Bright Birds: And Their Brilliant Brains

What do woodpeckers, drongos, blue tits and keas all have in common? According to this enchanting information book by award-winning illustrator Kate Read (whose debut One Fox won the Mathical Book Prize and an Ezra Jack Keats Honour), quite a lot. With a foreword by zoologist and wildlife presenter Megan McCubbin, it becomes a beautiful celebration of bird intelligence: memory, mimicry, tool-use and more.

From the embossed cover to the thick, luxurious paper stock, every detail has been carefully considered. Inside, themed spreads introduce clever birds: memory masters, engineering experts, tool‑builders, even predators that plan ahead. A jackdaw that recognises your face, drongos who mimic alarm calls, or Japanese crows cracking nuts using cars—all upend our assumptions about “bird brains”.

Read’s collage and monoprint illustrations are bold, graphic and full of flair. Her birds practically sing off the page, each composition gliding with rhythm and colour. One standout spread explores the astonishing memory of the Clark’s nutcracker, which caches over 100,000 nuts and seeds each summer and retrieves them months later. Here, the text is sharp and precise, balancing scientific fact with storytelling economy, while the artwork overlays richly textured scenes and sweeping flight lines. The result is both poetic and precise — a visual symphony that rewards careful looking. With invaluable input from ornithological consultant Phil Atkinson (BTO), the scientific foundations are solid and confidently delivered.

McCubbin’s foreword places bird intelligence within the wider context of biodiversity loss and conservation, lending urgency to the wonder. This is more than a collection of avian facts — it’s a vibrant, intellectually framed, visually generous invitation to see and care differently. A beautiful information text that soars.