Book News

American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Pennsylvania
by George L. Armistead and Brian E. Small

From Scott & Nix, Inc.:

Pennsylvania is one of the best places to go birding in North America. From the shores of Lake Erie in the northwest and the great river basins of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela to the central Allegheny Mountains and east along the Pocono Mountains and the rich farmlands and rolling hills of the south, the Keystone State has a great diversity of birds. The American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Pennsylvania includes more than 275 species birders are most likely to see in the commonwealth. Illustrated with hundreds of crisp, color photographs, it includes descriptions of each birds along with tips of when and where to see them, written by an expert Pennsylvanian birder. It’s the perfect companion for anyone interested in the amazing diversity and beauty of Pennsylvania’s birds.

I’m a fan of this series of field guides from the ABA (here are my thoughts on the first couple entries in the series). So while I’ve never birded Pennsylvania, I’m confident in recommending this guide to those who do, especially newer birders.

American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Pennsylvania
by George L. Armistead and Brian E. Small
Flexicover with dust jacket; 352 pages
Scott & Nix, Inc.; January 18, 2016
ISBN: 9781935622529
$24.95

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Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles With New York’s Bird People
by Darryl Mcgrath

From State University of New York Press:

How a small group of New York biologists brought the peregrine falcon and bald eagle back from the brink of extinction.

In the late 1970s, the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon were heading toward extinction, victims of the combined threats of DDT, habitat loss, and lax regulation. Flight Paths tells the story of how a small group of New York biologists raced against nature’s clock to bring these two beloved birds back from the brink in record-setting numbers.

In a narrative that reads like a suspense tale, Darryl McGrath documents both rescue projects in never-before-published detail. At Cornell University, a team of scientists worked to crack the problem of how to breed peregrine falcons in captivity and then restore them to the wild. Meanwhile, two young, untested biologists tackled the overwhelming assignment of rebuilding the bald eagle population from the state’s last nesting pair, one of whom (the female) was sterile.

McGrath interweaves this dramatic retelling with contemporary accounts of four at-risk species: the short-eared owl, the common loon, the Bicknell’s thrush, and the piping plover. She worked alongside biologists as they studied these elusive subjects in the Northeast’s most remote regions, and the result is a story that combines vivid narrative with accessible science and is as much a tribute to these experts as it is a call to action for threatened birds.

Readers are taken to a snow-covered meadow as an owl hunts her prey, a loon family’s secluded pond, an eagle nest above the Hudson River, and a mountaintop at dusk in search of the Bicknell’s thrush, one of the planet’s rarest birds. Combining a little-known chapter of New York’s natural history with a deeply personal account of a lifelong devotion to birds, Flight Paths is not only a story of our rapidly changing environment and a tribute to some of New York’s most heroic biologists, but also a captivating read for anyone who has ever thrilled to the sight of a rare bird.

It’s widely known that the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and other species were saved from the ravages of DDT. This book provides a behind-the-scenes look into how they were saved.

Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles With New York’s Bird People
by Darryl Mcgrath
Paperback; 378 pages
State University of New York Press; February, 2016
ISBN: 9781438459264
$24.99

Bird Families of the World: An Invitation to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds
by David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, and Irby J. Lovette

From Lynx Edicions and Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Here in one volume is a synopsis of the diversity of all birds. Published between the two volumes of the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, Bird Families of the World distills the voluminous detail of the 17-volume Handbook of Birds of the World into a single book. Based on the latest systematic research and summarizing what is known about the life history and biology of each group, this volume will be the best single-volume entry to avian diversity available. Whether you are a birder with an interest in global bird diversity, or a professional ornithologist wishing to update and fill-in your comprehensive knowledge of avian diversity, this volume will be a valuable addition to your library.

An interest in birds is a life-enriching pursuit; the sheer diversity of birds means there are always stunning new species to see and novel facets of their lives to explore. Yet the grand diversity of birds is also a challenge, as it is easy to become disoriented amidst a group that contains more than 10,000 species that vary in nearly all of their most conspicuous attributes. Learning avian diversity requires a mental map to help us organize our experiences and observations. The scientific classification of birds provides exactly this framework, grouping together into Orders and Families birds that are most closely related to one another, and thereby linking species that share distinguishing traits. For those interested in learning about the tremendous diversity of birds world-wide, the best way to start is to learn the families, and Bird Families of the World is a guide and invitation to do so.

This book has been designed to serve both as a text for ornithology courses and as a resource for serious bird enthusiasts of all levels. Technical terminology is much reduced, and all scientific terms used are defined in a glossary. Introductory material describes the scope and concepts behind the classification used and gives suggestions about how best to use the book. The bulk of Bird Families of the World is a family-by-family account of the birds of the world. Each family is represented by at least a two-page spread, including a distributional map with the breeding, non-breeding and year-round ranges of each family, a short text “teaser” to invite the reader to learn more, standardized descriptions of the appearance, relationships and similar species to each family’s members, their life history and conservation status. Each account includes a review of recent ideas about the relationships of the family to other families and relationships within it. The work is liberally illustrated by photographs from bird enthusiasts around the globe as well as paintings of one species from each of the genera in each family. It will be a beautiful and serviceable guide.

This (large) book’s subtitle reveals its purpose: to introduce the reader to the amazing diversity found within birds. It treats the family as the basic unit of this diversity. The authors present a brief account of each family, focusing on relationships. While this book is lavishly illustrated and useful to anyone interested in birds, if you’re looking for a general purpose overview of birds you’d be better off with something like The World of Birds. But if you have any interest at all in taxonomy (basically, how birds are related to each other), then this is the book for you. I, for one, have found it full of fascinating revelations.

Bird Families of the World: An Invitation to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds
by David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, and Irby J. Lovette
Hardcover; 600 pages
Lynx Edicions and Cornell Lab of Ornithology; December, 2015
ISBN: 9788494189203
$99.95

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The new novel Fee, by Kelly John, seeks “to introduce the substantial body of non-birders to the exhilarating, crazy mixed-up world of birding”. Well, it’s not quite that simple. See, the novel isn’t published yet. And that’s not the author’s actual name. I could try to explain more fully, but it’s better that you just visit the book’s website. As an added incentive, the majority of the book will be posted on the site for free. Three chapters will be put up every week. I’ve read the first three, and I’m eager for more. I’m also very curious who the author is. But whoever it is, they need help from the birding community to make publishing the novel a reality. And based on what I’ve seen so far, they deserve it.

Parrots of the Wild: A Natural History of the World’s Most Captivating Birds
by Catherine A. Toft and Timothy F. Wright

From University of California Press:

Parrots of the Wild explores recent scientific discoveries and what they reveal about the lives of wild parrots, which are among the most intelligent and rarest of birds. Catherine A. Toft and Tim Wright discuss the evolutionary history of parrots and how this history affects perceptual and cognitive abilities, diet and foraging patterns, and mating and social behavior. The authors also discuss conservation status and the various ways different populations are adapting to a world that is rapidly changing. The book focuses on general patterns across the 350-odd species of parrots, as well as what can be learned from interesting exceptions to these generalities.

A synthetic account of the diversity and ecology of wild parrots, this book distills knowledge from the authors’ own research and from their review of more than 2,400 published scientific studies. The book is enhanced by an array of illustrations, including nearly ninety color photos of wild parrots represented in their natural habitats. Parrots of the Wild melds scientific exploration with features directed at the parrot enthusiast to inform and delight a broad audience.

Parrots are beautiful, intelligent, fascinating, and, in just about every way, awesome. And this book is pretty good, too! It’s the place you should go if you want to learn all about these birds.

Parrots of the Wild: A Natural History of the World’s Most Captivating Birds
by Catherine A. Toft and Timothy F. Wright
Hardcover; 346 pages
University of California Press; November 16, 2015
ISBN: 9780520239258
$39.95

Stories for Birders and Other Observers
by Andrea Vojtko

From WingSpan Press:

Birders are among the keenest observers and five of the eleven short stories in this collection are inspired by imagination while birding or connecting with nature. Ida Pilcher is inexplicably followed wherever she goes by a dozen turkey vultures; Garland Duckett sees God in the golden eye of a Great Blue Heron; Nelson Mayfield, driven by an Internet report, searches frantically for life on Mars before his anticipated early demise; Nathanael Early’s dioramas of Civil War battlefields have taken over his basement; he barely has space for Vicksburg; Brian Feeney observes his neighbor, an Iraq war veteran, refurbishing a corroded four-foot bronze cross on his deck but why. Andrea Vojtko believes that even so-called normal people are eccentric in their own way, if you observe them long enough. In I Stop for Falcons, Thomas scoffs at a group of birders who hold up traffic while they scope out a falcon, labeling them weird. But his dialogue is itself eccentric. A woman searching for her mother’s lost year in Beverly Hills encounters her mother’s strange acquaintances and gets more than she bargained for. Five of these stories were published previously in literary journals with one, Jubilant Voices, nominated for a 2003 Pushcart prize.

This collection of 11 short stories would be great to have with you while you’re waiting for that stakeout bird to show!

Stories for Birders and Other Observers
by Andrea Vojtko
Paperback; 162 pages
WingSpan Press; November 12, 2015
ISBN: 9781595945747
$13.95

One of my favorite things to do is to look ahead at the bird books set to be published soon (I lead such an exciting life!). 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for them. Check out April 12, in particular (in addition to the three highlighted titles, two others – The Genius of Birds and Feathers: Displays of Brilliant Plumage – are also set to be published that day). Has there ever been a single date with that many fantastic-looking books set to be published?

• American Birding Association State Field Guides
  by various
  Scott & Nix

  The excellent ABA state field guide series continues in 2016 with Arizona, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, New York, and probably more.

• Bird Droppings: Writings About Watching Birds and Bird Watchers
  by Pete Dunne
  January 15, 2016; Stackpole Books

  Finally! It’s been way too long since a Pete Dunne anthology has been published.

• Waterfowl of North America, Europe and Asia: An Identification Guide
  by Sébastien Reeber
  March 1, 2016; Princeton University Press

  This should be the same as the Helm Guide published in 2015 (but with a less attractive cover, in my opinion). If all the reviews of that edition are correct, this will be the definitive ID guide for these birds.

• Sibley Birds East (Second Edition)
  Sibley Birds West (Second Edition)
  by David Allen Sibley
  March 29, 2016; Knopf

  We’ve been anticipating these since the second edition of the “Big” Sibley was published in 2014. And for anyone who’s worried about the colors, the publisher reassures us:

  All illustrations, including new and revised illustrations of species and regional forms, are taken from the rescanned and meticulously color-corrected second printing of the second edition of the Sibley Guide.

• Birds in Trouble
  by Lynn E. Barber
  April 8, 2016; Texas A&M University Press

  Barber highlights, with words and art, birds that are, well, in trouble. Anything that raises awareness of the perils facing birds is a good thing.

• Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest
  by Julie Zickefoose
  April 12, 2016; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  Zickefoose’s books are an absolute delight to both read and look at. Her previous articles and chapters dealing with baby birds are endearing, yet educational (not to mention cute as hell).

• One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives
  by Bernd Heinrich
  April 12, 2016; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  It’s Bernd Heinrich writing about birds. ‘Nuff said.

• The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg
  by Tim Birkhead
  April 12, 2016; Bloomsbury

  Birkhead has a knack for taking technical topics that have the potential to be, dare I say, boring, and making them compelling. I have no doubt that this will be the case here.

• Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America
  by Stephen A. Shunk
  May 10, 2016; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  Like the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean (one of the best books of 2015), this is a guide to the natural history of these birds. Expect lots of excellent photos and interesting information on each of North America’s 23 woodpecker species.

• Listening to a Continent Sing: Birdsong by Bicycle from the Atlantic to the Pacific
  by Donald Kroodsma
  May 10, 2016; Princeton University Press

  Kroodsma’s previous books about birdsong – The Singing Life of Birds and Birdsong by the Seasons – are excellent (the former, especially, is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject), so I’m looking forward to another one.

• Lost Among the Birds: Accidentally Finding Myself in One Very Big Year
  by Neil Hayward
  May 17, 2016; Bloomsbury

  When Neil Hayward broke the ABA-area big year record, you knew it was only a matter of time until a book was written about it. But I’m not complaining – I love such books!

• Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, Including São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro
  by Robert S. Ridgely, John A. Gwynne, Guy Tudor, and Martha Argel
  June 14, 2016; Page Street Publishing

  The first guide in this series – Birds of Brazil: The Pantanal and Cerrado of Central Brazil – was published over five years ago, so I was beginning to think the line might have ended prematurely. Glad to see that I was wrong; this series has a great concept.

• Birds of Western Ecuador: A Photographic Guide
  by Nick Athanas and Paul J. Greenfield
  June 28, 2016; Princeton University Press

  Nice to see the neotropics get some photographic guides.

Prolonging Revenge Through Reincarnation: The Paintings of The Mincing Mockingbird Volume III
by Matt Adrian (aka The Mincing Mockingbird)

From The Mincing Mockingbird:

Birds. They’re ubiquitous. Colorful. Expressive. As human beings, we tend to project our own characteristics upon these creatures. Artist Matt Adrian has taken this anthropomorphic tendency and exaggerated and expanded it, adorning his lush, minimalist avian portraits with non sequitur titles laced with humor, melancholy and a wicked touch of the absurd. This 160 page collection of Adrian’s artwork features vivid color reproductions of over one hundred bird paintings completed between 2013 and 2015, with subjects ranging from the smallest hummingbirds to the mighty dinosaur-like cassowary. In this beautiful book you will find that Adrian’s refreshingly original combination of art and language is haunting, gorgeous, literate, weird and very, very funny.

If you like The Mincing Mockingbird’s Guide to Troubled Birds (that is, if you like fantastic bird portraits coupled with a depraved sense of humor), you’ll love this collection.

Prolonging Revenge Through Reincarnation: The Paintings of The Mincing Mockingbird Volume III
by Matt Adrian (aka The Mincing Mockingbird)
Hardcover; 160 pages
The Mincing Mockingbird, Inc.; November 12, 2015
ISBN: 9780692503508
$39.99

Better Birding: Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field
by George L. Armistead and Brian L. Sullivan

From Princeton University Press:

Better Birding reveals the techniques expert birders use to identify a wide array of bird species in the field–quickly and easily. Featuring hundreds of stunning photos and composite plates throughout, this book simplifies identification by organizing the birds you see into groupings and offering strategies specifically tailored to each group. Skill building focuses not just on traditional elements such as plumage, but also on creating a context around each bird, including habitat, behavior, and taxonomy–parts so integral to every bird’s identity but often glossed over by typical field guides. Critical background information is provided for each group, enabling you to approach bird identification with a wide-angle view, using your eyes, brain, and binoculars more strategically, resulting in a more organized approach to learning birds.

Better Birding puts the thrill of expert bird identification within your reach.

• Reveals the techniques used by expert birders for quick and easy identification
• Simplifies identification with strategies tailored to different groupings of birds
• Features hundreds of photos and composite plates that illustrate the different techniques
• Fosters a wide-angle approach to field birding
• Provides a foundation for building stronger birding skills

The book focuses on 24 groups of birds (loons, tropical terns, accipiters, marsh sparrows, etc), helping birders with some tricky identifications. But this isn’t just about identifying a few species. Throughout, the authors provide a framework for looking at birds that should be of use regardless of when or where you’re birding.

Better Birding: Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field
by George L. Armistead and Brian L. Sullivan
Paperback; 360 pages
Princeton University Press; December 8, 2015
ISBN: 9780691129662
$29.95

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Booming from the Mists of Nowhere: The Story of the Greater Prairie-Chicken
by Greg Hoch

From University Of Iowa Press:

For ten months of the year, the prairie-chicken’s drab colors allow it to disappear into the landscape. However, in April and May this grouse is one of the most outrageously flamboyant birds in North America. Competing with each other for the attention of females, males gather before dawn in an explosion of sights and sounds—“booming from the mists of nowhere,” as Aldo Leopold wrote decades ago. There’s nothing else like it, and it is perilously close to being lost. In this book, ecologist Greg Hoch shows that we can ensure that this iconic bird flourishes once again.

Skillfully interweaving lyrical accounts from early settlers, hunters, and pioneer naturalists with recent scientific research on the grouse and its favored grasslands, Hoch reveals that the prairie-chicken played a key role in the American settlement of the Midwest. Many hungry pioneers regularly shot and ate the bird, as well as trapping hundreds of thousands, shipping them eastward by the trainload for coastal suppers. As a result of both hunting and habitat loss, the bird’s numbers plummeted to extinction across 90 percent of its original habitat. Iowa, whose tallgrass prairies formed the very center of the greater prairie-chicken’s range, no longer supports a native population of the bird most symbolic of prairie habitat.

The steep decline in the prairie-chicken population is one of the great tragedies of twentieth-century wildlife management and agricultural practices. However, Hoch gives us reason for optimism. These birds can thrive in agriculturally productive grasslands. Careful grazing, reduced use of pesticides, well-placed wildlife corridors, planned burning, higher plant, animal, and insect diversity: these are the keys. If enough blocks of healthy grasslands are scattered over the midwestern landscape, there will be prairie-chickens—and many of their fellow creatures of the tall grasses. Farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and citizens can reverse the decline of grassland birds and insure that future generations will hear the booming of the prairie-chicken.

This is a small book, but a must-read for anyone interested in this bird and its future.

Booming from the Mists of Nowhere: The Story of the Greater Prairie-Chicken
by Greg Hoch
Paperback; 158 pages
University Of Iowa Press; December 1, 2015
ISBN: 9781609383879
$19.95

Buy from Buteo Books
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(based in the U.K.)