RE: del Hoyo's avian volumes

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Stephan Pickering wrote:

> I strongly recommend the collaborative volumes published by Lynx  
> Ediciones in Barcelona, all edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott,  >
and Jordi Sargatal as Handbook of the birds of the world 

I'll second this - though I've only leafed through the first three volumes.
The chapters on the various (extant) bird familes are concise and superbly
illustrated.  Alas, although the bibliography is enormous, individual
references are not cited in the body of the text.  So, if you need to track
down the original source for certain facts contained in the chapter (such as
a certain bizarre behavior described for hoatzins) you're out of luck.

And, as Mr Pickering said, the volumes are super-expensive.  

> I especially stress that the chapters on New/Old World vultures are  
> inundated with data easily adaptable (with imagination and, need I say, 
> logic) to certain late Cretaceous theropods re: behaviour systems, 
> brooding strategies, pack/flock hunting patterns, sexual size 
> dimorphism, female ornamentation, etc. 

I would also agree that modern birds may provide excellent templates for the
behavior of prehistoric theropods.  For example, DA features the
semi-flightless New Zealand kakapo as an analog for incipient aerial
behavior in the ancestors of birds.  

However, there are limitations to what fossils can tell us - and inferring
detailed social dynamics and intraspecific behavior in fossil theropods is
far exceeding these limitations.  Case in point: We know that oviraptors
brooded their eggs - but not whether this was done by the males; or females;
or whether both parents shared the responsibility.  

This is where 'imagination' comes to the fore - and it can be quite
productive musing about what extinct flesh-and-blood theropods might have
done using  modern birds for comparison.  But when we try and paint a
detailed picture of dinosaur behavior, the connection to scientific fact
becomes increasingly tenuous with the addition of every detail.  Until
finally we arrive at _Jurassic Park_.



Tim


------------------------------------------------------------ 

Timothy J. Williams 

USDA-ARS Researcher 
Agronomy Hall 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50014 

Phone: 515 294 9233 
Fax:   515 294 3163