We review so many books and products relevant to birders and nature lovers that the only way to be sure you’ve seen them all is to check the most recent posts in our REVIEWS category. However, the summaries below are a rather comprehensive snapshot of our amassed opinions as of May 2009.

 

 

BIRDING RESOURCE BOOKS

The Shorebird Guide - Awesome guide to some truly exasperating birds. Amazing pics, novel approach.

Shorebirds: An Illustrated Behavioural Ecology - This is a beautifully illustrated and hugely informative book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in learning more about shorebirds. Written with a rare passion by experts in their field, it is highly recommended.

Peterson Reference Guide to Gulls of the Americas - A remarkable reference guide to every gull that breeds, migrates through, or even casually visits the New World. Suddenly, I’m interested in gulls! (Also read Charlie’s more informed full review)

Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion - A colossal compendium of the birds of North America. Armed with this amazing resource and a field guide, your ability to identify birds will improve exponentially.

Rare Birds Yearbook 2009 by Erik Hirschfeld - Saving endangered species takes money, political pressure, and collective will. Without all of us learning about the Critically Endangered birds covered in this book…they will simply slip away unseen.

Invisible Connections by Jan van der Kam. “This book invites you to discover the crucial role that the Yellow Sea plays in shorebird migration, and highlights the need for this unique and threatened habitat to be saved for future generations of birds and people”. How very true, and it’s an invitation I highly recommend you accept.

 

FIELD GUIDES (NORTH AMERICA)

The Sibley Guide to Birds - Simply the best resource to North American birds anywhere. This is the one book every American birder must have!

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America - A great resource with a historic pedigree. Beginning birdwatchers may perhaps find it more accessible than Sibley and serious birders will probably want it for both scientific and sentimental reasons.

Smithsonian Guide to the Birds of North America - Uses photos instead of illustrations. The layout, design, and printing is very high-quality throughout, and many of the 2,000 photos used to illustrate the concise but interesting, well-written and informative text are simply world-class.

Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern or Western North America - These North American field guides are simply superb.

National Audubon Society Field Guides to North American Birds: Eastern Region and Western Region - Good if you like field guides with photographs.

Woodland Birds of North America by Scott Leslie - Not a field guide or a comprehensive guide to bird behavior, but does offer good pictures of a wide range of woodland birds.

 

FIELD GUIDES (CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN)

A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas: Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador, Third Edition - A wonderful resource for Neotropical species.

A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies - James Bond’s notable guide to Caribbean avifauna is remarkable for its history but somewhat outdated as a resource.

A Guide To The Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands - Served us well in Puerto Rico.

The Birds of Mexico and Central America - by Ber van Perlo. If you’re anywhere in Central America and have the foresight to carry this book you’ll be in excellent shape!

Puerto Rico’s Birds in Photographs - Mark Oberle’s classic book, updated in 2006 and includes a bi-lingual CD-Rom

 

FIELD GUIDES (AFRICA)

The Chamberlain Guide to Birding Gauteng - ‘This is the best “Where to” birding guide on the planet (it’s certainly the best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few).’ In a word, superb.

Pipits of Southern Africa - This now out-of-print book is an object lesson in what can be produced by an expert birder with a passion for his subject and a desktop publishing program. If you see a copy on sale, buy it!

 

FIELD GUIDES (AUSTRALIA)

Field Guide to Australian Birds: Complete Compact Edition - by Michael Moorcroft. “Despite a few reservation about the quality of some of the illustrations this is still an essential buy for anyone planning a visit”.

 

FIELD GUIDES (INVERTEBRATES)

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies - Works like a charm, offering a simple, systematic path to butterfly identification.

Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America - This field guide might not be of much use to experienced insect watchers, but it’s perfect for beginners and casual nature lovers.

Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland - Formatted like a field-guide any birder would recognise, packed with information, and illustrated by the best paintings of moths currently available, this book is essential and highly recommended.

 

BIRDING NARRATIVE

Of Parrots and People by Mira Tweti - ‘I highly recommend this book to those who want to learn more about the horrible destruction humanity has wrought all in order to have pretty birds in cages’

How To Be A (Bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes - I can’t recommend this charming, witty encomium to avian observation enough.

Corvus: A Life With Birds - Those who are as fascinated as Corey by the intelligence and dignity of corvids will find this book worth reading.

Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent by Lyanda Lynn Haupt - Wonderfully written account of Charles Darwin’s transformation from callow scholar to assured, observant naturalist.

To See Every Bird on Earth by Dan Koeppel - A fantastic memoir that explores the dark side of Big Listing.

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - A Novel by Nicholas Drayson - A very sweet novel with a strong birding theme. (Read our interview with the author!)

Flights Against the Sunset by Kenn Kaufman -  This series of tales of Kaufman’s experiences while birding, some real, some make-believe, as told to his mother while she was hospitalized is touching and funny. It would make a perfect Mother’s Day gift.

The Verb ‘To Bird’ by Peter Cashwell - A light-hearted look at some seriously fun birding.

All Things Reconsidered by Roger Tory Peterson - This collection of essays is as potent a dose of concentrated birding brilliance as I’ve encountered.

Birding Babylon by Jonathan Trouern-Trend - An amazing account of an American soldier’s encounters with Iraqi avifauna.

Letters From Eden by Julie Zickefoose - A wonderful collection of artwork and essays from a gifted individual who connects with nature with every one of her senses.

Seeking the Sacred Raven: Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island by Mark Jerome Walters - The tragic tale of how one species’ ignorance leads to another’s potential demise.

Spix’s Macaw: The Race to Save the World’s Rarest Bird by Tony Juniper - This superbly written and authoritatively-voiced book is not an easy or comfortable read, but should be required reading.

Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Headaches? by Mike O’Connor - Though backyard birders will certainly find the most value in the insights dispensed in this witty book, anyone with even a passing interest in birds will get a laugh out of it.

Club George: Diary of a Central Park Bird-watcher by Bob Levy - Earnest, engaging, and maybe a bit overlong, this is a sweet snapshot of NYC human-avian interaction.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner - This fresh autobiographical study in amateur ornithology may be one of the first birding romance novels.

Breaking Bad Habits in Parrots by Greg Glendell - a wonderfully-written and informative book that any owner ought to have close at hand.

The Grail Bird by Tim Gallagher - The definitive narrative of one of the most exciting and controversial ornithological discoveries in recent U.S. history.

The Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen - Asks a fair share of thought-provoking questions but follows up time and time again with fresh insights and answers.

Birdscapes: Birds in our Imagination and Experience by Jeremy Mynott - Takes the reader on an energetic and long cross-country hike, hurdling idea after idea, place after place, chapter by chapter…well worth the effort!

 

BIRDING BOOKS FOR THE YOUNGER BIRDER

‘Lucky’ by Monica Engebretson - a wonderfully-written and illustrated children’s book about a captive parrot

Here, There and Everywhere by Mira Tweti - ‘We should all read this book. And if we can’t borrow it from a friend (or have it sent to us to review) then we should buy it…’

The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America by Bill Thomson III - Has the wholly laudable aim of getting the young generation outside looking at birds, and if it were up to me every school in eastern North America would have this in their library.

 

PHOTO & ART BOOKS

All the World’s Birds by George le Clerc, Comte de Buffon - Huge, heavy, and very expensive, but also fascinating and beautiful: recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of ornithology.

Birds: The Art of Ornithology by Jonathan Elphick - Even the smaller edition is jam-packed with information about the history of ornithological art from medieval woodcuts to nearly the present day.

Secret Lives of Common Birds by Marie Read - Captures the magic of the mundane, rendering run-of-the-mill birds in vivacious color and thrilling action.

 

WHERE TO WATCH/ATLASES

Where To Watch Birds: World Cities by Paul Milne - A well-written and well-produced guide to birding sites in 61 of the world’s major cities, aimed at business travelers rather than birders on holiday.

Southern African Birdfinder - Beautifully-produced and superbly designed, this is THE essential ‘bird finder’ book for southern Africa.

The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State - This book should be purchased by anyone with any interest at all in birding New York State

 

AUDIO GUIDES/RESOURCES

The Songs of Wild Birds by Lang Elliott - An engaging book/CD package presented by one of the best in the birdsong business.

The Sound Approach to Birding by M Constantine, et al - This extremely well-written book and the accompanying CDs aims to ‘maximise the use of sound in enhancing your field skills whatever your level of expertise’ and succeeds wonderfully.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Elizabeth J. Rosenthal - The Great Man has a great biography in Birdwatcher.

Audubon: Early Drawings by Scott V. Edwards and Richard Rhodes - Any Audubon aficionado or birding completist would proud to have this truly beautiful book in his collection.

 

VIDEO REVIEWS

The Life of Birds - Sir David Attenborough delivers the greatest global overview of avian life and behavior you’re likely to ever see.

Opposable Chums: Guts and Glory at the World Series of Birding (Jason Kessler) - This documentary about the 2002 WSOB is entertaining, informative, and, who knows, if you show it to a non-birding friend they might be convinced to give birding a chance!

Video Guide of the Birds of Venezuela (Ferraro Nature Films) - A must for anybody planning a bird watching trip to Venezuela.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (Pelican Media) - This highly acclaimed documentary presents the complicated man behind the wild parrots.

Watching Warblers (Blue Earth Films) - All 39 species of wood-warblers that nest in Eastern North America are captured as bold as life, in vivid color and full-throated song. This is as close as you can get to a personal introduction to each exquisite warbler.

 

TECHNOLOGY/GEAR REVIEWS

birdJam - A very cool identification and instructional tool for any birder attempting to expand his or her repertoire of North American bird calls.

Leica Ultravid 8×42BR binoculars - Charlie always genuinely looks forward to getting into the field and using these incredible bins.

Swarovski SLC 7×42 binoculars - is Charlie really saying he’s not missing his beloved Ultravids now he’s got his hands on the Swaros? He is…