Working for years in his studio and in the field, internationally acclaimed photographer Tim Flach has portrayed nature’s most alluring creatures alertly at rest and dramatically in flight, capturing intricate feather patterns and subtle colouration invisible to the naked eye.

From familiar friends, including the king penguin and the black swan, to marvellous rarities, such as the kagu and the Bali myna, Flach conveys the dazzling diversity of birds. Here are all manner of songbirds, parrots and birds of paradise; birds of prey, waterbirds and theatrical domestic breeds.

Compelling text by prominent ornithologist Richard O. Prum takes the reader into the deep history of birds, ancestors of the dinosaurs living among us, and sheds light on the distinct behaviours of each species.

The result of much patience, precision and persistence, Birds features more than 130 extraordinary photographs. Putting us face-to-face with some of Earth’s most magnetic living beings, Flach evokes the magnificence of the animal kingdom – and the urgent need to protect and defend it.