10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2021

His second book on migration is a tale of many birds and many research studies all connected by the theme of migration and by his thoughtful narrative voice. The book is organized into ten chapters, framed by a Prologue and Epilogue focused on Weidensaul’s banding experience in Denali National Park.

Cyprus 243

Cyprus Slaughter Slaughtered Research 243

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

This book is a field guide treat for traveling birders and birders who love to fantasize about travel, answering that age-old question, “I’m going on a trip to [fill in the blank—Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras], what field guide should I use?”. A lot of attention is given to differentiating amongst similar looking species.

El Salvador 229

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

Because this book is nothing short of spectacular. Birders normally care about species and make species lists, how do families fit into those? Adding more species brings a lot of excitement, as long as you bird your own country or a continent. 11,000 species require lots of money and a good portion of one’s life.

Family 287

Family Birds South America Breeding 287

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

And so, I turn to Better Birding: Tips, Tools & Concepts for the Field , the new book by George L. This is a very different book from what I expected, less of a handbook and more of a comprehensive identification text on 24 groups of birds, presented in words and photographs. It is an intriguing choice of species.

Birds 189

Birds Groups 2015 North America 189

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

The section South Georgia Wildlife describes 65 species of birds, 20 species of sea mammals, nearly 60 species of insects, and more than 40 species of flowering and nonflowering plants. The book is entitled South Georgia, but it also covers nearby areas including the South Sandwich Islands, Shag and Clerke Rocks.)

Georgia 172

Georgia Penguins Wildlife Whaling 172

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2014

The second edition of the National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition has one of the longest book names in bird bookdom: National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition: Now Covering More Than 1,000 Species With the Most-Detailed Information Found in a Single Volume. This volume is no exception.

North America 177

North America America Family Falcons 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Steve, another member of our birding group, also had a field guide by Kenefick, Restall, and Hayes, but his was bordered in GREEN, had a slightly different title, and, to my extreme chagrin, was much more recent, showing the recently split Trinidad Motmot instead of the Blue-crowned Motmot on my book’s cover. I was confused.

Trinidad 188

Trinidad South America Birds 2011 188

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

So, when Redgannet asked me if I was interested in reviewing Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Third Edition , by Quentin Phillipps and Karen Phillipps, a book he had acquired at Birdfair, I hesitated. Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species?

Brunei 172

Brunei Asia Birds China 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Life Along the Delaware Bay: Cape May, Gateway to a Million Shorebirds , by Lawrence Niles, Joanna Burger, and Amanda Dey, is a book with a mission. The numbers, as detailed in this book, are alarming: the horseshoe crab harvest grew from less than 100,000 in 1992 to over 2.5 million in the late 1990’s.

Delaware 176

Delaware New Jersey Eggs Research 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2015

Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) I was not planning to do either, but I was going to Catalina Island with my daughter, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Todd, and the hour-long boat ride there and back sounded like an excellent opportunity to try this book out in the field. This is a small book, 56 pages long.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Porpoises Whaling Whales 162

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Every now and then you read a book which you believe should be read by everyone on the planet. Nature’s Best Hope by American entomologist and conservationist, Doug Tallamy, is such a book. Insects and a host of other invertebrate life have evolved with these plant species, and thus depend on them.

North America 260

North America Wildlife Mammals Breeding 260

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

Flight Paths is a splendid but risky title for a book about bird migration. It could easily be mistaken for a book about aviation or space navigation or even a flight simulator game if you don’t read the long, adjective-filled subtitle: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration.

Science 180

Science Illinois Investigation 2006 180

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

A lovely looking and distinctive sounding bird (so they say, I sadly have not seen one…yet), the Kirtland’s Warbler can only be found during its breeding season in Jack Pine forests 5 to 20 years old in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list. photo by Lynn C.

Michigan 220

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 220

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Journeys With Penguins: Tracking the World’s Most Extreme Penguin is a different type of penguin book. Kooyman (co-author with Jim Mastro) spent decades studying Emperor Penguins and can be considered the world’s foremost expert on the species. Kooyman and Jim Mastro The book is divided into two sections.

Penguins 151

Penguins Seals Leopards Mammals 151

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

” The book in question is Birds of Bolivia: Field Guide , edited and written by Sebastian K. That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics.

Bolivia 167

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Everyone is looking back on their best birds of 2019, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book that looks back a little further: Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City , by P. Because, as this book demonstrates so well, it is sometimes important to look back in order to move forward. “Wait!”

New York City 145

New York City New York Birds Breeding 145

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2022

Yes, sure, Rock Pigeons are not a vulnerable species, unless you count the number of times they have been mocked, scorned, and shooed away. They’re apparently not a sensitive species either, because this derision doesn’t seem to bother them at all!

2018 205

2018 New York City Abandonment Abandon 205

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2021

But when I felt familiar with perhaps half of the species around my town, I started to feel that my field guide is now too bulky and too hefty to carry, and that was the era before smartphones and phone apps. The book covers all the world’s birds. The book ends with English and scientific name indexes.

Botswana 235

Botswana Africa Birds Ecuador 235

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

It is the 100th Anniversary of the extinction of the species known as the Passenger Pigeon and writers are paying attention. What is amazing is that each of these three books is very different in content and tone. This is not that kind of book, as Fuller makes clear from the beginning. We have a lot of source material.

2014 159

2014 Killing Michigan Kentucky 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2022

And a highly recommendable book it is, there is no doubt about it. The only issue is, checking the photos of it at the Princeton Nature website obscures the fact that this is rather thick and hefty book, not something one would consider a field guide (true, the publisher calls it an “identification” and not a “field” guide).

Europe 243

Europe Colombia Birds Ducks 243

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

When was the last time you chose a book by its covers? And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

He brings to this book an academic background in biology and horticulture and, more importantly, decades of experience developing strategies for the best backyard bird feeding practices. The book is focused on suburban living, with little attention given to the unique challenges of urban bird feeding.

New York City 165

New York City Birds Squirrels Woodpeckers 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. And, then there are the more familiar birds–Wood-warblers, sandpipers, hawks–some species migrants, some species with a wide range. Can you guess which of the species cited above are endemic?

America 211

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 211

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2024

White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) Notwithstanding the fact that nearly all of the endemics and other native species are extinct the islands of St Helena and Ascension remain very popular for birdwatchers and especially photographers because they are both major breeding sites for seabirds.

Madagascar 197

Madagascar ALA 2000 Birds 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2024

I couldn’t describe it better than Willoughby Verner did in his book “ My Life Among the Wild Birds in Spain ” published in 1909: “ It is when the Egyptian Vulture or Neophron, as it is also styled, is seen close at hand that it is revealed in all its hideousness. The most recent estimates suggest that some 1,500 pairs breed in Spain.

2004 219

2004 Spain Italy Agenda 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2021

Mid-May to Mid-Jun is the best time to see some of the most exciting species here, as this is the prime breeding time. For another species, the Firethroat , it meant I only got acceptable views rather than the really good ones reportedly possible a few weeks earlier. Maybe the author did not know about Grandalas. Time to leave.

China 260

China Vietnam Birds Fast Food 260

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S. This is a hefty book, 560 pages long and dimensions of 6.3 Over 3,200 photographs have been used, most showing species in their habitats. British birders are very serious about birding and their birds.

Ireland 140

Ireland Birds Falcons Turtles 140

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and California Condor. My only wish is that the book included photographs. This is the most intense, tragic section.

California Condor 129

California Condor Falcons California Coyotes 129

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Two books, two authors, two countries bursting with neotropical avian diversity. Since the books share authors and a creation process, I thought I would review them together. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 202

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 202

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2015

Like the two previous books in the series, the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of New Jersey by Rick Wright and the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Colorado by Ted Floyd (photographs for all three primarily by master photographer Brian E.

Colorado 227

Colorado Florida New Jersey North America 227

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

It’s not often that we have the opportunity to glimpse the home life of albatrosses, nor of any seabird species. We didn’t know much about migration routes, foraging away from the breeding colony, and feeding during migration, in the water and in the air. Technology to the rescue! What about incubation shifts?

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

The book ends with further reading suggestions, list of useful websites, and the index of both English and scientific names. Seychelles’ small landmass combined with geographic isolation results in few species. That antiquity produces a high level of endemism, e.g. 19% of 62 breeding birds are endemic to the islands!

Seychelles 221

Seychelles Wildlife Tortoises Reptiles 221

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

North America 114

North America Birds Prairie Dogs Barn Owls 114

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2012

The New Jersey Bird Records Committee (NJBRC) documents 465 species of natural origin. Used in conjunction with the species distribution maps, this is a helpful feature in evaluating field observations. There are, sadly, entries for extinct species. This is a well-designed, attractive book.

New Jersey 186

New Jersey 2009 Bald Eagle New York City 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Rheindt is a big book. Or should I say a great book? Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. “Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea” by James A. Eaton, Bas van Balen, Nick W.

Indonesia 263

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 263

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Later in the day, several difficult species decided to be less difficult. There were six species of wild ducks, along with the usual few released domestic ducks. (One One of my ornithologist friends commented, “I hope they stay to breed there.” Any shot of a Great Egret that has caught a big fish is good in my book.

Ducks 220

Ducks Fish Breeding Species 220

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Add more than 350 pairs of White Pelicans to that picture, numerous herons and up to 700 pairs of Pygmy Cormorants breeding in the same reedbeds (cover photo)… It must be bursting with activity in spring, but I was there in mid-September. In all that swirling of swallows, I am not certain was there a third species, so I keep watching.

Greece 252

Greece Pelicans Geese Albania 252