Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes

Using baseball lingo, I feel like I've hit for the cycle. I have seen all four of the National Geographic Society's presentations about the bird of paradise research conducted in New Guinea and Australia by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes.

The single - Distributed in the December issue of National Geographic, the article "Birds of Paradise" introduces readers to the decade-long effort to site and photograph all 39 species of birds of paradise. The article has maps and diagrams that  appear in every telling of the story. The photos are exquisite. This quickly-read article is how the greatest number of readers will learn the story.

The double - We saw a DVD of the National Geographic Society's television program Winged Seduction: Birds of Paradise. Viewers learn through location shots exactly how difficult it was for Scholes and Laman to find and photograph the birds and their behaviors. Many people able to get the National Geographic Channel on cable television saw this incredible program, and it will be available through libraries on DVD for years to come.

The triple - The triple is always the hardest hit to get. We saw Scholes and Laman's National Geographic Live multimedia presentation at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. The exciting program only visits a limited number of cities. We were so lucky.

The home run - With their book Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds, Laman and Scholes touch all the bases and bring home the deepest, most complete telling of their story. The photos are beautiful. In the back is a species atlas with portraits and maps for all 39 birds of paradise. One of the most beautiful books I've ever seen.

Laman, Tim and Edwin Scholes. Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds. National Geographic/The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2012. 227p. ISBN 9781426209581.