Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife

"This excellent book documents engagingly how wildlife has adapted to urban and suburban areas, often in surprising ways. . . . Most highly recommended for all interested in wildlife, city planning, and urban ecology."—Library Journal (starred review) “As Marzluff shows in this rich account of fieldwork in ‘metropolitan wilds’ from New Zealand to Costa Rica, such annexed environments—which boast some 75 billion trees in the United States alone—can host an astounding diversity of birds. But, he argues passionately, intelligently and with scientific authority, any land-use change reweaves the ecological web, and may leave it threadbare.”—Nature “This book is a terrific compilation of facts about suburban wildlife (much more than birds, and well beyond its US core). There are awful statistics —about cats especially, but also skyscraper collisions, poisons and habitat loss— and many happily more positive ones.”—Rob Hume, Birdwatch "I have the greatest admiration for Marzluff’s passionate book. He sets himself the task of distilling the latest specialist research for a wider audience and he succeeds triumphantly."—Jonathan Wright, The Glasgow Herald "A triumph! Everything you wanted to know about suburban birds—and more."—Tim Birkhead, author of Bird Sense and Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin "With enthusiasm, wit, and compelling scholarship, John Marzluff challenges us to reconsider a forgotten landscape. Welcome to Suburdia is more than entertaining—it will change the way you think about cities, nature, and your own backyard."—Thor Hanson, author of Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle "What is a scientist to do when he discovers that he's seen more bird species in New York's Central Park than he did in Yellowstone? Study the phenomenon, of course. Marzluff's exploration of this seeming paradox leads him to 'subirdia'—that edgy place between suburbs and wilderness. If you love nature, but feel guilty about owning a plot in the 'burbs,' or being a city denizen, take heart. Birds—and other wild creatures—are doing better there than most of us think, Marzluff reveals in this engaging and beautifully written book.   "You'll come away, too, with a bird's appreciation of your own backyard. That (unmowed) lawn is a savannah! Those parkway trees, a forest. The birdbath, a pond. We haven't lost the birds and animals; we've brought them to us. Marzluff's book shines with insights and revelations into a natural world many of us live in but fail to see: our own backyards."—Virginia Morell, author of Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel "John Marzluff has combined his experiences as an ornithologist, urban ecologist, and observer of nature into a very readable book about birds, humans, and our linked fates in a rapidly changing world."—Stephen DeStefano, author of Coyote at the Kitchen Door: Living with Wildlife in Suburbia "John Marzluff writes with authority and insight about the lives and habits of birds around us and suggests steps we can take to protect them in an increasingly hostile world."—Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate and author of Their Fate is Our Fate: How Birds Foretell Threats to Our Health and Our World