Birdwatching Books - Page 5

Birding by Ear: Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides(R))

Richard K. Walton, Robert W. Lawson

Amazon Price: $19.80 List Price: $30.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Peterson Books - Model: PB618225900 Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $15.86

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent Source 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Excellent recordings and presentation make learning bird songs easy. Highly reccomend. Combined with excellent service from Amazon made this a satisfying purchase.

Editorial Review:

BIRDING BY EAR uses an educational and entertaining method for learning bird songs. Instead of merely providing a catalog of bird song samples, BIRDING BY EAR actually teaches. This proven method has greatly enhanced the field experience for birders across North America. The authors have created learning groups of similar vocalizations and clearly point out distinguishing characteristics. Using techniques such as phonetics, mnemonics, and descriptive words, Walton and Lawson provide a context for learning the songs and calls of eighty-five species of birds found east of the Rockies. Combine the auditory instruction here with the visual features of the Peterson Identification System. Page numbers in BIRDING BY EAR's booklet refer to species descriptions in the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA, fifth edition.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: National Geographic Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $11.61

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

New enthusiasts are flocking in record numbers to the fascinating pastime of birding. National Geographic has been meeting their need for clear and accurate information for 25 years with our million-selling Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Now, to better serve the expanding market, we’ve customized our field-guide format to offer unique coverage for birders east or west of the Rocky Mountains. These new volumes deliver in-depth information on every bird officially recorded in the specified area, with illustrated accounts of the different plumages and life stages, along with hundreds of color-coded range maps.

Unique features set these guides apart from the competition and promise to win a new generation of readers: A full-color visual index, printed on the inside covers, makes the content accessible visually —a real boon to beginning and intermediate birders. Annotated artwork highlights birds’ key physical features, making identification easier. Thumb-tabs help readers find information fast. Durable covers stand up to outdoor use, with integrated quick-reference flaps that double as place-markers.Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America offers 750 regular species, 600 new range maps, 100 casual and accidental birds, and 55 rarities.

Birds of Prey

W. Smith

By: Macmillan Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $8.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Rocketing onto bestseller lists with his two majestic novels, River God and The Seventh Scroll, Wilbur Smith captivated readers with tales full of passion, rage, and glory. With BIRDS OF PREY, a tale of high seas and high adventure, Smith will enthrall readers once again.

The year is 1667; Sir Francis Courteney and his son Hal are on patrol in their fighting caravel off the Agulhas Cape of South Africa. They are lying in wait for one of the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company returning from the Orient. So begins a quest for adventure and the spoils of war that sweeps them from the settlement of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa to the Great Horn of Ethiopia far to the north -- at a time when international maritime law permitted acts of piracy, rape, and murder otherwise punishable by death. Wilbur Smith introduces a generation of the indomitable Courteneys and thrillingly re-creates their part in the struggle for supremacy and riches on the high seas.

From the very first pages, Wilbur Smith spins a colorful and exciting tale, crackling with tension and drama, that builds and builds to a stunning climax. Packed with vivid descriptive passages of the open seas, breathless pacing, and an extraordinary cast of characters, Birds of Prey is a masterpiece from a storyteller at the height of his powers.

All About Turkeys (All About) (All About)

Jim Arnosky

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Scholastic Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $3.37

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

*A GEM TO GOBBLE UP *. . . bad joke ; > ( . . . 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Reviews by Amazon "Friends" have drawn me into the mysterious world of serendipity & exploration: Jim Aronsky's "All About Turkeys" was an important discovery. The lay-out of the book is most attractive, & stuffed with information, with excellent watercolor illustrations.

These wonderful birds should invade the childhood of every American. They are a "southern" bird although their range now spreads over the whole U.S.A. The author describes them as "very wary"... and "survivors" ... with "heavily muscled" legs. What is "blushing" in a human is a spectacular change of color in the head of a turkey called "tri-coloring." Two of a turkey's body parts are named "wattles" and "caruncles" ... both the words & the features seem delightfully grotesque. No wonder little kids love to go "gobble, gobble, gobble"!

Turkeys are great entertainment for anyone house-bound ... did you know they could fly as fast as 50 miles per hour? and that they 'stick it out' through the northern winters just as we do, but THEY roost in trees? We miss the flock from our woods when it leaves temporarily for another of its feeding areas. Turkeys & crows 'mixed it up' on our lawn recently and the crows were vanquished! (On my "about you" page you can see 'our' turkeys taking a Sunday stroll on Less Traveled Road!)

REVIEWER mcHAIKU hopes more house-hunters will realize that natural surroundings contribute immensely to a person's well-being; turkey neighbors are an added bonus! Thank You, Lynn of Webster NY for introducing me to Jim Arnosky through your Listmania & thanks to Amazon.com for making possible this serendipitous 'game'. . .

Editorial Review:

In Spring 08, Scholastic Nonfiction is relaunching Jim Arnosky's treasured All About series with all-new paperback covers! In All About Turkeys, Arnosky shows how turkeys grow and live, answering kids' biggest questions about turkeys, such as: Where do wild turkeys live? What do they eat? Where do they sleep? How fast can they fly? Packed with intriguing information and brought to life by Arnosky's vibrant watercolors, this book will fascinate young readers.

Birds of North America, Revised and Updated: A Guide To Field Identification (Golden Field Guide from St. Martin's Press)

Chandler S. Robbins, Bertel Bruun, Herbert S. Zim

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $6.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Best Bird Book Ever 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This Bird Book is the best book on identification of birds I have ever used. It is comprehensive, and the photos are extremely accurate. I have used it for years and no other bird book comes close to how accurate it is. This book has every possible variety of each type of bird and photos so that you can easily identify them. I have been a birder for over 10 years and this is my Bible.

Dependable information 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I had used an earlier version of this book for years. The pages were literally falling out. I was delighted to get an updated edition. Especially useful are the color illustrations.
If there were one thing I would add to this directory, it would be an index by color. Sometimes I see an unfamiliar bird and it would be handy to look in the back and see an index of birds by the dominant feather color.
Of all the bird books I have used/seen,I prefer this one and find it the most user friendly.

Editorial Review:

Brief descriptions and illustrations help to identify 650 species of birds in North America, with information on characteristics, range maps, and song patterns.

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America (National Wildlife Federation Field Guide)

Edward S. Brinkley

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sterling Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $9.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Very Good Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A long-time birder who carries this book on all his outings recommended it to me (a photographer) so I could look up the occasional species I would come across on field trips. It's very easy to navigate, it is colorful with short informative descriptions and, so far, it has had every species I have needed to know about. Flipping through this book is a pleasure and an education in itself; for example, I have spent my life admiring Common Grackles, Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds and until I got this book I did not know that the female markings are quite distinct and different from those of the male. I was especially interested to learn more about the Whip-poor-will species and their range of territory. The Contents section is colorful and simple, yet precise. The Index is straightforward and all-inclusive - something I always look at first when buying any book. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

From the National Wildlife Federation® comes the most up-to-date, all-photographic field guide to North American birds. Birders will find it indispensable: this single, portable volume features more than 750 species, along with more than 2,000 stunning images by leading nature photographers showing birds in their natural habitats. Captions highlight important field marks, and comprehensive species accounts describe habitats, behavior, flight, migration, songs, and plumages. Other features include: more than 600 maps showing bird distribution in every season; strategies for watching and identifying birds; a complete species index plus a quick-flip index; a glossary of terms; and a checklist of birds. The guide’s unique waterproof cover makes it especially valuable for use in the field.

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

Henry Beston

By: Rinehart & Co. Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $15.70

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Listening!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

It's almost as if Henry Beston himself is reading his own words. The reader has a candor and tone that is absolutely perfect for this work and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this wonderfully executed piece from Silver Hollow Audio. I highly recommend this book to anoyne that enjoys either audio books, nature, or Cape Cod. I found myself quickly searching for the next disc as each one came to an end. The end of the last disc left me wanting for more - and with this set is a nicely done interview with Beston's biographer. The interview answered some lingering questions about both the house and the author himself. I rate this one a must have.

Editorial Review:

NonfictionLarge Print EditionWritten with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty. New York Herald TribuneIn what is considered to be a classic of American nature writing, The Outermost House chronicles a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach. Though Henry Beston had planned to spend only two weeks at the house, he became so entranced by the nature surrounding him that he could not leave. Here we find the migrations of birds, the rhythms of wind, sand and sea, and the changing seasons as Bestons words capture the vividness of nature.

In the Company of Crows and Ravens

John M. Marzluff, Tony Angell

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Yale University Press Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $7.30

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“Crows and people share similar traits and social strategies. To a surprising extent, to know the crow is to know ourselves.”—from the Preface

From the cave walls at Lascaux to the last painting by Van Gogh, from the works of Shakespeare to those of Mark Twain, there is clear evidence that crows and ravens influence human culture. Yet this influence is not unidirectional, say the authors  of this fascinating book: people profoundly influence crow culture, ecology, and evolution as well.

John Marzluff and Tony Angell examine the often surprising ways that crows and humans interact. The authors contend that those interactions reflect a process of “cultural coevolution.” They offer a challenging new view of the human-crow dynamic—a view that may change our thinking not only about crows but also about ourselves.

Featuring more than 100 original drawings, the book takes a close look at the influences people have had on the lives of crows throughout history and at the significant ways crows have altered human lives. In the Company of Crows and Ravens illuminates the entwined histories of crows and people and concludes with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory.

Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds

John Long

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $22.29

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Scientists have recovered more than a billion fossils, but no discovery has been more breath-taking than the fossils recently found in northern China, findings which prove that several families of dinosaurs had feathers, or feathery hair-like coverings, adorning their bodies.
Now in the beautifully designed Feathered Dinosaurs, paleontologist John Long and illustrator Peter Schouten provide a stunning visual record of these extraordinary prehistoric creatures, illuminating the evolutionary march from primitive, feathered dinosaurs through to the first true flying birds. Schouten, an acclaimed natural history artist, has created 80 full-color paintings that capture the striking physical traits of these feathered dinosaurs. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the lifestyles of modern birds and mammals, plus the extant scientific data regarding how these dinosaurs might have looked and behaved, Schouten has produced not only the most beautiful but also the most accurate visual representations of these animals in print. Equally important, John Long, a noted paleontologist and widely published science author (with some 24 books to his credit), provides an engaging companion text that places these feathered dinosaurs within the larger family of dinosaurs--for instance, outlining their relationship to T. Rex and Velociraptor, species well known to Jurassic Park fans--and discusses the factual information that can be deduced from their fossil remains, in effect providing an insightful natural history of this remarkable group.
A true marriage of art and science, Feathered Dinosaurs presents an unprecedented visual record of one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of vertebrate paleontology--the discovery that many predatory dinosaurs were cloaked with feathers, perhaps just as colorful and fanciful as those of their living relatives.

The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible: The A-to-Z Guide To Feeders, Seed Mixes, Projects, And Treats (Rodale Organic Gardening Book)

Sally Roth

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rodale Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $10.02

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Help! He Won't Give Back My Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I barely got to look at the thing!

I made the mistake of allowing my young nephew to glance through it a few days ago. The next thing I know he takes it home with him and won't bring it back to me. (Well, he 'would' because he's that kind of guy... but I think I am going to allow him to keep it.)

Apparently this book had the remarkable effect of sparking in him a sudden interest in the hobby of attracting and feeding birds.

Actually, all summer long we have been visited at our little place in the country by birds of all sorts and we have been feeding them everyday so they wouldn't get bored and go away, but my nephew didn't have any interest in them... that is, not until I let him look at this book.

As I said, I did not really get to look at this book, but let's base my 5 star review on the enthusiasm it sparked in him. He says it is a great book because the information within is very interesting and very in-depth. He also loves the plentiful beautiful pictures which helps keep him attracted all the more to the subject matter.

I am very pleased that a child growing up in today's sterile electronically-obsessed society can still find something very natural and positive to invest his time and interest in. Aren't you?

Editorial Review:

Become the best bird host in your neighborhood. Let The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible be your guide to the foods and feeders, plants and projects that will guarantee you a yard that's absolutely brimming with birds!