Seventeen years ago, when she adopted a neglected, orphaned thirty-year-old parrot named Tiko, the internationally renowned ornithologist Joanna Burger entered one of the most complex relationships of her life. Sullen and hostile when he entered Dr. Burger's home, Tiko gradually warmed up, courting her during mating season, nursing her vigilantly through a bout with Lyme disease, and for a while even fighting her husband for her attentions. In time theirs was a relationship of deep mutual trust.
The Parrot Who Owns Me is Joanna and Tiko's story, as well as the story of the science of...

Come for a journey along the Jersey shore with naturalist and ecologist Joanna Burger In these deeply felt, closely observed personal essays, Burger invokes the intertwined lives of naturalist and wild creatures at the ever-changing edge of ocean and land. Discover with her the delicate mating dances of fiddler crabs, the dangers to piping plovers, the swarming of fish communities into the bays and estuaries, the trilling notes of Fowler's toads, and the subtle green-grays of salt marshes.

Joanna Burger knows the shore through all its seasons--the first moment of spring when the herring...

Join Joanna Burger and Michael Gochfeld as they guide readers to New Jersey's most marvelous natural spectacles. From mating horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay to goldenclub and orchids at Web's Mill Bog, the authors show us Garden State nature at its best.

While New Jersey boasts far more than 25 nature spectacles, the authors have selected those that are the most dramatic, predictable, and characteristic of the state so readers can easily enjoy them over and over again. Being in the right place at the right time makes all the difference, so the guidebook is organized by season to ensure...

Vestiges of ancient sand dunes and bogs from retreating glaciers, the Pine Barrens are among the most mysterious and fascinating parts of the eastern United States landscape. Their intrigue is due as much to their ecology as it is to their rich folklore and history. Yet, despite their remarkable geologic story and the abundant diversity of plant and animal species that they are home to, they remain one of our most neglected ecosystems. In "Whispers in the Pines", naturalist Joanna Burger takes us on a series of delightful trips, lending new and exciting perspectives to these underappreciated...

Biology of Marine Birds provides the only complete summary of information about marine birds ever published. It both summarizes and analyzes their breeding biology, ecology, taxonomy, evolution, fossil history, physiology, energetics, and conservation. The book covers four orders of marine birds: penguins (Sphenisciformes); albatross, shearwaters, petrels (Procellariiformes); pelicans, boobies, frigatebirds, tropicbirds, cormorants (Pelecaniformes); and gulls, terns, guillemots, auks (Charadriiformes - Families Laridae and Alcidae). Two summary chapters address the biology of shorebirds and...

Nation and the World must move forward with development of a range of energy sources and savings, all with attendant environmental problems. Solving these problems, and those remaining from past energy-related activities, will require iteration, inclusion, and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including U.S., State and local governmental agencies, Tribal Nations, scientists, environmentalists, public policy makers, and the general public.

Many marine biologists have concentrated on the species approach to the study of marine vertebrates. Although it has long been recognized that species interact, it has been far easier to study that interaction from the viewpoint of only one of the participants. Recently biologists have tried to study interactions from the viewpoint of all participants. Because of the high visibility of birds, it is easy to observe their interactions with other vertebrates such as fish, porpoises, and whales, but it is difficult to obtain quantitative data on their interactions. Seabirds and Other Marine...

The maJonty of the chapters in this volume are structured to include a balance between literature review, original data, and synthesis. The research approaches taken by the authors are generallyof two kinds. One centers on the long-term, in-depth study of a single species in which many aspects of its natural history are examined in detail. The other is a comparative one which involves investigating particular questions by examining species or by comparing groups of species that may include taxonomic andjor ecological affinities. Most of the chapters concern obvious aspects of breeding...