Review Roundup

• Birdscapes: A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stereo Sound
  • The Hawk Owl’s Nest
• Owls of North America
  • Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog
• The Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas
  • Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog
• Egg & Nest
  • 10,000 Birds
• Rare Birds Yearbook 2009
  • 10,000 Birds
• Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park
  • Great Auk – or Greatest Auk?
• Birding For Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers
  • The Birdchaser
  • Audubon Birdscapes
  • 10,000 Birds
• Atlas of Bird Migration: Tracing the Great Journeys of the World’s Birds
  • Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog

• Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America
  • Birdfreak.com – The Bird Conservation Blog
• The LBJ (Literary Bird Journal)
  • 10,000 Birds
  • Birdfreak.com – The Bird Conservation Blog
• Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
  • BrdPics
• Birds: Mini Edition: The Art of Ornithology
  • 10,000 Birds
• Finding Birds On The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail: Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast
  • The Nature Writers of Texas
• Birdscapes: A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stereo Sound
  • The Birdchaser
• Salt Tide: Currents of Nature and Life on the Virginia Coast
  • Great Auk – or Greatest Auk?

• A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All
  • OnEarth (publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council
  • The Wannabe Birder
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
• Corvus: A Life with Birds
  • 10,000 Birds
• Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America
  • The Intersection
  • The Charlotte Observer (also includes the new Peterson guide)
• The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
  • Stokes Birding Blog
• The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters With North America’s Most Iconic Birds and
  Birds in Flight: The Art and Science of How Birds Fly
  • BrdPics
• A Life of Ospreys
  • birdingnet.com
• Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
  • Rosyfinch Ramblings
  • Aimophila Adventures

• Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
  • The House and other Arctic musings
• Opposable Chums – a documentary on the World Series of Birding
  • 10,000 Birds
  • Picus Blog
• Who Killed the Great Auk?
  • Great Auk – or Greatest Auk?
• A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All
  • WildBird on the Fly
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Handbook of Bird Biology
  • BirdFreak: The Bird Conservation Blog: Part 1, Part 2

Birding

– July/August2008 (Vol. 40, No. 4)

• Birds of Peru, by Thomas S. Schulenberg, Douglas F. Stotz, Daniel F. Lane, John P. O’Neill, and Theodore P., III Parker
  “Quite simply a tour de force“, this guide is THE guide for Peru.
• Rare Birds of California, edited by Robert A. Hamilton, Michael A. Patten, and Richard A. Erickson
  An “essential reference” to California birders, members of bird records committees, and birders anywhere interested in patterns of avian vagrancy.
• Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond, by David Gessner
  Become swept up with the author and Ospreys in this “enlightening journey”.

Birding

– September/October 2008 (Vol. 40, No. 5)

• Birds of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, by Daniel D. Gibson and G. Vernon Byrd
  This scholarly treatment of the birds of this region (it is not a field guide) contains species accounts, discussions, and listings of sightings, and is “very useful and much-needed”.
• Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide, edited by Peter Frances
  Not just another coffee table book, this is “strikingly attractive, surprisingly authoritative, and well worth its $50 price tag”.
• The Ornithologist’s Dictionary, by Johannes Erritzoe, Kaj Kampp, Kevin Winker, and Clifford B. Frith
  “A handsome, no-nonesense, little reference book”.
• National Geographic Birding Essentials, by Jonathan Alderfer and Jon L. Dunn
  I just (finally) finished this book. I’ll review it at some point, but I don’t think I can add anything to this review. Essentially, this is a adequate introduction to the fundamentals of birding, but with a disappointing lack of coverage of technological advancements.

Birder’s World

– October 2008 (Vol. 22, No. 5)

• Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, by Roger Tory Peterson
  “The Peterson guide is back in a big way” in this new and improved edition.
• Charley Harper’s Birds and Words, by Charley Harper
  A republishing of an “extraordinary compilation of 61 paintings” by the very unique Mr. Harper.
• Best-Ever Backyard Birding Tips, by Deborah L. Martin
  “The title of this book is no exaggeration”.

Bird Watcher’s Digest

– Vol. 31 No. 1, Sept/October 2008

• Flights Against the Sunset: Stories that Reunited a Mother and Son, by Kenn Kaufman
  A very positive review,which states that you “may well find an entirely new and far greater appreciation of Kaufman as a naturalist, a storyteller, and a human being”.
• Digital Photography Outdoors: A Field Guide for Travel and Adventure Photographers, by James Martin
  “This book would be an excellent choice for someone who has recently purchased their first DSLR camera, or who has yet to fully take the plunge into the often intimidating world of digital photography”.

Birder’s World

– Aug 2008 (Vol. 22, Issue 4)

• Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America, by Ted Floyd
  The reviewer obviously enjoyed this “excellent new field guide”.
• Finding Birds On The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail: Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast, by Ted Lee, Jr. Eubanks, Robert A. Behrstock, Seth Davidson
  “Don’t bird the northeastern portion of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail without this new guide.”
• The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America, by Donald Kroodsma
  75 species of western birds are covered with sounds from the built-in audio player, and excellent essays by one of the foremost birdsong experts.
• Woodland Birds of North America: A Guide to Observation, Understanding and Conservation, by Scott Leslie
  Includes “great photos” of woodland birds, but also insights into their lives and especially conservation status.
• Site Guide to the Birds of Veracruz, by Robert Straub
  Maps, directions, and notes for 56 sites and 25 “sub-sites” in the Mexican state.

WildBird

– Sept/Oct 2008

• A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All, by Luke Dempsey
  A standout in the “birding adventures” genre.
• The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America; Eastern and Central North America, by Donald Kroodsma
  “This book will help you enjoy and appreciate bird vocalizations on a deeper level”.
• Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, by Elizabeth Rosenthal
  Anyone interested in Peterson will enjoy this biography.

Winging It

– Aug 2008, Vol 20, no 4

• Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share The World’s Greatest Destinations, by Chris Santella
  Good for “someone looking for places to bird outside their hometown, but probably not as helpful to serious world birders”.
• Lost Worlds: Adventures in the Tropical Rainforest, by Bruce M. Beehler
  The reviewer “cannot recommend too highly” this book.
• Flying over the Pyrenees, Standing on the Plains, by Steve West
  Full of “charming tales” and “more than a few things to be learned”.
• An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake, by Tom Horton
  This “memoir of a community” beautifully memorializes this area and its way of life.
• A Passion for Birds, by Ong Kiem Sian
  This book and accompanying DVD is full of “photographic marvels” of the birds of Southeast Asia.
• Birds of North America, by Jim Roetzel
  A collection of “portrait quality” photographs. Worryingly, though, it seems some captions may not be 100% accurate.
• Rhapsody in Blue (A Celebration of North American Waterbirds), by Middleton Evans
  A “splendid array of photographs” of 180 species of birds from North America’s wetlands.

• Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
  • Birdfreak – The Bird Conservation Blog: Review, Field Use Review
  • The Hawk Owl’s Nest
  • A DC Birding Blog
  • 10,000 Birds
  • Aimophila Adventures
• Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography
  • Birdfreak – The Bird Conservation Blog
• Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
  • 10,000 Birds
  • Birdfreak – The Bird Conservation Blog
  • Born Again Bird Watcher
• All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures
  • A DC Birding Blog
  • Birdfreak – The Bird Conservation Blog
  • Aimophila Adventures

• The Life of the Skies – Aimophila Adventures, Atlanta Journal and Constitution (yes, a newspaper!)
• Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America – The House & other Arctic musings
• A Guide to the Birds of East Africa – 10,000 Birds (this is a novel, and not an actual field guide)
• A Birder’s Guide to Wyoming – The Drinking Bird: part 1, part 2
• Opposable Chums – The Hawk Owl’s Nest (a documentary on the World Series of Birding)

• Oology and Ralph’s Talking Eggs: Bird Conservation Comes Out of Its Shell – Living the Scientific Life
• Return to Warden’s Grove: Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows – Living the Scientific Life, Prairie Ice
• The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (Peterson Field Guides) – Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog
• Woodland Birds of North America: A Guide to Observation, Understanding and Conservation – 10,000 Birds
• Flights Against the Sunset: Stories that Reunited a Mother and Son – Aimophila Adventures

Living Bird

– Spring 2008

• A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House, by Danny Heitman
  “A fine portrait of the artist”
• Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share The World’s Greatest Destinations, by Chris Santella
  “A beautifully produced book” that is worth it for the photographs alone.
  Right now this is only $4.99 at Amazon – this book is well worth that!!!
• Good Birders Don’t Wear White: 50 Tips From North America’s Top Birders, by Lisa White
  “Full of hints that can make you a better birder, with humor, compiled by a list of birding stars.”

Wildbird

– July/August 2008

• Finding Birds On The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail: Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast, by Ted Lee, Jr. Eubanks, Robert A. Behrstock, Seth Davidson
  A “great companion” for those new to the area, casual visitors, and veterans.
• Owls of the United States and Canada: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Behavior, by Wayne Lynch
  “A beautiful, comprehensive book that will captivate a wide range of readers.”
• Falcon Fever: A Falconer in the Twenty-first Century, by Tim Gallagher
  This combination of memoir, historical account and travelogue comes recommended.

Bird Watcher’s Digest

– Vol. 30 No. 6, July/August 2008

• Birds, Beasts and Bureaucrats, by Herbert, A Raffaele
  “Excellent reading and a pleasure to recommend.”
• The Life of the Skies, by Jonathan Rosen
  This “investigation into not only the history of bird watching but its very underlying spirit” is recommended.
• Golden Wings & Hairy Toes: Encounters with New England’s Most Imperiled Wildlife, by Todd McLeish
  The reviewer recommends this book, which highlights 14 endangered New England species, including three birds.
• Stalking the Ghost Bird: The Elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Louisiana, by Michael K. Steinberg
  This “interesting book” focuses on reports of the ivory-billed in Louisiana.

Winging It

– Vol. 20 No. 3, June 2008
Newsletter of the American Birding Association

• The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird, by Bruce Barcott
  The saga of a woman’s battle to save the last of the macaws in Belize is “a gripping tale, well told”.
• Chasing the Ghost Birds: Saving the Swans and Cranes from Extinction, by David Sakrison
  Chronicles the attempts to reintroduce Trumpeter Swans and Whooping Cranes. The material is fascinating, but could have been presented better.
• The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife: Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean, by Hadoram Shirihai
  This second edition looks like a great guide to this region.
• Birds of Australia’s Top End, by Denise Goodfellow
  An “impressive guide”.