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| Understanding Owls: Biology, Management, Breeding, Training | 
 enlarge | Author: Jemima Parry-jones
Publisher: David & Charles
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $8.18
You Save: $21.77 (73%)
Used (6) from $8.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1945742
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 7.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 071530643X
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.6
EAN: 9780715306437
ASIN: 071530643X
Publication Date: August 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: U EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund. Buy with confidence - your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics!
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Product Description
Owls are spectacular and fascinating birds, both in the wild and in captivity, with interest in keeping and breeding them rapidly increasing. The author shares her expertise, gained from a lifetimes experience of working with birds of prey, to give sound practical advice on how to care for these magnificent creatures, with chapters on housing and equipment, incubation and rearing, and training and flying owls.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not quite so understanding. September 27, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having had a passion for Owls since I was a boy, it was only a matter of time (and the right amount of land) before I began keeping them. Initially, I learned a great deal from knowledgeable friends who's support continues. It wasn't long, however, before some of the well-meaning advice from one friend was being contradicted by another and occasionally I needed to consult a more expert source altogether.
I had already come across this author's name and a book with the title "Understanding Owls" seemed exactly what I needed. What a pity that the one message which comes across from this book - Loud and Clear, is that the Owl is not Miss Parry-Jones' favourite bird. In fact, I don't think she likes them at all. Having read the book and certain sections more than once, I am left thinking perhaps it is the author who needs to learn a little "understanding."
Commencing with a short section on taxonomy and where the Owl fits in to the overall scheme of things, we then find coverage of such subjects as biology, distribution/habitat, diet, feeding, reproduction, survival and status before coming on to the all-important topic of keeping them. It is here that the author tries to deter the would-be keeper by commencing with the subject of "Problems" and immediately exaggerates the noise owls create. After a page on "Giving a Home to Wild Disabled Birds" she summarises what she has written so far with the words "So what have we got? Owls are noisy, and generally not much fun just to watch in a pen; that leaves us with owls for breeding and flying." (Incidentally, the errors in punctuation and grammar are not mine).
So far, her own down-beat attitude towards these magnificent birds makes you wonder why she bothers keeping them at all. Furthermore, you could be forgiven for thinking she was being forced to write this book against her will.
All that said, those first 40 pages then prove to be nothing more than a rather poor introduction to what now becomes a fairly useful book. Whilst still encountering the anti-owl sentiment here and there, we are now treated to the well described and illustrated subjects of; Housing, breeding, management, incubation, rearing, training and hunting.
Sadly, just as we were beginning to smile, the author returns to a very down-beat message at the end under the heading "Hunting." The message here has nothing whatsoever to do with hunting or even what is involved, just a couple of anecdotes about problems experienced by other people coupled with the author's wish to put off the reader at all costs. A bit like "I've started (in this way) - so I'll finish (in this way)." Which is altogether a great pity because this book could have been so much better.
NM
 Fantastic January 18, 2002
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is truely great!! It has provided me with the vital information required to keep an Owl. The chapter on training the bird was most interesting and continues to be most useful!! I recommend this book to anyone seriously considering to going into Owls, you won't regret it!!
Understanding Owls - Boring? Or a hoot? June 4, 2000
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I purchased this title after reading her second book: "Understanding Birds of Prey"; and I found this to have been both an interesting and informative read. This book, lives up to, if not exceeds that high standard that her preceeding books have set. When I hope to purchase an owl of my own, this book will act as my bible! Her unique, if not aggressive, writing style makes other Birds of Prey authors seem almost lax in their approach to informing the reader. Well worth the money spent and allows one to make an informed decision regarding captive birds.
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