Birdwatching Books - Page 6

Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding

Scott Weidensaul

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Nice Birding History 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Very interesting book for experienced birders as well as beginners. Learned a number of interesting facts and where all those bird names, like Wilson's Warbler, came from. It was very helpful in preparing to give a talk on the history of birdwatching!

Editorial Review:

Arriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by a continent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americans birders have made a once eccentric hobby into something so mainstream it’s (almost) cool.

Scott Weidensaul traces the colorful evolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; from the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailer Alexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose A Field Guide to the Birds prompted the explosive growth of modern birding. Spirited and compulsively readable, Of a Feather celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughout Americcan history.

 

Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight

Jerry Liguori

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Identifying hawks in flight is a tricky business. Across North America, tens of thousands of people gather every spring and fall at more than one thousand known hawk migration sites--from New Jersey's Cape May to California's Golden Gate. Yet, as many discover, a standard field guide, with its emphasis on plumage, is often of little help in identifying those raptors soaring, gliding, or flapping far, far away.

Hawks from Every Angle takes hawk identification to new heights. It offers a fresh approach that literally looks at the birds from every angle, compares and contrasts deceptively similar species, and provides the pictures (and words) needed for identification in the field. Jerry Liguori pinpoints innovative, field-tested identification traits for each species from the various angles that they are seen.

Featuring 339 striking color photos on 68 color plates and 32 black & white photos, Hawks from Every Angle is unique in presenting a host of meticulously crafted pictures for each of the 19 species it covers in detail--the species most common to migration sites throughout the United States and Canada. All aspects of raptor identification are discussed, including plumage, shape, and flight style traits.

For all birders who follow hawk migration and have found themselves wondering if the raptor in the sky matches the one in the guide, Hawks from Every Angle--distilling an expert's years of experience for the first time into a comprehensive array of truly useful photos and other pointers for each species--is quite simply a must.

Key Features:

• The essential new approach to identifying hawks in flight
• Innovative, accurate, and field-tested identification traits for each species
• 339 color photos on 68 color plates, 32 black & white photos
• Compares and contrasts species easily confused with one another, and provides the pictures (and words) needed for identification in the field
• Covers in detail 19 species common to migration sites throughout the North America
• Discusses light conditions, how molt can alter the shape of a bird, aberrant plumages, and migration seasons and sites
• User-friendly format

The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird

Bruce Barcott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“The first time we came here I didn’t know what to expect,” she told me as we paddled upstream. “What we found just blew me away. Jaguars, pumas, river otters, howler monkeys. The place was like a Noah’s Ark for all the endangered species driven out of the rest of Central America. There was so much life! That expedition was when I first saw the macaws.”

As a young woman, Sharon Matola lived many lives. She was a mushroom expert, an Air Force survival specialist, and an Iowa housewife. She hopped freight trains for fun and starred as a tiger tamer in a traveling Mexican circus. Finally she found her one true calling: caring for orphaned animals at her own zoo in the Central American country of Belize.

Beloved as “the Zoo Lady” in her adopted land, Matola became one of Central America’s greatest wildlife defenders. And when powerful outside forces conspired with the local government to build a dam that would flood the nesting ground of the last scarlet macaws in Belize, Sharon Matola was drawn into the fight of her life.

In The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, award-winning author Bruce Barcott chronicles Sharon Matola’s inspiring crusade to stop a multinational corporation in its tracks. Ferocious in her passion, she and her confederates–a ragtag army of courageous locals and eccentric expatriates–endure slander and reprisals and take the fight to the courtroom and the boardroom, from local village streets to protests around the world.

As the dramatic story unfolds, Barcott addresses the realities of economic survival in Third World countries, explores the tension between environmental conservation and human development, and puts a human face on the battle over globalization. In this marvelous and spirited book, Barcott shows us how one unwavering woman risked her life to save the most beautiful bird in the world.

"Barcott’s compelling narrative is suspenseful right up to the last moment." –Publisher's Weekly

"An engrossing but sad account of a brave and quirky champion of nature."–Kirkus

“…A riveting account of one woman’s fight to save one of the last bastions of an endangered
Species. . . Barcott writes of international politics, ecology and endangered species, and human relations with equal facility. This real page-turner of narrative nonfiction is hard to put down.”
–Booklist

The Birds, Our Teachers

John Stott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The perfect gift 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Since receiving this book as a gift last year, I've enjoyed browsing through the amazing photographs and reading the fascinating and inspirational text. It makes the perfect gift for any gender, interest level, or occasion. I'm so disappointed to find it out of print before I've had a chance to share this treasure.

Editorial Review:

In this unique and intriguing book, John Stott takes seriously Jesus's exhortation in the Sermon on the Mount, "Behold the fowls of the air" (Matt. 6:26 KJV). He reveals lessons on faith from the feeding of ravens, on repentance from the migration of storks, on freedom from the flight of the eagle, on joy from the song of the lark, and more. Stott humorously calls his work "an introduction to the science of orni-theology," for he combines information about birds with biblical truths and personal anecdotes in a way that will fascinate bird-lovers and Bible readers everywhere. The Birds, Our Teachers is lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs taken by the author in his travels around the world. Sure to thrill bird-lovers and Stott fans alike, this collector's edition includes a DVD of Stott's trip to the Falkland Islands and an audio version of the text.

Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands: An Identification Guide, 2nd Edition

Andy Swash, Rob Still

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This is still the Galápagos guide you want - this 2nd edition is even better than the 1st! 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Original review of 1st Edition, November 9, 2005

This is the Galápagos guide you want!

Andy Swash (photographer) and Rob Still (computer design wizard) have conspired to produce the handiest and most authoritative guide to the wildlife of these enchanted islands. They have pioneered the use of computer enhanced photographs, which combine the advantage of a photograph as an accurate record of an individual, with the artists ability to stress those features that are representative of the species. In one pocket-sized, 168 page, full-colour photographic guide you have all you need to identify almost all of the archipelago's wildlife including every living species of bird, mammal and reptile.

And since WILDGuides are a non-profit organisation which supports conservation throughout the world, you are helping ensure that the wildlife you enjoy today will still be there for others to enjoy tomorrow. Check out their other titles, all of which share the enhanced photography approach.

The prefect guide for the curious visitor and expert alike. Look no further!

----------------

Comments on 2nd Edition, September 5, 2006

This second edition (white cover) differs from the first (blue cover - see review above) as follows:-

* it includes new species for the islands, such as Green Heron and Grey-headed Gull
* all range maps have been revised and updated
* the cetaceans section has been completely revamped
* a new section on "electronic media" is provided
* the species checklist has been brought right up-to-date

The guide remains the top recommendation for wildlife observation on the islands and WILDGuides are still a non-profit organisation with an impressive record of donations to conservation.

Editorial Review:

This simple-to-use, pocket-size volume offers a comprehensive guide to the unique wildlife of the Galápagos, encompassing all the birds, mammals, and reptiles a visitor to these extraordinary islands might encounter. The second edition corrects and amends plates and text, as well as adds six new photos of the whales.
Reviews of the first edition: 
 “The essential field companion for Galápagos visitors.”—The Quarterly Review of Biology
 "I cannot conceive anyone going to the Galápagos without [this book] in hand." —Noble S. Proctor

On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight

Richard Ettlinger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Wow. Simply Wow. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Speaking as a wannabe great bird photographer, all I can say is this book is humbling and inspiring.

I agree with another reviewer that details of the shot (focal length especially) would have been useful.

Fabulous.

post-note...I was thinking this would be the first book I ever would put on my coffee table. I was surprised that was the same exact comment when I showed it to a fellow bird photographer. This really is a gorgeous book.

Editorial Review:

When we imagine birds, we think of them soaring through the sky, high above our heads—yet photographs of birds in the air are surprisingly rare. On Feathered Wings features the work of seven photographers who have spent their lives camping out, donning waders, and lying in wait for the greatest shots of birds doing what they do best: flying! Selected by birder and photographer Richard Ettlinger, these gorgeous, often thrilling images show hunters, migrators, waterfowl, and songbirds living on the wing: hunting, feeding, fighting, traveling, or just gliding along. An essay by Ettlinger gives an overview of the mechanics and evolution of bird flight.

From falcons and eagles to swallows and hummingbirds, On Feathered Wings serves up a rich collection of images that is sure to delight birders both novice and veteran, and anyone who has ever looked to the skies in wonder.

The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds

David Wentworth Lazaroff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

There is a sense of mystery that surrounds hummingbirds: Why are they so small? What makes it possible for them to hover? Why are they so colorful? Do they ever rest? This book gives the often amazing answers. The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds takes the reader into the high-energy world of North America's smallest bird. Hearts that beat 500 to more than 1200 times per minute. Wings that buzz at as much as 52 beats per second. And respiration that can clock in at up to 600 breaths per minute. But their energetic lifestyle is only one facet of the secret lives of hummingbirds. Illustrated with twenty-nine full-color photographs, The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds is a treat for birders, naturalists, or anyone else who can't resist the allure of these eye-catching, pugnacious miniature birds. The book also includes a close-up look at the Desert Museum's famous hummingbird aviary as well as tips on how to enjoy and attract wild hummingbirds. It's no wonder that The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds is our most popular publication!

A Field Guide to Western Birds: A Completely New Guide to Field Marks of All Species Found in North America West of the 100th Meridian and North of Mexico (Peterson Field Guides (R))

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Field Guide To Western Birds 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The book is excellent in most respect. But like all of these types it doesn't provide much help in actually identifying a bird. You can't go from "small-brown-stripes on side-purple head-green feet-S. Az area to Pages xxx & xxx for the types.

The best just got better! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This has always been the reliable and preferred reference for my wife and I. We have worn out two of the paperback version over many years of use. Now, with the revised arrangement of the book it is even easier to use and may cause it to wear out prematurely due to overuse. I might have to buy another so we can both refer to our own copy at the same time.

Editorial Review:

"The Birder's Bible" for more than 60 years, Roger Tory Peterson's classic Field Guide to Western Birds includes all species found in North America west of the 100th meridian and north of Mexico. Featuring the unique Peterson Identification System, Western Birds contains 165 full-color paintings that show more than 1,000 birds from 700 species. Summer and winter ranges, breeding grounds, and other special range data are shown on easy-to-read range maps.

The Shorebird Guide

Richard Crossley, Kevin Karlson, Michael O'Brien

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

EXTREMELY USEFUL AND WELL DONE 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

What a wonderful and useful work. Traditionally, shorebirds are some of the more difficult birds to identify. I know I have been struggling with them for over fifty years now and the situation does not get better with age; I assure you. The wonderful optics we have available now certainly help, but only to a point. These critters are still difficult, even for the very experienced.

This book is a wonderful addition to my collection. It is a bit large to haul around like a normal field guide, but like another reviewer, I keep mine stashed in my care for quick use before the image of the bird leaves me. I use it in conjunction with the four field guides I do carry in my swag bag and have found this is pretty effective. The natural setting photographs in this work, which make up the first half of the book are top quality and show a variety as to juvenile, adult and sex. Markings are quite clear and if they are used with other books, it makes life so much simpler. I have a disadvantage at this time, not living near a large body of water, i.e. salt water or marsh, so I do not get to practice the way I use to. I need all the help I can get.

As has been so well pointed out by another reviewer here, you will not find terns and gulls and their ilk in this work. These are not shore birds. For this I was grateful as it excluded a lot of unneeded clutter. There are other fine books, i.e. most competent field guides, to help in the gull/tern area.

Of the several works I have addressing shore birds; this is right at the top as to usefulness and as a source of valuable information. Highly recommend this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Editorial Review:

Birding by impression: an all-new, holistic approach to identifying shorebirds.

Join the experts in this revolutionary approach to bird identification. Experienced birders use the most easily observed characteristics — size, structure, behavior, and general color patterns — to identify birds even before looking carefully at plumage details. Now birders at all levels can learn how to identify shorebirds quickly and simply. This guide includes more than 870 stunning color photographs, starting with a general impression of the species and progressing to more detailed images of the bird throughout its life cycle. Quiz questions in the captions will engage and challenge all birders and help them benefit from this simplified, commonsense approach to identification.

Attracting Birds to Your Backyard: 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds (A Rodale Organic Gardening Book)

Sally Roth

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A wonderful resource from the goddess of birding! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I really like the way this author writes: clear succinct explanation scattered with vivid personal anecdotes. This is a sturdy oversized trade paperback that will stand up to years of thumbing through it and carrying it outside.

It's stuffed with beautiful color drawings, side-bars, tables, and landscaping plans. The table of contents is a huge, comprehensive list of topics from A to Z, touching upon everything from bird anatomy to different types of feathers to the coloration and shapes of eggs to project lists to attract birds in all four seasons.

If you can have only one general book on birding, I would recommend this one. With its clear writing and all its illustration, it would be suitable for motivated fifth-graders on up. It also covers so many different common birds that it's not limited to just one American region. Highly recommended. Longer review at OrnateBirdGarden-dot-com.

Editorial Review:

Anyone can create a beautiful and colorful backyard that will attract many different species of birds. This comprehensive, A-to-Z guide will help serious and casual gardeners alike choose the specific plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees for attracting some of the best-loved backyard birds, including bluebirds, warblers, goldfinches, and cardinals. Readers will discover top plants for birds, profiles of more than fifty common backyard birds, special bird feeding and planting tips to attract specific birds, and other features making this book invaluable to gardeners and bird lovers alike!