Birding is all about finding and identifying birds. Plenty has been written about the last part of that equation, the identification step. But what about finding the birds? Sure, there are bird-finding guides that tell you where and when to go and what birds you can expect there. But what happens when you get there? You can’t simply drive up to a birding hotspot, pull out the site’s checklist, and add all the birds found thereon to your life list. No, you still have to find the birds that are supposedly there. In The Art of Bird Finding, Pete Dunne explains just how to do that.

He starts with our innate bird-detecting skills. The good news is that even the most bumbling and oblivious among us is still a “bird-finding machine”. We just need to be aware of this built-in ability, hone it, and intentionally bring it to bear on our surroundings.

Next up are some fundamental principles. Dunne covers everything from how to look to how to walk to what to wear. Some of these are (or should be) common sense, and you may have read some elsewhere (i.e. don’t wear white). But others will likely be new to you, such as some great tips on how to approach birds more closely. Most of the things covered are general in nature, but a few are quite specific, such as how to see a Sprague’s Pipit.

Of course, no book about finding birds would be complete without a discussion of seasonality and weather systems, so Dunne dutifully covers these things as well, especially how they impact migration (fallout!). Finally, the author gives a brief introduction to finding birds on new horizons: hawkwatching and pelagic trips. I particularly appreciate the latter, where Dunne tells how to look for seabirds and even where to position yourself on the boat.

The Art of Bird Finding is a small book, but contains just about everything you could want to know on the subject. The only thing I thought was missing was a more detailed explanation of how to forecast migration and interpret weather maps (similar to this). Oh, and an index would have been nice.

Some parts of this book may be familiar to long-time readers of Dunne, as they are based upon topics he has covered in previous articles and books, especially Pete Dunne on Bird Watching. Actually, this (as well as The Art of Pishing) feels like a supplement to that wonderful birding instructional guide. But that’s not a bad thing.

With Dunne penning it, there is no danger of this book being dull or dry. His trademark wit makes this a fun, as well as informative, read.

Recommendation

The Art of Bird Finding admirably fills a gapping hole in the birding literature. While even experts will likely learn a thing or two from Dunne, this is highly recommended to beginner and intermediate birders. Well, only if they want to find more birds.

There is much more to bird identification than memorizing long lists of field marks. Knowledge of them is important, of course, but there are guiding principles and an underlying way of thinking that may be even more vital. As Kenn Kaufman puts it, you need to understand what you see and hear.

That principle is the driving force behind the Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding. Kaufman’s focus is not only on how to identify birds, but also how to learn to identify birds. He accomplishes this by exploring how to look at and listen to birds in general, as well as the special challenges associated with some difficult-to-identify groups.

The first third of the book covers general identification principles (and pitfalls). You may be tempted to skip straight to a chapter dealing with a group of birds you have difficulty with, but don’t put off reading this introductory section for long. It may be the best account of what one needs to know and to do in order to become more proficient at bird identification.

This first section of Advanced Birding also includes an introduction to field ornithology, covering such topics as bird topography, feather structure, and molt. These are more technical (yet necessary) topics, but Kaufman keeps things concise and readable, making this a steppingstone for birders between the basic information sometimes found in field guides and more specialized references. I was especially excited to find a series of photos showing the movement of feathers on an opening wing. I’ve long been curious about this process, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it illustrated.

The remainder of the book covers some difficult families in general and a sampling of specific problems plaguing North American birders in detail. The families covered are:

• Waterfowl
• Seabirds
• Herons and Egrets
• Diurnal Raptors
• Shorebirds
• Gulls
• Terns
• Owls
• Hummingbirds
• Woodpeckers
• Tyrant Flycatchers
• Swallows
• Warblers
• Sparrows

For each of these, Kaufman gives us general points to consider and tells us what to look for, but does not delve much into specific identification quandaries. You will get a much greater reward studying this guide before going into the field than turning to it afterward. Some chapters, like gulls and warblers, are long and cover many topics. Others are quite short (some just two pages).

Initially, I was skeptical of this format. I thought greater attention to specific issues would be more helpful than the overviews. But after reading a few of the family chapters, I was surprised by how useful they were. What am I saying; this was written by Kenn Kaufman – one of our foremost identification gurus as well as exceptional writer – of course they are useful. But pointers on separating particular species can be found elsewhere, the information and framework Kaufman provides here is largely unique.

That said, Advanced Birding does contain ten chapters devoted to species-level identification:

• The Scaup
• The Winter Loons
• The Accipiters
• The Small Calidris Sandpipers
• The Medium-sized Terns
• The Jaegers
• The Challenging Small Hummingbirds
• The Empidonax Flycatchers
• The Blackpoll Trio
• The Spizella Sparrows

This book would be worth purchasing just for the 40 pages (!) on empidonax flycatchers. Eleven full-page plates show each of the empids in a variety of positions and plumages, while the text gives you all kinds of useful information.

Changes from Previous Edition

The Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding is essentially a reworking of the author’s Advanced Birding, published under the Peterson Field Guide label in 1990. The most noticeable difference is that while the prior edition was illustrated solely by black-and-white drawings, this new one primarily uses color photographs. But even more fundamental is a change in approach from differentiating problematic species to the general framework for understanding identification present in the new volume. This shift, and the resultant wealth of new material, makes the newer book much more than a simple “second edition”. It’s more of a supplemental volume than an upgrade. So don’t get rid of the older Advanced Birding when you get the new one. Likewise, I would still recommend obtaining the older one for all who don’t have it, even if you get this new guide, as it contains much that hasn’t been carried over.

Recommendation

Anyone, from beginner to expert, wanting to improve upon their bird identification skills should study the Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding. Being able to learn from Kaufman is a pleasure and an opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up.

Those of us who have been bitten by the bug can attest that bird watching is a great hobby; it’s educational, takes you to some wonderful places, and fun. And to get started, all you have to do – it’s right there in the name – is watch birds. Easy, right? Well, not so fast. First, you have to find a bird, then you will need to see it well, and you’ll probably want to pin a name to it. And that’s just for starters. Thankfully, would-be and beginning birders have a slew of how-to guides for getting started available to them, including this latest one by Stan Dryden.

Birding Lite presents the items and knowledge readers will need to start birding. The chapters on bird identification, field guides and other references, and optics are good primers on the subjects. Attracting birds, both through sounds (i.e. pishing and recordings) and backyard enticements, is given a very brief overview.

A chapter on “whole-brain birding” was a surprising inclusion. In it, Dryden encourages birders to appreciate birds both analytically (left brain) and intuitively (right brain). This would be an intriguing topic for an article, but I’m not sure that it belongs here. On the other hand, a chapter on bird names was a really good idea. The author separates common names into 10 categories. Some are obvious, like those that describe appearance, or birds that are named after people. Others, like “names with fascinating derivations”, are bizarre but interesting. I can see how this section would be a great help for new birders.

The final three chapters show the prospective birder what the future may hold for them. More advanced topics like listing, rarity chasing, and competitive birding are outlined. And a book about how to bird just wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of some difficult identifications. Well, it’s more of a brief mention than discussion; gulls, sparrows, and warblers are the only groups given much attention at all.

Birding Lite keeps well away from any of the more technical topics like migration, variation, or (eep!) molt. There is nary a topography diagram to be found. In fact, there are very few illustrations, other than some black-and-white photographs and drawings. Birders need to understand these concepts, thus this guide is far from complete. But that also makes it unintimidating and accessible. Whether this is a pro or a con largely depends on your level of experience and interest in birding.

However, there are a few omissions that are really surprising. Portable CD players and digital voice recorders (introduced earlier in the book) are the only methods of playing bird sounds in the field that are mentioned! Umm, iPod? MP3 devices are so much easier to use for this (while many recorders can store and playback prerecorded mp3’s, they aren’t nearly as easy to use for this purpose). Also, no internet sites are given as further references. In fact, very few websites are mentioned at all. Some links to birding organizations or other places that new birders can get connected would have been useful.

It is unlikely that experienced birders will find anything here to make them “better”, at least in terms of finding and identifying birds. But I think every birder could do well by modeling Dryden’s attitude toward birding: “perhaps those of us who spend time watching birds could take a cue from them and make this pastime as enjoyable and stress-free as possible”. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the best birders I know, along with many famous birders I’ve heard like Pete Dunne and Kenn Kaufman, really enjoy watching birds. Although it’s a serious pursuit for them, or even a full-blown profession, they don’t loose sight of the “lite” side of birding. More so than any specific tip in the book, the author’s overall approach is probably the most valuable insight, and equally applicable for novices and experts alike.

This attitude is also evident in the author’s words. His writing style is very casual and conversational. But I found the book to be more lighthearted than truly humorous. It elicited a chuckle every now and then, but don’t expect to be rolling on the floor.

Recommendation

Birding Lite is perfect for those who are curious about bird watching or just getting into it. They will find the information required to get started presented in a fun, though shallow, manner.

But if you’re already sure that birding is for you and want to dive right in, then I’d recommend skipping this primer and proceeding directly to more meaty guides, particularly Pete Dunne on Bird Watching and National Geographic Birding Essentials.

More information, including chapter summaries, are available on the Birding Lite website.

Here are some more Books for Beginning Birders

In the forward of this book, Pete Dunne calls it “the greatest compilation of birding know-how of all time”. That’s very high praise, especially from someone of Dunne’s stature. Let’s see if it is deserved…

As the subtitle of the book suggests, it is composed of 50 tips from some of the best that birding has to offer. They are broken down into 14 categories:

• Bird feeding
• Equipment/Clothing
• Identification
• Birding tours/trips
• When and where to bird
• Listing
• Bird sounds
• Birding etiquette
• Weather
• Conservation
• Photography/Drawing
• Enjoying birds and birding
• Birding with kids
• Becoming an expert

The title and author of each of the 50 articles is available in the table of contents at the publisher’s website.

The majority of the tips contain good, basic information that birders should know to enjoy their hobby to the fullest. There is basic information for beginners, suggestions on how to graduate into becoming an expert, and everything in between. It is likely that there will be some ideas that will be new to anyone. For example, one tip suggests that by waving a white cloth you can entice waterfowl to swim closer. The chapters range in tone from completely tongue-in-cheek to serious, thus keeping the reader from becoming bored.

The main issue with the tips is their brevity. This is a small book, both in terms of dimensions and page count, thus each article is by necessity very short. They average 4-5 pages each. Most of them feel not fully fleshed-out, as if they were heavily edited. By the time you really get into some of them, the article ends. Donald Kroodsma’s tip on getting to know the individual singers of the songs you hear is one such case. It’s a fascinating topic that is just crying out for more details and examples than could be included here. Thankfully in this instance you can find more in his wonderful book, The Singing Life of Birds (very highly recommended, by the way).

As with any such book of tips, its usefulness is inversely related to one’s skill. That is, top birders won’t learn much here. Most of the articles will still be pleasurable to read, and there will be some good reminders, but not much new information. However, it may open up the world of birding for beginning and intermediate birders, especially if they use the tips here as a springboard into further study, such as going on to read Kroodsma’s aforementioned book.

There are also 25 full-page black and white line drawings by Robert Braunfield interspersed throughout the book. These usually depict concepts from the tips in a humorous fashion. They are quite amusing and are a welcome addition.

With all due respect to Mr. Dunne, I have to disagree with his assessment of this compilation. I think that his own Pete Dunne on Bird Watching would be more deserving of the title Greatest Compilation of Birding Know-how. However, it is a handy assembly of tips and would still be a good choice for anyone wanting to be a better birder.

I don’t remember why I originally ordered this book, but it was probably to help prepare for my first birding trip “out west” to southeast Arizona. But I do distinctly remember being pleasantly surprised once I started reading it. I was not expecting it to be essentially three books in one. It combines general birding techniques, help with difficult identification, and a birdfinding guide. Think of it as an amalgamation of Pete Dunne on Bird Watching, Kenn Kaufman’s Advanced Birding, and an ABA/Lane guide to the entire region.

Geographically, the western half of the country is covered stopping at the eastern borders of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Alaska is also included, but Hawaii is not. If you live in an area that is not covered here, please do not stop reading. This book is recommended to all birders in the United States and Canada, even if you will never step foot in the west.

Birding in General

The first three chapters deal with general birding techniques and tips. These are applicable to all birders, regardless of location and skill level. In fact, I think just about anyone could learn a great deal from these chapters.

The first chapter covers finding birds. This includes discussions on habitat, plants, seasons, time of day, tape playback, pishing, finding pelagic birds, and ethics. Next up are techniques for identification. Feather topography, molt, jizz, vocalizations, and behavior are all covered in detail. A unique and very helpful inclusion here is a “Ready Reference to Key Characters”. It is a list of bird groups and the key characteristics to focus on. Here are a few examples:

Shearwaters. Identifications range from straightforward to difficult. Look primarily at head and rump patterns and colors, underwing patterns, flight characteristics, and leg and bill color.

Swallows. Identification is straightforward. Note back, rump, and underpart colors; tail shape; and presence or absence of a breast band.

Chapter three teaches how to keep field notes. It tells what you should record and gives some suggestions as to how. A couple of sample pages are shown. No mention is made of listing software, which can help make record keeping much easier. But I suppose the book was published before the software became widely used.

Advanced Identification

Up next is the largest section of the book and the one that probably gets the most use – difficult identifications. Here specific identification problems are addressed. A few examples are “Elegant versus Royal versus Caspian Tern”, “Empidonax Flycatchers”, and “Basic-Plumaged Longspurs”. These are very similar in format to those in Kaufman’s Advanced Birding. The text is detailed, extensive, and very helpful. Black-and-white photographs and line drawings accompany the text to illustrate the main field marks of some, but not all, species. Of course color photography would be preferable, but for the most part these black-and-white pictures are adequate for their purpose. The line drawings are even more helpful since they can focus on and directly compare specific parts of confusing species, such as the wings of nighthawks and the heads of sparrows.

The species and groups covered were arbitrarily chosen by the author based on his previous experience. Some groups, such as Pterodroma petrels, could not be covered at all because there was not room for the necessarily detailed treatment they required. Additionally, the author notes that some groups, such as gulls, are given only minimal treatment for the same reason. That may be, but there are still thirteen pages devoted to gulls in general, and more than ten total for Slaty-backed and Thayer’s Gulls.

Although the species and groups covered are western birds some of them are also found in the east, and many more turn up as vagrants. For instance, all of the jaegers and empidonax flycatchers in North America are covered in great detail. Any birder on the continent could use help with these groups, and the many others that are covered in this section.

Bird Finding

The final segment of the book is devoted to finding the western specialties. The species listed here are those the author considers to be essentially western birds. Most common and/or widespread species are not treated. Additionally, irruptive species and most Asian vagrants are not included.

The species accounts here are very similar in nature to those in birdfinding guides such as the ABA/Lane series. They tell where, when, and in what habitat the bird can be found. For some common and widespread species the habitat information alone should be sufficient, so specific places to look are not listed. But for rarer and local birds more specific locations are given. However, these are never as detailed as regional birdfinding guides. For example, it might list several states and the best sites within those states for finding the species. But details such as mileage are left to other guides. Therefore, this will not take the place of birdfinding guides, but then again it was never intended to. But if you need help figuring out the best place to go to see a specific species, then this is the resource for you.

Recommendation

When a book, or anything else for that matter, tries to do too many things at once it usually does them all poorly. This handbook is the exception. It tackles three distinct subjects and it is worth reading for any of them. It is very highly recommended to anyone, resident or visitor, birding the United States or Canada.

One additional note, this handbook is essentially a second edition of the author’s previous work, Western Bird Watcher. Here is a summary of how the older version compares to the newer:

• It is 15 years older, so there have been some taxonomy updates made between the two.
• It includes far fewer species in both the birdfinding and identification sections. You can also see this reflected in the page count. Even though the two books are just about the same size the newer one has 124 more pages.
• The ID section has fewer illustrations, and they are of a different type. It does include some line drawings and pictures of live birds, but most of the illustrations in the older book are photographs of museum specimens. Specimens of the compared species have been placed next to one another and photographed. In my opinion the line drawings in the newer book are more useful than these photographs. Drawings, provided that they are accurate of course, eliminate any perceived differences due to the individual specimen used and its positioning. The photos here are not without use though, as they give a perspective rarely seen elsewhere (although they would be much more useful in color!).

Otherwise the two are very similar, and cover the same topics.

The older edition has been completely superseded by the newer, and is therefore not recommended. If you have the Western Bird Watcher I would highly recommend upgrading to Birding in the American West.

This still-relevant book is the Pete Dunne How-to guide of its era. The focus of this book is not identification or how to be a better birder in the manner that we usually think of it. Rather, it encourages you to go beyond finding and identifying birds to truly studying them and their lives. In the preface Hickey discloses that he is writing for both the novice and the veteran. In the first chapter he will tackle the problems faced by beginners and in later chapters describes “the many methods by which they can explore the mysteries of bird life.”

For those just getting started in the hobby Hickey gives tips on everything from how to remember bird songs to picking out optics. Fundamentally everything covered here still applies today, but naturally many of the details are a little out of date. But that’s not too surprising for a 60+ year old book. For beginning birders today I would recommend a more modern treatment because they may not be able to filter out the out-of-date from the still-applicable information.

The remainder of the book explores activities that birders can partake in that will further the knowledge of bird life. Included are migration studies, hawk watches, bird censuses, studies in distribution, and banding. Hickey points out many gaps in the knowledge of even the most common birds, and he urges birders and bird clubs to help fill in those gaps. For instance, what are the feeding territory sizes of different species? At what heights do different birds sing? Some of these questions, for at least some species, have surely been answered by now. But there are many that have not. Bird study such as this is not solely the realm of professional ornithologists and grad students. Amateur birders and groups can still contribute much to science.

For bird book fanatics the appendix “An Annotated List of Bird Books” is a treasure. The author lists and comments on dozens of the various books available at the time, from field guides to biology to conservation. Some books and information that were NOT available was just as interesting as what was. For example, at that time there was no comprehensive checklist for the state of Georgia.

Although the book definitely shows its age it is still very informative. There is a ton of information and many great anecdotes by the author. Additionally, it was fascinating to compare the advice and information against modern literature. Much has changed, but an amazing amount remains the same.

The main theme of the book is still relevant today, probably even more so than when it was written. There is a great temptation to focus more on lists and rarities than on the birds themselves. I know that I myself can be guilty of that. Hickey summarizes:

Birds are scanned, but it scarcely can be said that they are watched-especially when one has an eye incessantly searching for a rarity in the next tree.
Bird watching is much more than this. It is the art of discovering how birds live. Through it the naturalist can cross the frontier of knowledge and explore an unknown world. His reward is more than a mere check on a field card; although personal and intimate, it can still be a contribution to science.

That simple reminder and challenge makes this book well worthwhile.

(I just want to make it clear that I don’t think lists and rarity chasing (twitching) are bad things. It’s just that there is more to birding than those aspects alone.)