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In the Footsteps of AudubonIn the Footsteps of Audubon
by Denis Clavreul

From Princeton University Press:

In the nineteenth century, ornithologist and painter John James Audubon set out to create a complete pictorial record of North American birdlife, traveling from Louisiana and the Florida Keys to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the cliffs of the Yellowstone River. The resulting work, The Birds of America, stands as a monumental achievement in American art. Over a period of sixteen years, recording his own journey in journals and hundreds of original paintings, renowned French watercolorist Denis Clavreul followed in the naturalist’s footsteps.

In the Footsteps of Audubon brings together some 250 of Clavreul’s stunning watercolors along with illuminating selections from Audubon’s journals and several of his paintings. With pencil and brush in hand, Clavreul turns his naturalist’s eye and painterly skill to the landscapes that Audubon encountered on his travels, and to the animals and plants that Audubon depicted in his art. A passionate ornithologist, Clavreul sketches birds in the wild with rare dexterity, bringing them vividly to life on the page. He documents his encounters along the way with people who live with nature, many of whom are passionately engaged in preserving it, drawing on his insights as both a biologist and an artist to connect the past, present, and future.

A spellbinding, richly evocative journey, In the Footsteps of Audubon is an invitation to see the natural world as Audubon saw it―and to see with new eyes what it has become today.

 

Clavreul’s sketches and watercolors are gorgeous and evocative. This book is worth it for them alone. And, from what I’ve been through so far, it’s also a good read.

 

In the Footsteps of Audubon
by Denis Clavreul
Hardcover; 256 pages
Princeton University Press; November 1, 2022
ISBN: 9780691237688
$39.95

Baby Bird Identification: A North American GuideBaby Bird Identification: A North American Guide
by Linda Tuttle-Adams

From Cornell University Press:

Baby Bird Identification is a comprehensive illustrated guide for distinguishing hundreds of North American bird species in their early stages of life. From the just hatched to the fledgling, Linda Tuttle-Adams walks readers through the process of identifying baby birds that they may encounter in the wild―a first step to ensuring proper care and rehabilitation.

Successful rehabilitation of birds found in the wild requires species-specific attention. But the identification of a baby bird, whether altricial or precocial, may seem overwhelming at first, even to a trained ornithologist. Tuttle-Adams lays out an approachable and systematic method for discerning a baby bird’s identity, offering descriptions of telling anatomical and environmental features as well as details of a bird’s day-to-day growth.

With over four hundred original watercolor paintings and an illustrated glossary, Baby Bird Identification is an invaluable resource for wildlife rehabilitators, those who find baby birds in their yards or recreational places, and anyone who enjoys watching or studying birds in the wild.

 

The primary audience for this book is wildlife rehabbers, and for them it should be an invaluable reference, not only for identification but also for their care. But for fellow birders, as little as we encounter birds this young, I don’t think it would get enough use to be worthwhile. Instead, if you are interested in learning more about baby birds, including what they look like at various ages, I would highly recommend Julie Zickefoose’s Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest.

 

Baby Bird Identification: A North American Guide
by Linda Tuttle-Adams
Paperback; 432 pages
Cornell University Press; October 15, 2022
ISBN: 9781501762857
$39.95

The Naturalist's CompanionThe Naturalist’s Companion: A Field Guide to Observing and Understanding Wildlife
by Dave Hall

From Mountaineers Books:

The Naturalist’s Companion fills an important void in outdoor education by teaching readers how to become more learned and patient observers and, ultimately, more proficient naturalists.

Through exhaustive time in the field, author Dave Hall has developed a comprehensive understanding of nature awareness and refined his skills to enhance any time spent outdoors and to foster closer, more respectful encounters with wildlife. Through personal anecdotes and detailed explanations, Hall teaches the principles and ethics of stealth walking, calling, tracking, interpreting basic animal behavior, and much more. Each chapter concludes with a list of exercises, prompting readers to study and put these skills into use, while introductory sections discuss gear, safety, ethics, and thoughtful engagement.

The Naturalist’s Companion will deepen readers’ connection with the outdoors and help them to establish and maintain consistent, intimate, and informed wildlife observations.

 

“With this book, I hope to both enrich and strengthen your bond with the outdoors by providing practical and ethical tools that will improve the quality and depth of your outdoor experiences,” the author writes. While not specifically about birds, the tips and advice presented here are certainly applicable to birding. Put into practice, I have no doubts they will improve your time in the field.

 

The Naturalist’s Companion: A Field Guide to Observing and Understanding Wildlife
by Dave Hall
Hardcover; 208 pages
Mountaineers Books; August 17, 2022
ISBN: 9781680515763
$19.95

Audubon at Sea: The Coastal and Transatlantic Adventures of John James AudubonAudubon at Sea: The Coastal and Transatlantic Adventures of John James Audubon
edited by Christoph Irmscher and Richard J. King

From University of Chicago Press:

The American naturalist John James Audubon (1785–1851) is widely remembered for his iconic paintings of American birdlife. But as this anthology makes clear, Audubon was also a brilliant writer—and his keen gaze took in far more than creatures of the sky. Culled from his published and unpublished writings, Audubon at Sea explores Audubon’s diverse observations of the ocean, the coast, and their human and animal inhabitants. With Audubon expert Christoph Irmscher and scholar of the sea Richard J. King as our guides, we set sail from the humid expanses of the American South to the shores of England and the chilly landscapes of the Canadian North. We learn not only about the diversity of sea life Audubon documented—birds, sharks, fish, and whales—but also about life aboard ship, travel in early America, Audubon’s work habits, and the origins of beloved paintings. As we face an unfathomable loss of seabirds today, Audubon’s warnings about the fragility of birdlife in his time are prescient and newly relevant.

Charting the course of Audubon’s life and work, from his birth in Haiti to his death in New York City, Irmscher and King’s sweeping introduction and carefully drawn commentary confront the challenges Audubon’s legacy poses for us today, including his participation in American slavery and the thousands of birds he killed for his art. Rounded out by hundreds of historical and ornithological notes and beautiful illustrations, and with a foreword by distinguished photographer and conservationist Subhankar Banerjee, Audubon at Sea is the most comprehensively annotated collection of Audubon’s work ever published.

 

This book is a compilation of ocean-related writings by Audubon. Selections from his Ornithological Biography are the centerpiece, accompanied by excerpts from two of his journals. The editors add extensive introductions and annotations, making this worthwhile for interested readers, even if Audubon’s writings themselves may be available elsewhere.

 

Audubon at Sea: The Coastal and Transatlantic Adventures of John James Audubon
edited by Christoph Irmscher and Richard J. King
Hardcover; 352 pages
University of Chicago Press; August 19, 2022
ISBN: 9780226756677
$30.00

Little Kids First Board Book: BirdsLittle Kids First Board Book: Birds
by Ruth Musgrave

From National Geographic Kids:

Bursting with vivid photos, each spread in this sturdy book features a fascinating bird, along with super-simple facts and lively, age-appropriate language to keep babies and toddlers―and their grown-ups―engaged.

Designed to be the stepping stone to the best-selling National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book series, the Little Kids First Board Book series takes similar big subjects and distills them down to the simplest nonfiction concepts for the youngest audience. Not only will readers learn about a variety of birds, they can also find recurring shapes and patterns in the art, while adults can keep their eyes open for occasional funny commentary from the animals. Sidebar text offers additional learning for older siblings or those ready for more complex information.

With their square shape, bright and playful design, awesome photography, clear text, and cues to encourage interactive learning, the Little Kids First Board Books take a fresh new approach to excite a baby’s sense of wonder and make learning about nature and science fun.

 

This is a cute little book, with large, colorful, dynamic pictures and appropriate text for children up to around three.

 

Little Kids First Board Book: Birds
by Ruth Musgrave
Board book; 26 pages
National Geographic Kids; March 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781426371448
$7.99

How Birds Live TogetherHow Birds Live Together: Colonies and Communities in the Avian World
by Marianne Taylor

From Princeton University Press:

Featuring dramatic and delightful wild bird colonies and communities, How Birds Live Together offers a broad overview of social living in the avian world. From long-established seabird colonies that use the same cliffs for generations to the fast-shifting dynamics of flock formation, leading wildlife writer Marianne Taylor explores the different ways birds choose to dwell together.

Through fascinating text, color photos, maps, and other graphics, Taylor examines the advantages of avian sociality and social breeding. Chapters provide detailed information on diverse types of bird colonies, including those species that construct single-family nests close together in trees; those that share large, communal nests housing multiple families; those that nest in tunnels dug into the earth; those that form exposed colonies on open ground and defend them collectively, relying on ferocious aggression; those that live communally on human-made structures in towns and cities; and more. Taylor discusses the challenges, benefits, hazards, and social dynamics of each style of living, and features a wealth of species as examples.

Showcasing colonies from the edge of Scotland and the tropical delta of the Everglades to the Namib Desert in Africa, How Birds Live Together gives bird enthusiasts a vivid understanding of avian social communities.

 

The latest in a line of books from Princeton on specific aspects of bird behavior and ecology, this well-illustrated book explores “bird colonies and gatherings in all their forms”. This topic doesn’t seem to get the same level of attention as other aspects of birds’ lives – hopefully this book will correct that!

 

How Birds Live Together: Colonies and Communities in the Avian World
by Marianne Taylor
Hardcover; 224 pages
Princeton University Press; May 10, 2022
ISBN: 9780691231907
$29.95

Vagrancy in BirdsVagrancy in Birds
by Alexander Lees and James Gilroy

From Princeton University Press:

Avian vagrancy—the appearance of birds outside of their expected habitat—is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries, from Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen to today’s bird-chasing “twitchers.” Yet despite the obsessions of countless ornithologists, what do we actually know about the enigma of vagrancy? In Vagrancy in Birds, Alexander Lees and James Gilroy explore the causes, patterns, and processes behind the occurrences of these unique birds.

Lees and Gilroy draw on recent research to answer fundamental questions: What causes avian vagrancy? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors present readers with everything known about the subject, and bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution.

Filled with a wealth of photographs, Vagrancy in Birds will fascinate avian enthusiasts everywhere.

 

Sorry, this book won’t really help you in finding vagrants. Rather, it will help you understand the why and how of vagrancy. As such, it fills a hole in bird literature and answers some questions that I’ve long wondered about.

 

Vagrancy in Birds
by Alexander Lees and James Gilroy
Hardcover; 400 pages
Princeton University Press; February 15, 2022
ISBN: 9780691224886
$35.00

Birding in an Age of ExtinctionsBirding in an Age of Extinctions
by Martin Painter

From Whittles Publishing:

This is a book about what it’s like being a birder in an age of natural decline. It is part autobiographical – tales of spell-binding birding encounters that left indelible memories – and it is part reflective. The travellers’ tales of birding adventures are about places and events that were variously entertaining, amusing, captivating, inspiring, exciting and awesome, literally. They also feature the amazing, eccentric, dedicated, inspiring people in the birding community. There is birding in the Himalayas, in the Australian outback, on the Southern Oceans and in hotel gardens and city parks and there are tales of the ‘big-listers’, ‘big-lensers’, professional guides, and local conservation workers who try to keep their habitats safe for us.

Martin’s experiences in becoming a birder late in life revealed some strange behaviour which he soon learnt to take for granted as a member of the birding community. Why tear off chasing the next tick when we were having such a good time in the forest we were already exploring? Why was seeing a rare parrot in a cage less significant than seeing a ‘wild’ one that was being hand-fed in a nature reserve?

There are chapters about all of these puzzles and oddities, and more – their origins and, in some cases, how they shape our behaviour in somewhat perverse ways. All these tales and reflections are shaped by birding during an extinction crisis and the growing biodiversity crisis. As he observed trashed habitats and vanishing bird populations during his travels, Martin’s growing dismay and alarm about these issues coloured everything. There is the paradox of ‘extinction birding’ – it is not difficult today to see some vanishingly rare birds because they are hanging on in reserved, fenced spaces, kept alive by artifices such as captive breeding. Because our visits to these places provide funds, we are among these species’ last hopes for survival. Is this the best we can do? Faced with the growing crisis, we can all do better.

 

In this book, the author asks some challenging questions about birding and our behavior as birders. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking book about birding, or enjoy birding narratives/memoirs but are starting to get tired of their usual formula, give this one a read.

 

Birding in an Age of Extinctions
by Martin Painter
Paperback; 224 pages
Whittles Publishing; January 15, 2021
ISBN: 9781849954877
$24.95

NightingalevNightingale
by Bethan Roberts

From Reaktion Books:

A melodious paean to the natural history and symbolic meaning of the most prized, poetized, and mythologized of songbirds.

The nightingale has a unique place in cultural history: the most prized of songbirds, it has inspired more poems than any other creature, and it is also the most mythologized of birds. Nightingale juxtaposes the bird of poetry, music, myth, and lore with the living bird of wood and scrubland, unpicking the entangled relationship between them. Covering a huge range of poets, musicians, artists, nature writers, and natural historians—from Aristotle, Keats, and Vera Lynn to Bob Dylan—Nightingale charts our fascination through history with this nondescript yet melodious little brown bird. It also documents the nightingale’s disappearance from British breeding grounds and the implications this has for nightingale conservation.

 

I’ve never seen or heard a Nightingale for myself, unfortunately. Whether you’re like me or are lucky enough to hear this renowned songster every year, this new book is the perfect introduction to the bird itself and its place in literature and the arts.

 

Nightingale
by Bethan Roberts
Paperback; 224 pages
Reaktion Books; November 26, 2021
ISBN: 9781789144741
$19.95

The Complete Birds of the World: Every Species IllustratedThe Complete Birds of the World: Every Species Illustrated
by Norman Arlott, Ber van Perlo, Jorge R. Rodriguez Mata, Gustavo Carrizo, Aldo A. Chiappe, and Luis Huber

From Princeton University Press:

This is a book like no other―the only truly comprehensive, one-volume illustrated guide to all of the world’s birds, covering the complete International Ornithological Congress World Bird List. Featuring more than 300 stunning large-format, full-color plates, this accessible and authoritative encyclopedic reference presents incredibly detailed, accurate, and beautiful paintings of more than 10,700 species by some of the world’s best bird artists, led by the legendary Norman Arlott and Ber van Perlo. In addition, The Complete Birds of the World provides detailed but concise identification information about each species on facing pages―including facts about voice, habitat, and geographic distribution. The result is a visual and verbal feast that captures the astonishing variety of bird life around the planet―and that will be cherished by any birder.

  • Illustrates more than 10,700 species, covering the complete International Ornithological Congress World Bird List, and including all major adult plumages for each
  • Features more than 300 stunning large-format, full-color plates by some of the world’s leading bird artists
  • Presents detailed but concise identification information about each species on facing pages―including facts about voice, habitat, and geographic distribution

 

It’s so much fun just to flip through this book and discover all the birds out there to be seen. However, there are two things that must be mentioned. First, the illustrations vary widely in quality. Most of them are provided by Arlott and van Perlo. The former’s work is excellent, I really enjoy it. The latter’s is not nearly as good and suffers from appearing on the same plates as the others. The second thing that must be mentioned is that, despite the claim in the press copy above, this is not the only “one-volume illustrated guide to all of the world’s birds” – Lynx Edicions’ All the Birds of the World preceded this one by a year. Lynx’s book is arguably better, depending on what you are looking for and how you will be using it. But if you just want a convenient way to browse and compare all the birds of the world (and what birder wouldn’t?) – The Complete Birds of the World works well and is a relative bargain.

 

The Complete Birds of the World: Every Species Illustrated
by Norman Arlott, Ber van Perlo, Jorge R. Rodriguez Mata, Gustavo Carrizo, Aldo A. Chiappe, and Luis Huber
Hardcover; 640 pages
Princeton University Press; September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9780691193922
$65.00