conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Penguins and Other Seabirds about MATT, SEWELL, Caught with the genre: Arts & Photography, History & Criticism.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: MATT SEWELL is an avid ornithologist, regular contributorto the Caught by the River website, and the author of severalother illustrated bird books. His work has been exhibited inLondon, Manchester, New York, Tokyo, and Paris.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first three paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Penguins and Other Seabirds
  Seabirds inhabit the planet's greatest wilderness, and thinking of them out there now, in that vast, ever-changing landscape, fires the imagination like nothing else.
  My personal favorite is the gannet—a distant, brilliant white cross, haunting the open seas from high above the waves, until it falls as though shot down, dislocating its wings as it moves between worlds of air and water.
  Mankind has always ascribed seabirds with a certain mystical quality, owing to their prowess in the air, their ease in and on water, their migrational comings and goings, and their sheer volume. They are souls of lost sailors, saints, storm-bringers, omens, witches, and warriors. They are also easy to catch, at risk from man-made as well as natural disasters... no wonder many are endangered.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Penguins and Other Seabirds
  Seabirds inhabit the planet's greatest wilderness, and thinking of them out there now, in that vast, ever-changing landscape, fires the imagination like nothing else.
  My personal favorite is the gannet—a distant, brilliant white cross, haunting the open seas from high above the waves, until it falls as though shot down, dislocating its wings as it moves between worlds of air and water.
  Mankind has always ascribed seabirds with a certain mystical quality, owing to their prowess in the air, their ease in and on water, their migrational comings and goings, and their sheer volume. They are souls of lost sailors, saints, storm-bringers, omens, witches, and warriors. They are also easy to catch, at risk from man-made as well as natural disasters...
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me five more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Steller's coat is imbued with deep hues of cinnamon and enriched with Hubble Space–telescopically deep navy-blue colors and delicate details that seem more commonplace on an ornate coral fish of the South Pacific than on a hardy sea duck of the bitter north. Breeding in Scandinavia, Japan, North America, and Russia, the Eiders' populations have been dropping, in particular in their historical hometowns in Alaska. Let us hope it's not because they make a handsome trophy for the camouflaged duck hunters in their midst.
  Our friend here doesn't beget this outlandish moniker because sailors thought he tasted good with a bowl full of pasta; if that were the case, surely there wouldn't be any left, such is man's greed. No: this fine-crested specimen was likened to a peculiar posh gentleman's fashion from the mid-eighteenth century. Macaronis wore fancy clothes, sported huge, ceiling-scraping wigs, and spoke their own Latin slang—a precursor to the cocky New Romantics of the 1980s. I personally think it's rather harsh on the penguins; they may be a bit dandy but they look like good, solid, salt-of-the-earth types to me. The à la mode Macaronis can be found on the same islands of the Southern Ocean as the Southern Rockhoppers and are also in decline—but hopefully they will never go out of fashion.
  May I present His Royal Highness of the Isle of Macquarie? A brightly faced, gregarious, banqueting medieval prince: good-humored and good to his people. Not related to the other noblemen—the Emperor and the King—our aristocrat here is very much part of the Crested Penguin lineage, but stands alone with his white face and chin. Spending much of their life in open sea, these royal birds alight on rocky shores after feeding on krill and squid. They breed only on one particular island in the unforgiving waters between New Zealand and Antartica: Macquarie Island. Penguins evolved to live in the southern hemisphere only because there were no land predators; you never see a polar bear snacking on a penguin, do you? But this localism is now a threat; whole species of birds could be wiped out so easily it is scary.
  Found off coastlines in Greenland, Iceland, North America, and Japan, the Harlequin Ducks breed inland on fast-flowing rivers, dabbling and bobbing like dinghies, and then move out past the estuaries and river mouths to the rocky shores to feed and spend the rest of the year. They are known by many names including Blue Streaks, Lords and Ladies, and Painted Ducks, which allude to the birds' distinct design of rusted red flanks and metallic blue-and-white patches that look like reflected light on calm water. It's a complex plumage that chimes nicely with the mosaic-checkered costumes of sixteenth-century harlequins.
  Want to know why the Smew is my favorite seabird, even though it's not actually that much of a seabird, as seabirds go? It has the best name: Smew. So cute. They look great; their cracked-ice design is totally cool. And I just love the fact that they spend most of the year in the wilderness on oxbow lakes or by flooded forests, where they nest in holes in broad-leaved trees way up in the Balkans and over into Russia. When winter arrives, they pull up stakes for warmer water, many choosing estuaries, sheltered coastal bays, and brackish lagoons around the North Sea to fish and fatten up, while some can also be found on UK winter lakes and reservoirs, also popular with many visiting winter guests. Which is the best thing, really—I can be in London on business, wrapped up against the cold, visiting one of the capital's many brilliant parks, and, if I am lucky, I can spot and jot a Smew. It's got a lot going for it.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Reverse the sentences.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: It's got a lot going for it.. Which is the best thing, really—I can be in London on business, wrapped up against the cold, visiting one of the capital's many brilliant parks, and, if I am lucky, I can spot and jot a Smew. When winter arrives, they pull up stakes for warmer water, many choosing estuaries, sheltered coastal bays, and brackish lagoons around the North Sea to fish and fatten up, while some can also be found on UK winter lakes and reservoirs, also popular with many visiting winter guests. And I just love the fact that they spend most of the year in the wilderness on oxbow lakes or by flooded forests, where they nest in holes in broad-leaved trees way up in the Balkans and over into Russia. They look great; their cracked-ice design is totally cool. So cute.
  Want to know why the Smew is my favorite seabird, even though it's not actually that much of a seabird, as seabirds go? It has the best name: Smew. It's a complex plumage that chimes nicely with the mosaic-checkered costumes of sixteenth-century harlequins. They are known by many names including Blue Streaks, Lords and Ladies, and Painted Ducks, which allude to the birds' distinct design of rusted red flanks and metallic blue-and-white patches that look like reflected light on calm water.
  Found off coastlines in Greenland, Iceland, North America, and Japan, the Harlequin Ducks breed inland on fast-flowing rivers, dabbling and bobbing like dinghies, and then move out past the estuaries and river mouths to the rocky shores to feed and spend the rest of the year. Penguins evolved to live in the southern hemisphere only because there were no land predators; you never see a polar bear snacking on a penguin, do you? But this localism is now a threat; whole species of birds could be wiped out so easily it is scary. They breed only on one particular island in the unforgiving waters between New Zealand and Antartica: Macquarie Island. Spending much of their life in open sea, these royal birds alight on rocky shores after feeding on krill and squid. Not related to the other noblemen—the Emperor and the King—our aristocrat here is very much part of the Crested Penguin lineage, but stands alone with his white face and chin.
  May I present His Royal Highness of the Isle of Macquarie? A brightly faced, gregarious, banqueting medieval prince: good-humored and good to his people. The à la mode Macaronis can be found on the same islands of the Southern Ocean as the Southern Rockhoppers and are also in decline—but hopefully they will never go out of fashion. I personally think it's rather harsh on the penguins; they may be a bit dandy but they look like good, solid, salt-of-the-earth types to me. Macaronis wore fancy clothes, sported huge, ceiling-scraping wigs, and spoke their own Latin slang—a precursor to the cocky New Romantics of the 1980s. No: this fine-crested specimen was likened to a peculiar posh gentleman's fashion from the mid-eighteenth century.
  Our friend here doesn't beget this outlandish moniker because sailors thought he tasted good with a bowl full of pasta; if that were the case, surely there wouldn't be any left, such is man's greed. Let us hope it's not because they make a handsome trophy for the camouflaged duck hunters in their midst. Breeding in Scandinavia, Japan, North America, and Russia, the Eiders' populations have been dropping, in particular in their historical hometowns in Alaska.Steller's coat is imbued with deep hues of cinnamon and enriched with Hubble Space–telescopically deep navy-blue colors and delicate details that seem more commonplace on an ornate coral fish of the South Pacific than on a hardy sea duck of the bitter north
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.. Start with the sentence 'A sea duck of cold water, the Surf Scoter breeds inland in North America and Canada, up in the Great Lakes beside boreal forests and snow perma-peaked mountains'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A sea duck of cold water, the Surf Scoter breeds inland in North America and Canada, up in the Great Lakes beside boreal forests and snow perma-peaked mountains. But come winter the suitcase is packed and the Surf Scoters head south and hit the beach. It's not exactly the beach—more like the spindrift and spume of river mouths, estuaries, and shallow bays—but the birds come prepared anyway in a black wetsuit and with a colorful hefty beak, which looks like it was designed and shaped by an old Californian surfer on Venice Beach: perfect for carving the choppy surf in the rough water they ply. Hang ten, dudes, hope it's not too gnarly!
  Ah, the magnificent migrating seahawk, whose arrival in the UK and North America after wintering in Africa and South America is heralded with yelps and party poppers exploding from inside the hides and from behind the camera screens set up around the handful of Osprey nesting sites. Rightly so, too, as they are magnificent birds: large, buzzard-size, black-and-white raptors with short buzz-cut crests that send tourists and birders in a tizzy during spring and summer. From the headlines and attractions it's hard to imagine that the Osprey is in fact one of the world's most widely distributed birds, living everywhere except the Antarctic; it has adapted to almost any kind of watery terrain. From UK lochs and rivers to the sandy seaboard of Australia, the Osprey will swoop and hook his catch of gray mullet, bream, salmon, and even pike with dexterous ease into the air, lugging it away without even getting his feet wet.
  The mighty, dreadnaught Sea Eagle of Eurasia was once commonplace on the UK's northern rocky shores, but it was sadly persecuted zealously for fear of losing livestock. They finally became extinct in Great Britain in the very early 1900s. The bird is huge, with a brilliant white tail like a cutter's sail, the wingspan of a tanker, the cruel bite of a great white, and talons that, once they have sunk deep into you, are as immovable as an anchor. With these formidable weapons and an expansive large hunting ground, the Sea Eagles soar and ponder merely whether it'll be freshwater or saltwater fish for supper. A close relative of the American Bald Eagle in many ways, but without the striking, emblematic white head, White-tailed Sea Eagles live all the way from Scandinavia, across Russia, and into Japan, not setting foot in the Bald Eagle's US territory. From the 1970s onward, through careful management, White-tailed Sea Eagles were reintroduced to the west coast of Scotland and have successfully bred and now taken the isles of Mull and Skye as home, with great news of them spreading east. I feel Scotland is an appropriate birthplace; they will be looked after there. In Gaelic they were known as "iolar súil na gréine," which means "The Eagle with the Sunlit Eye." I love that.
  It's great spotting a seabird you've never seen before. Even if some of these birds fly (or swim!) a little further afield, you'd be surprised at how many you might be lucky enough to spot. So here's a handy way of keeping all your jottings in check. Get spotting either sitting comfortably at your window or pack your boots and binoculars and go on your travels across the globe. Here's a downloadable PDF. Happy spotting!
  To Megan Lee, all at Caught By The River, Simon Benham, the Free University of Glastonbury and The Crow's Nest, Richard King and the Green Man, JK, the Montague Place Street Team, and all the friendly folk of the Shire.