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Die Steuerfedern der Vögel Mitteleuropas


Chris Merkord
  • The Tail Feathers of the Birds of Central Europe Wilfried Hansen; Jürgen Synnatzschke Federfeuhrer Publications 2015 Gütersloh und Leipzig Germany

    About the Author

    Originally, Wilfried Hansen wanted to study biology and become a forest ranger, but because of the difficult economic situation after the second world war, he could not fulfil his desire. However, he was fortunate to get to know a personal mentor in the field of biology who taught him a lot of what he could have learnt at university. This personal mentor of Wilfried Hansen was Dr. Hugo Weigold, the founder of the world-renowned ornithological station of Heligoland and Director of the Natural History Museum in Hanover. It was Dr. Hugo Weigold who advised him to build up a feather collection, and to use this collection not as an end in itself, but primarily for scientific research, which then gave rise to this teatise. In 1972, Wilfried Hansen established the Feather Research Group, which has grown into the largest scientific working group in the field of feather research in the world today. Co-author Dr. Jürgen Synnatzschke grew up in a village in former East Germany, where he was shaped by all kinds of day-to-day necessities in his parents’ household, contact with local ornithologists and work as a lumberjack. A sudden turn in his life led him to study mathematics in Russia, where he did his Ph.D., and subsequently worked for the scientific journal ‘Zeitschrift für Analysis und ihre Anwendungen’. As co-author of this book, he contributed significantly to its success. He invested as much as he could into the texts. However, the actual concept of the book, the identification key, which forms its intellectual core, the measurement tables and almost all drawings, are the sole merit of Wilfried Hansen. Therefore, Dr. Synnatzschke believes that Wilfried Hansen deserves an honorary Ph.D. for his scientific achievement.

     

    About the Publisher (from page 2):

    Our book is published by the newly established publishing group Federfuehrer Publishers. The publishing group is named after Dr. Federfuehrer, a multiheaded, multidimensional being that embodies the group spirit of our Feather Research Group. Our research group counts many of the most well-known feather researchers in Europe. Among us is a great "biological diversity" with regard to our personal interests and characters. On the surface, these differences often appear as irreconcilable opposites. Nevertheless, deep below there is underlying unity in all this diversity, in which all opposites are united in harmony. It is this underlying unity in diversity that our group spirit with the eponym Dr. Federfeuhrer embodies. Our group spirit holds a doctoral title with the approvl of Prof. Dr. Urs. N. Glutz von Blotzheim, who is respected by all of us. Cheers to our group spirit!

    German , Palearctic, No value 06/21/2015 1499280211 9781499280210 No value

Finally, the work of Wilfried Hansen and Dr. Jürgen Synnatzschke is available as a book. So far, it was scattered in 11 separate issues of the scientific journal Beiträge zur Naturkunde Niedersachsens and only accessible to a small number of experts. In the meantime, these issues are all out of print. They have now been revised, updated with extensive new data and united into a single book. The resulting monograph treats the tail feathers (rectrices) of the birds of Central Europe. The identifying characters of the tail feathers of more than 300 bird species are described in detail and depicted on first- class black-and-white drawings. New measurement tables for the longest wing feather complete the work. The foreword by Prof. Dr. Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim makes this historical work a real classic of ornithology. An English summary and image captions in English open this German work to an international public. Erstmals liegt das Werk von Wilfried Hansen und Dr. Jürgen Synnatzschke als Buch vor. Bisher war es auf 11 separate Hefte der wissenschaftlichen Fachzeitschrift Beiträge zur Naturkunde Niedersachsens verstreut und nur wenigen Fachleuten zugänglich. Diese Hefte sind in der Zwischenzeit alle vergriffen. Sie wurden nun als Buch zusammengefasst und mit zahlreichen neuen Daten ergänzt. Die entstandene Monographie behandelt die Steuerfedern der Vögel Mitteleuropas. Die Bestimmungsmerkmale von über 300 Vogelarten anhand der Steuerfedern werden ausführlich beschrieben und auf erstklassigen Tuschezeichnungen dargestellt. Vervollständigt wird das Werk durch neu hinzugefügte Schwungfeder-Tabellen. Durch das Vorwort von Prof. Dr. Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim wird dieses historische Werk zu einem echter Klassiker der Ornithologie. Eine englische Zusammenfassung und Bildunterschriften auf Englisch öffnen dieses deutschsprachige Werk einem internationalen Publikum.




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