2012 Holiday Gift Guide for Birdwatchers

Looking for something to get for the bird-lover in your life? You can never go wrong with a good bird book. Here are a few suggestions.

The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds
by Julie Zickefoose

One of the most beautiful books – both in terms of prose and art – that you’ll ever read. Actually, I think this is a book that would appeal to anyone, not just birdwatchers. (Full review)

• Save the Last Dance: A Story of North American Grassland Grouse
  by Noppadol Paothong and Joel Vance

  Easily one of the finest books of the year. The extraordinary photographs make it a pleasure to look through, and the fact that it’s a book that will actually help out the birds it features makes it a great gift for anyone who cares about birds (a portion of each purchase goes to grouse conservation). (Full review)

• Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World’s Most Extraordinary Birds
  by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes

  You probably know Birds of Paradise from the unbelievable footage of their courtship display from Planet Earth. The photographs here are just as impressive, and you get some great insight into these birds (and what it takes to document them).

• National Geographic Bird-watcher’s Bible: A Complete Treasury
  edited by Jonathan Alderfer

  This enjoyable introduction to the world of birds and how we relate to them would be a great gift for newer birdwatchers, or even those just somewhat interested in birds. (Full review)

• Hawks in Flight: Second Edition
  by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton

  The classic gets updated, expanded, and otherwise improved. New, color photographs + Sibley’s drawings + Dunne’s text = must have.

• The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds
  by John Muir Laws

  Anyone who’s ever picked up pen or brush to draw birds, or even thought about doing so, will appreciate this book.

• The Unfeathered Bird
  by Katrina van Grouw

  The perfect gift for the birder who has everything, because I guarantee they don’t have anything like this! This is a bird-art book like none other, as it shows birds as they look like without feathers and even as skeletons. Yes, it sounds a little weird, but it’s oddly beautiful. And educational too, as the author goes into bird anatomy and physiology in a very readable manner. (Note: this book may not be available until just after Christmas. But it’ll be worth the wait.)

And remember, you can’t go wrong with giving a birder a field guide or identification book. Even if we already have a guide for a particular place or group of birds, we always like more!

Posted by Grant McCreary on December 7th, 2012.