting Scope and Digital Camera
• 94 Scopac tripod backpack
• 95 Rainham RSPB visitor centre
• 96 iPhone
• 97 Biotope hide
• 98 Swarovski ATX modular telescope
• 99 Goldfinches o n a w all of pound shop plastic by Richard Crawford
• 100 Crystal ball
• Index
• Photo credits
• Bibliography
• Biographies
• Birdwatch