I just watched Opposable Chums: Guts and Glory at the World Series of Birding and it was a heck of a documentary.  Some of birding’s brightest stars provide commentary and the filmmaker, Jason Kessler, manages to capture the essence, not just of the World Series of Birding, but of birding more generally, in his 65-minute […]

As most birders will undoubtedly be aware this month is the centenary of Roger Tory Peterson’s birth. Given that RTP (I can’t bring myself to casually call such a legend ‘Roger’, and using ‘Peterson’ sounds a bit brusque and disrespectful somehow - like calling The Queen ‘Windsor’) is indisputably one of the most important naturalists […]

One hundred years ago this month, a true giant of conservation was born. While his origins may have been modest, his accomplishments over a long, storied life became the stuff of legend, particularly among the millions of modern birders he played no small role in creating. When it comes to biographies, could there possibly be […]

Review: “A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - A Novel”
Nicholas Drayson
The summer holidays are coming (for some of us anyway) and perhaps you’re thinking about a book to read “on the beach” or in the hammock at home? If you are - and even if you’re not - I’d like to recommend […]

There are some absolutely gorgeous photos of birds in Scott Leslie’s Woodland Birds of North America. The book, which is billed on the cover as “A guide to observation, understanding, and conservation,” has at least two pictures of almost every one of the nearly 100 species described in it (nearly 200 pictures altogether). […]

Rooiels and Betty’s Bay
30 May 2008
 
Getting up early after such a previously great day’s birding (Birding the Cape: the west coast) is not all that difficult - actually not difficult at all - and when my guide Brian arrived at 07:30 I was raring to go. Unfortunately so was the rain. In fact I’d been […]

We birders are a most fortunate bunch. Not only are we spoilt for choice when it comes to high-quality optics, birding holidays to suit every budget and every level of interest, birding blogs (like this one!) and websites serving us with all kinds of information and avian adventure, we’re also being offered books of astonishing […]

A new field-guide by the birding powerhouse family that is Bill Thomson III and Julie Zickefoose, published by the excellent Houghton Mifflin in the notable “Peterson Field Guide” series? Now there’s a pedigree that should appeal to most birders - after all it’s almost guaranteed that it’ll be well-written, well-illustrated, and beautifully put-together. And […]

I found Jonathan Rosen’s The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature so magnificent that I’ve been celebrating it for the last month. So have many of you! We’ve had a splendid string of collaborative activities starting with an inspiring photo gallery of birds in flight. We followed that with thoughtful […]

You’ve probably heard that old saw about how it’s better to give than to receive. What if you could do both? That’s what wheelers and dealers call win-win. Well, what if I told you that you could win a free copy of The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature by Jonathan […]

Kenn Kaufman is a birding celebrity. He is well-known not only for his field guides but also for his North American Big Year, famously described in his memoir, Kingbird Highway, in which he describes his hitchhiking, cat-food eating, country-criss-crossing attempt at breaking the Big Year record (he did, but another birder beat the record […]

The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature by Jonathan Rosen is a truly remarkable book possessed of a depth and breadth well beyond the usual birdwatching fare. While we’re not in a position to put a copy of this book in the hands of everyone who would enjoy it, we can, […]

Any author who attests that “birdwatching is the real national pastime,” American or otherwise, deserves attention. Jonathan Rosen, in actually making a compelling case for his electrifying assertion, demands respect. Too many books in the birding genre focus naturally on the innumerable hows of technique, craft, and field ornithology. Rosen’s mighty The Life of […]

Backyard birding is, as both a method and philosophy of watching birds, decidedly distinct from field birding. One of the main differences is that backyard birders usually indulge from the comfort of their own homes, often while attending to more productive tasks than just ogling avians. Also, backyard birding requires a lot less effort, unless […]

This BIRD giveaway has been a blast, what with the bird limericks, birding site suggestions, and of course, the six scintillating essays in praise of beloved bird species. The authors have done their part in applauding the avians of their choice and we’ve done ours in publishing them for your perusal. Now it’s your turn. […]

What happened? Our BIRD: The Definitive Visual Guide giveaway has been going so well, swimmingly in fact. Then suddenly, the river of stupendous submissions has dwindled down to a trickle. Maybe you’re all suffering from giveaway fatigue. Perhaps you fear that you’re not worthy of a avifaunal epic like BIRD. It’s even possible that you […]

Our BIRD: The Definitive Guide giveaway seems to be going swimmingly. Entries for the fourth stage of the giveaway are in and ready for your reading pleasure. Readers were challenged to write an original essay of at least 250 and no more than 750 words in praise of a single bird species. Six admirers of […]

My writing a short review for 10,000 Birds on the new Sony Walkman (the NWZ-A81* series) might seem a bit like someone from a hi-fi magazine writing about warblers, but I’m pretty sure that just as some audiophiles must have something interesting to say about small and pretty birds I must have something worth saying […]

If you read my review of BIRD: The Definitive Visual Guide, you probably got the sense that I loved it. I’m hardly the only one. Birdfreak, Bill Schmoker, and John Riutta are also among the growing legion of fans of this big, beautiful, bird-laden bombshell. You could be too, and sooner rather than later if […]

Can I tell you, I’ve just fallen in love with birding all over again. I owe this renewed ardor for avian observation to a magnificent new volume simply called BIRD. If you appreciate truth in advertising in service to an exhaustive, eye-popping review of the world’s abundance of avifauna, you will absolutely love this book.
BIRD: […]