2020 Bird Book Preview

There’s already quite an impressive selection of bird books set to be published in 2020. Here are the ones that have caught my eye.

Apparently, 2020 is the Year of the Bird-Behavior-and/or-Senses Book. These topics are endlessly fascinating, so I’m certainly not complaining. I’m really looking forward to all of these:

• What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing–What Birds Are Doing, and Why
  by David Allen Sibley
  April 14, 2020; Knopf

  This is quite the unexpected title from Sibley, known mostly for his field guides. But this sounds really cool. Plus – life-size paintings! (“For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized”, according to the publisher’s description.)

• Peterson Reference Guide to Bird Behavior
  by John Kricher
  September 1, 2020; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  I was really excited to see this one coming; the Peterson Reference Guide series has been consistently great.

• Bird Senses: How and What Birds See, Hear, Smell, Taste, and Feel
  by Graham R. Martin
  July 31, 2020; Pelagic Publishing

  Pelagic Publishing has put out some great books, so I have every reason to be optimistic about this one.

• The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think
  by Jennifer Ackerman
  May 5, 2020; Penguin Press

  Ackerman’s The Genius of Birds was great, so I have high hopes for this one also.

 

Field Guides

I didn’t notice very many field guides coming this year, but that’s probably because I either missed them or they haven’t been announced yet. However, a new edition of one of the most popular North American guides is a big deal, and the latest addition to the ABA area is getting lots of love.

• Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, Second Edition
  by Roger Tory Peterson
  April 7, 2020; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  I can’t believe it’s been almost 12 years since the first edition of this continent-wide version of the Peterson Guide was published. But we won’t have to wait long for the new Western (September 8) and Eastern (October 13) editions. And, what’s more, this will now include Hawaii!

• American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Hawaii
  by Helen and Andre F. Raine, photograhs by Jack Jeffrey
  May 4, 2020; Scott & Nix, Inc.

  This is an excellent state field guide series, it’s great that they’re doing Hawaii.

 

Texas

Texas is the subject of several books this year, several of which look to be of interest even if you don’t live there.

• Parking Lot Birding: A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas
  by Jennifer L. Bristol
  April 22, 2020; Texas A&M University Press

  Sounds like a unique bird-finding guide.

• Big Years, Biggest States: Birding in Texas and Alaska
  by Lynn E. Barber
  May 6, 2020; Texas A&M University Press

  I’m a sucker for big-year books. Texas and Alaska should provide quite a contrast.

• A Haven in the Sun: Five Stories of Bird Life and Its Future on the Texas Coast
  by B.C. Robison
  June 10, 2020; Texas Tech University Press

  If you’ve been birding for any time at all, you know the Texas coast is special. This book sounds like an interesting exploration of that place, its birds, and people.

 

Everything else

• Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist: Your Guide to Listening
  by Donald Kroodsma
  March 10, 2020; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  An introduction to birdsong, from the best writer on the subject.

• Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All
  by Charles Bergman
  April 14, 2020; Sasquatch Books

  Who wouldn’t want to see every penguin in the world?

• How Birds Work: An Illustrated Guide to the Wonders of Form and Function ― from Bones to Beak
  by Marianne Taylor
  April 28, 2020; The Experiment

  This just looks really cool.

• New Guinea: Nature and Culture of Earth’s Grandest Island
  by Bruce M. Beehler and photography by Tim Laman
  April 7, 2020; Princeton University Press

  It’s New Guinea. What nature-loving person wouldn’t be enticed by this title?

• Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds: An Identification Guide
  by Phil Gregory and illustrated by Richard Allen
  February 25, 2020; Princeton University Press

  A new guide to the most famous avian denizens of New Guinea.

• Flights of Passage: An Illustrated Natural History of Bird Migration
  by Mike Unwin and photography by David Tipling
  May 19, 2020; Yale University Press

  This topic + this author + this photographer = one amazing looking book.

Posted by Grant McCreary on January 28th, 2020.