Birds of Costa Rica
by Dale Dyer and Steve N. G. Howell
From Princeton University Press:
Costa Rica is among the most popular birding destinations in the world, with a breathtaking diversity of neotropical birdlife and stunningly beautiful habitats ranging from shady mangrove swamps to mist-enshrouded mountaintops and verdant rainforest. Birds of Costa Rica is the essential illustrated pocket guide to this biologically rich country. It covers all regularly occurring bird species found in the region and features facing-page plates and text that make field identification easy. Concise species accounts describe everything from size and distribution to voice, habitat, and status. This compact guide also features progressive taxonomy and a wealth of color range maps.
- Covers more than 800 species of birds found in Costa Rica
- Includes more than 200 superb color plates
- Features concise species accounts, facing-page plates and text, and up-to-date range maps
- Its compact size and field-friendly layout make it the ideal travel companion for any birder
Birds of Belize
by Steve N. G. Howell and Dale Dyer
From Princeton University Press:
Belize is one of the world’s premier birding destinations, home to a marvelous array of tropical birds and beautiful habitats ranging from verdant rain forests and extensive wetlands to rolling pine savannas and the country’s famed barrier reef. Birds of Belize is the essential illustrated pocket guide to this birder’s paradise. It covers all regularly occurring bird species found in the region and features facing-page plates and text that make field identification easy. Concise species accounts describe everything from size and distribution to voice, habitat, and status. This compact guide also features progressive taxonomy and a wealth of color range maps.
- Covers more than 500 species of birds found in Belize
- Includes 116 superb color plates
- Features concise species accounts, facing-page plates and text, and up-to-date range maps
- Its compact size and field-friendly layout make it the ideal travel companion for any birder
The illustrations in these field guides have been pulled from Dyer’s work in Birds of Central America. I like that older guide, but it’s a bit big to carry around. These new guides are smaller and more field-friendly. I have multiple field guides to both of these countries, but these new Princeton guides will be my go-to guides going forward.
Birds of Costa Rica
by Dale Dyer and Steve N. G. Howell
Flexi-binding; 456 pages
Princeton University Press; May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9780691203355
$29.95
Birds of Belize
by Steve N. G. Howell and Dale Dyer
Flexi-binding; 304 pages
Princeton University Press; April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9780691220727
$35.00
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by Christian Spencer
An amazing collection of bird photography.
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A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington: Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate
by Will McLean Greeley
From RIT Press:
Senator George P. McLean’s crowning achievement was overseeing passage of one of the country’s first and most important wildlife conservation laws, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The MBTA, which is still in effect today, has saved billions of birds from senseless killing and likely prevented the extinction of entire bird species. A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington: George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate puts McLean’s victory for birds in the context of his distinguished forty-five-year career marked by many acts of reform during a time of widespread corruption and political instability. Author Will McLean Greeley traces McLean’s rise from obscurity as a Connecticut farm boy to national prominence when he advised five US presidents and helped lead change and shape events as a US senator from 1911 to 1929. One reviewer writes: “And there’s a bonus: This book is also a love song to a distant relative. We need more historians who truly care about the people they’re writing about, and Greeley does just that.”
A political biography on this website? (Well, about someone other than Theodore Roosevelt.) But this is one politician that birders should be interested in, as he is a very important, but little-known, figure in conservation.
A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington: Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate
by Will McLean Greeley
Paperback; 350 pages
RIT Press; February 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781939125996
$34.95
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The (Big) Year that Flew By: Twelve Months, Six Continents, and the Ultimate Birding Record
by Arjan Dwarshuis
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
An epic tale of one passionate birder’s record-breaking adventure through 40 countries over 6 continents―in just one year―to see 6,852 bird species, rare and common, before many go extinct.
When Arjan Dwarshuis first heard of the “Big Year”―the legendary record for birdwatching―he was twenty years old, it was midnight, and he was sitting on the roof of a truck in the Andean Mountains. In that moment he promised himself that, someday, somehow, he would become a world-record-holding birder.
Ten years later, he embarked on an incredible, arduous, and perilous journey that took him around the globe; over uninhabited islands, through dense unforgiving rainforests, across snowy mountain peaks and unrelenting deserts―in just a single year. Would he survive? Would he be able to break the “Big Year” record, navigating through a world filled with shifting climate and geopolitical challenges?
The (Big) Year that Flew By is an unforgettable, personal exploration of the limits of human potential when engaging with the natural world. It is a book about birds and birding and Arjan’s attempts to raise awareness for critically endangered species, but it is also a book about overcoming mental challenges, extreme physical danger, and human competition and fully realizing your passions through nature, adventure, and conservation.
If you enjoy big year tales, then you’ll want to read this one.
The (Big) Year that Flew By: Twelve Months, Six Continents, and the Ultimate Birding Record
by Arjan Dwarshuis
Paperback; 256 pages
Chelsea Green Publishing; May 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781645021919
$22.95
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Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees
by Cin-Ty Lee; Illustrated by Andrew Birch
From Princeton University Press:
The identification of Empidonax flycatchers and pewees can be a daunting challenge for even the most seasoned birder. Field Guide to North American Flycatchers takes bird identification to an entirely new level by training readers to observe subtle differences in structure, color patterns, and vocalizations before delving into the finer details of a particular species. Because the plumages of flycatchers are so similar, this one-of-a-kind guide uses illustrations that highlight slight variances among species that photos often miss. One of the last frontiers of bird identification is now accessible to everyone―once one knows what to look for.
- Uses a holistic approach that makes flycatcher identification possible even for beginners
- Features a wealth of beautiful illustrations that depict every species in North America
- Shows how to observe subtle differences in structure, plumage contrasts, and vocalizations, which together create a distinctive overall impression of the bird
- Includes detailed audio spectrograms and seasonal distribution maps for each species
- Shares invaluable tips for successful identification in all kinds of field settings
- Its compact size and field-friendly layout make it the ideal travel companion for any birder
This is exactly the sort of detailed guide to empids and pewees that I’ve been hoping for since…well, basically since I started birding. Simply put, every North American birder should have this.
Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees
by Cin-Ty Lee; Illustrated by Andrew Birch
Flexi-binding; 168 pages
Princeton University Press; April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780691240626
$19.95
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Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia
by Jeff Davies, Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke, Peter Marsack, and Kim Franklin
From Princeton University Press:
This book is an easy-to-use and beautifully illustrated quick identification guide to all regularly occurring bird species in Australia. Carefully designed to provide key information at your fingertips to enable rapid identification, it covers more than 700 bird species that are resident or regular visitors to the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and surrounding waters accessible in a day trip by boat. Based on the award-winning Australian Bird Guide, this convenient pocket guide features stunning images, up-to-date species descriptions, distribution maps, and quick guide comparison pages for all major groups.
- Covers more than 700 species, including regular visitors
- Features a wealth of breathtaking color images by leading Australian artists
- Provides incisive species descriptions that make identification easy
- Includes quick guide comparison pages and the most up-to-date distribution maps
- Its compact size makes it the perfect travel companion
The Australian Bird Guide is, arguably, the best identification guide for that continent. But it’s a bit…unwieldy. This new pocket guide is a concise version of that larger guide, now allowing you to take it with you in the field. I would not recommend this pocket edition be the only field guide you use in Australia, unless you are already very familiar with the birds or are just doing some incidental birding. But if you’d like to have a good field guide with you, one that will actually fit in your pocket, this is a great choice.
Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia
by Jeff Davies, Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke, Peter Marsack, and Kim Franklin
Flexibound; 256 pages
Princeton University Press; February 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780691245492
$27.95
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