Len Howard

Gwendolen " Len " Howard ( * 1894, † January 5, 1973 in Ditchling, East Sussex ) was a British naturalist and musicologist.

Life

Around 1942 Howard moved from London to Ditchling, East Sussex, and began to watch her ​​around the house wild birds. Howard's musical training gave her a unique insight into the singing of birds. She developed an intimate, almost residential community relationship with the birds, many of which are free to browse and flew through their house and even slept there. Your house, they gave the name Bird Cottage, in German about bird hostel.

Howard wrote two books about her birds, where she set up the claim that an individual's intelligence, not just pure instinct, a major factor in the behavior of birds is. Howard gave the tits in their investigations, special attention, however, wrote among other things, about robins, sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes, finches and blue tits. She reached out for their particularly conspicuous individuals bird biographies that have been published in various journals and in their books.

Howard was convinced that fear is the primary motivation in the behavior of birds, as observed by humans. Therefore, Howard tried involved a question of keeping their environment just as the environment of their birds under controlled conditions to give the birds the widest possible sense of security so that they could build a close relationship with them. Therefore, the author lived a very secluded life. Who would want to visit them in their Bird Cottage, had to follow precise instructions.

Howard died on 5 January 1973 at the age of 79 years in Bird Cottage.

Works

• Birds As Individuals. Collins, London 1952, ISBN 0-00-211051-2
• Living With Birds. Collins, London 1956, ISBN 0-00-211456-9

German editions:

• All the birds in my garden. Secrets of bird life. Franckh, 1954