The Well-read Naturalist reviews the American Birding Association’s Field Guide to the Birds of Florida.
Wow! How field guides have changed. Britain’s Birds: An Identification Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland gives comprehensive photographic coverage of every bird recorded in Britain and Ireland to date. Here’s Keith’s take on this photographic field guide.
">Just after nightfall, at the edge of the old city in Harar, Ethiopia, a small group of tourists gather in an area near an ancient shrine to wait for Africa’s second largest carnivore – the Spotted Hyena – to appear from the darkness. The tourists are not waiting behind any type of protective barrier. The… Read more
The guides at Birding Ecotours have put together a list of top field guides for countries on every continent. This list is a great place to start your bird research in advance of your next trip.
As with most dictionaries, this volume is not designed to be read from cover to cover. It is one to refer to and to take great swigs of from time to time. A word of warning – you may find yourself quickly immersed and killing hours quite easily. But it will assuredly be time well spent.
Robins and Chats, by Peter Clement and Chris Rose 2015 Published by Christopher Helm Buy now This is the latest in the long-running series of Helm Identification Guides – and like the others it is an impressive and weighty tome. A previous Helm volume by Peter Clement on the Thrushes appeared in 2000. At that time… Read more
Both a comprehensive listing and guide book, National BIrds provides a range of information from species data to how these birds have been used and abused through the ages. It recounts tales of how they came to be adopted and presents a wide range of official and cultural contexts where they appear from feathers in tribal costumes to stamps and currency.
There are very few state-level bird field guides that are worth using. They are often generic, cookie-cutter guides that are not tailored to the state. Many organize species in a non-standard way (such as by color, habitat, or size) that may seem like a good idea but is problematic in practice. Worst of all, because… Read more
Part textbook, part work of art, The Kingdom of Fungi by Jens H. Peterson is a fine resource for anyone curious about these oft-neglected organisms.
This attractive guide uses uncomplicated text to explain what birds of the Serengeti you are most likely to see. It is not designed to be totally comprehensive.
Rare Birds of North America is a beautiful, quirky, and exacting resource that will no doubt shape discussions of rarities for years to come.
This illustrated book vividly depicts the most endangered birds in the world and provides the latest information on the threats each species faces and the measures being taken to save them. Today, 571 bird species are classified as critically endangered or endangered, and a further four now exist only in captivity. This landmark book features stunning photographs of 500 of these species–the results of a prestigious international photographic competition organized specifically for this book. It also showcases paintings by acclaimed wildlife artist Tomasz Cofta of the 75 species for which no photos are known to exist. (Source: iTunes)
Reviewer Brooke McDonald gives us a sneak peek of the much-anticipated Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition.
“Seawatching: Eastern Waterbirds in Flight,” by Ken Behrens and Cameron Cox, is the latest in the Peterson Reference Guide series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The Warbler Guide is much more than a field guide, it is an identification opus.
Writer and UK birder Keith Betton reviews the latest addition to the Crossley family of field guides: The Birds of Britain and Ireland.
