If Pete Dunne wrote a restaurant menu, I would read it word for word. He is easily my favorite birding author. Here is a list of all the books that he has written, along with magazines that for which he is a regular contributor.
I have read most of these books, and they are without exception highly recommended. For birders, the most important is arguably the Field Guide Companion. It is so helpful with identification that every North American birder should have a copy. I would say that Pete Dunne on Bird Watching is next on the must-read list, as it is probably the best introduction to birding that I have seen. And if you just want to sit back and enjoy a great read? You can’t go wrong with The Feather Quest, which is one of the best birding travel books. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of them!
Birding/Identification
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Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for Identifying North American Birds
(Full Review)
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Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding
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The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls (Book & Audio CD)
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Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Migrant Raptors
Other
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The Feather Quest: A North American Birder’s Year
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The Wind Masters: The Lives of North American Birds of Prey
(Full Review)
Essays
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Tales of a Low-Rent Birder
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More Tales of a Low-Rent Birder
(Full Review)
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Golden Wings, and Other Stories About Birders and Birding
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Small-headed Flycatcher. Seen Yesterday. He Didn’t Leave His Name.: and other stories
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Before the Echo: Essays on Nature (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)
Other books Dunne has contributed to
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New Jersey: The Natural State
- wrote the forward
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Good Birders Don’t Wear White: 50 Tips From North America’s Top Birders
(Full Review) - wrote the forward (complete text), and contributed one of the tips
Magazines
- Living Bird (Full Review) - Dunne writes a one-page column, “The Catbird Seat”, for every issue (published quarterly)
- Birder’s World - Dunne contributes a column for every issue, usually focused on his travels (published bi-monthly)
- Winging It - “Pete’s Tips” appears in each issue of this, the newsletter of the American Birding Association (published bi-monthly)
- Tigrina Times - this online magazine from the Cape May Bird Observatory has a regular column by Dunne. Be sure to check out the archives for more Dunne goodness (and after that all the other features on identification, book reviews, etc) (published weekly)
In addition to these, Dunne has been published in probably every birding magazine known to man (well, at least in the US).
There has to be more that I’m either forgetting or don’t know about. If anyone is aware of more, especially anything that can be accessed online, I’d love to hear about it!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Thanks for a great overview of so many works by a fine writer. There’s a brief but effective piece by Dunne over on horseshoe crab and shorebird declines. Though reporting 10 year old data, his depressing assessment of the situation is still accurate.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I completely agree with you. He is a great writer and knows a lot about birds. I have several books written by him. I especially like “The Wind Masters” and consider it a must read for everyone interested in raptors.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Thanks for the link Julie. That’s probably the best perspective that I’ve read on that situation.
Markus, that book is in my too-read pile. I’ll probably be taking it on my trip to Utah next month.
I just found an interview with Dunne where they discuss a hawk watch site in NJ, and also includes some cool behind the scenes info on Hawks in Flight.