Best of
Birds

2003

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America


David Allen Sibley - 2003
    Now comes a new portable guide from David Sibley that every birder will want to carry into the field. Compact and comprehensive, this new guide features 650 bird species plus regional populations found east of the Rocky Mountains. Accounts include stunningly accurate illustrations more than 4,200 in total with descriptive caption text pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry contains new text concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Accounts also include brand-new maps created from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America is an indispensable resource for all birders seeking an authoritative and portable guide to the birds of the East."

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America


David Allen Sibley - 2003
    Now comes a new portable guide from David Sibley that every birder will want to carry into the field. Compact and comprehensive, this new guide features 703 bird species plus regional populations found west of the Rocky Mountains. Accounts include stunningly accurate illustrations—more than 4,600 in total—with descriptive caption text pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry contains new text concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Accounts also include brand-new maps created from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America is an indispensable resource for all birders seeking an authoritative and portable guide to the birds of the West.

Birds of Arizona Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Arizona. This book features 145 species of Arizona birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Birds of the Puget Sound Region


Bob Morse - 2003
    Covers over 200 birds in the 12 counties surrounding the sound. Also includes the basics of bird watching, attracting birds to your yard, selecting binoculars, and a regional checklist. Written by local birding experts ? perfect for beginning and intermediate birders.

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding


Pete Dunne - 2003
    Now the popular birding author identifies the skills and tools available to people with any amount of interest, great or small, in bird watching. Beginning with backyard birding and moving through a quick but comprehensive survey of tools of the trade, Dunne outlines ten basic, simple steps in bird identification that can make a birder out of the most casual of observers. He goes on to show beginning birders how to use their skills to explore new horizons through birding by ear, birding by telescope, and finding and identifying rare or difficult birds. Written in the lively, authoritative style that has made Dunne one of the most popular writers in this field today, Pete Dunne on Bird Watching will inspire in readers both a growing passion for birding and a lifelong respect for the natural world and its inhabitants.

Extraordinary Pigeons


Stephen Green-Armytage - 2003
    Represented here are breeds of pigeons from around the world.

Birds of Belize


H. Lee Jones - 2003
    Thousands of birders visit the country each year to enjoy Belize’s amazing abundance and variety of both temperate and tropical birds in natural habitats that remain largely unspoiled. But until now, despite the growing need for an authoritative identification guide, birders have had to rely on regional field guides that offer only limited information on Belizean birds. Birds of Belize provides the first complete guide to the identification of all currently known species—574 in all. The birds are grouped by families, with an introduction to each family that highlights its uniquely identifying characteristics and behaviors. The species accounts include all the details necessary for field identification: scientific and common names, size, plumage features, thorough voice descriptions, habitat, distribution, and status in Belize. Full color, expertly drawn illustrations by noted bird artist Dana Gardner present male and female, juvenile and adult, and basic and alternate plumages to aid visual identification throughout the year, while 234 range maps show the birds’ distribution and seasonality in Belize. A comprehensive bibliography completes the volume.

Birds of California Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    Full-page photos, detailed descriptions, Stan's Notes and range maps help to ensure correct I.D.

Birds of Tennessee Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Tennessee. This book features 119 species of Tennessee birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier


Jennifer Armstrong - 2003
    Most people know that he painted The Birds of America but many don't know what an exciting life he led: narrowly escaping an earthquake, meeting with native peoples and witnessing flocks of passenger pigeons that literally darkened the noon-day sky. Armed with paintbrushes and canvas, Audubon searched the wild for birds and animals, and he captured many of them on paper.

Birds of Chile


Alvaro Jaramillo - 2003
    Representing a great diversity of habitats, from the Andes in the north down to the tundra and sub-Antarctic rainforest of Tierra del Fuego in the far south, Chile is the breeding ground or temporary abode of 473 known species including 9 found nowhere else in the world. Birds of Chile covers them all, embracing not only the mainland but points offshore such as Easter Island as well as the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands, plus the Falklands and South Georgia. In addition to being a friendly and fruitful birding destination in its own right, Chile is the starting point for many Antarctic cruises.Succinct, identification-focused text and distribution maps share a page opposite each of the 97 color plates to allow quick and easy reference. Between the boldfaced English name and the scientific name comes the Spanish name as used in Chile; this is important, for birders will find their quest far more enjoyable and effectual if they can explain to Chileans exactly what they are looking at, think they are looking at, or hope to be looking at.Since Chile's list of resident species is yet far from conclusive, vagrants and rarities are also included. Indeed, some birds once thought to be accidentals in Chile have since proved to be regulars, including the Westland Petrel, Least Sandpiper, Cliff Swallow, and Golden-billed Saltator. Compact, comprehensive, and easy to use, Birds of Chile is the essential field guide to the birds of this spectacular and tourist-friendly country. The essential new field guide to the birds of Chile 97 color plates with succinct text and maps on facing pages for quick reference and easy identification All 473 known species breeding in or visiting Chile, from the Andes in the north down to the tundra and sub-Antarctic rainforest of Tierra del Fuego in the south Also covers points offshore such as Easter Island as well as the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands, plus the Falklands and South Georgia Compact, portable, and user-friendly

Raptors of Eastern North America: The Wheeler Guides


Brian K. Wheeler - 2003
    Abundantly illustrated with hundreds of full-color high-quality photographs, they are essential books for anyone seeking to identify these notoriously tricky-to-identify birds.The Wheeler Guides will help birders and biologists navigate the pitfalls of raptor identification, including raptors' often extreme variation by age and sex as well as the existence of numerous confusion species. The plumage section discusses more plumage variations--and in greater consistency, depth, and clarity--than any previously published guide. The text--informed by years of study and consultation with local, state, provincial, and regional experts--covers all aspects of raptor biology in an easy-to-read and consistent format. It provides the most up-to-date information available on status and distribution, taking into account the recent alteration of some species' ranges due to pesticide bans and introduction programs. The range maps--which include city plotting--are the most accurate and largest ever produced for North American raptors.

Owls of the World: Their Lives, Behavior and Survival


James R. Duncan - 2003
    Major owl species are covered as well as the lesser-known species only be found in more remote geographic locations. The owls of Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia are compared with North American, European, and Asian species in terms of habitat, adaptability and physical appearance.This abundantly illustrated reference features:Detailed description, history, habitat, range maps and conservation status for 205 species Common and scientific names Commonly known owl behavior, plus recently discovered mating, hunting and survival techniques The nature of owls including the discovery of a new owl species Owls in mythology and culture Threats to owl populations A world directory of owl species, including taxonomy and a range map for each species

Birds of Africa South of the Sahara: A Comprehensive Illusrated Field Guide


Ian Sinclair - 2003
    * Some 2,105 species are covered, with an additional 70 vagrants briefly described, and more than 2,000 images assembled on 359 plates. * Illustrations portray most distinctive plumages, as well as diagnostic flight patterns and major geographic variants. * Species descriptions give precise identification features, highlighting differences between similar species, as well as briefly reporting habitat, status and calls. * Distribution maps for each species are based on the latest atlas surveys. * The most up-to-date taxonomy is used, with many new species described and illustrated for the first time. Despite its exceptional coverage, this guide is compact enough to use in the field, and follows the standard field guide format, with texts and range maps appearing opposite the color plates.

National Geographic Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America


Mel Baughman - 2003
    This timely companion to the bestselling National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America includes stunning color photos, the latest maps, and accessible yet authoritative information that every birder can enjoy.

Sparrows and Finches of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern North America


Chris Earley - 2003
    It's hard to keep all those little brown birds apart. This handy, bring-along guidebook is designed to help beginner and advanced birders to identify accurately over 48 types of sparrows, finches, and their look-alikes.Sparrows and Finches focuses only on these two families within a defined geographical location: the Great Lakes and eastern North America. As result, it offers comprehensive coverage in a small, convenient format.The book is heavily illustrated with 220 full-color photographs taken by award-winning photographers that show these birds in their natural habitats. Comparison pages group similar-looking birds on a single spread for quick reference. Concise and accurate information on each bird includes:Common name Biological classification Song description Identifying features Seasonal changes to plumage color Sparrows and Finches will prove indispensable to naturalists, students, and birders at all levels of experience. A special section entitled What Can I Do to Help the Sparrows offers simple ways to attract sparrows and finches to your own backyard. This is an engaging and friendly guide that reveals the rich diversity among a seemingly common family of birds so often taken for granted.

Birds of Oregon


Roger Burrows - 2003
    328 of the state's most common or notable birds species are featured. Each account includes full-color illustrations, a range map and detailed information on feeding, voice, nesting, best sites for viewing, habitat and similar species.

Smithsonian Earth


Michael AllabyJames F. Luhr - 2003
    With thousands of breathtaking photographs and unique visual catalogues of the features and phenomena that take place on Earth -- such as rocks, minerals, and mountains to tropical rain forests and the different types of clouds -- Earth contains the most up-to-date ideas on how our world works, a compelling review on the health of the planet, and unbelievable images of the world's most stunning features.

Birds of New Mexico Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in New Mexico. This book features 143 species of New Mexico birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Fortune's Favorite Child: The Uneasy Life of Walter Anderson


Christopher Maurer - 2003
    Devoted to the beauty of the natural world, Anderson emblazoned the events of his everyday life into art that expressed a unique and absorbing vision.This compelling biography, published in celebration of his centennial, draws on Anderson's voluminous journals and graphic works, the previously unpublished papers of family members and friends, and archival materials from several American museums.In his creative diversity he was both an artist and a naturalist who left the art world paintings, prints, murals, journals, wood carvings, ceramic works, poems, aphorisms, and pen-and-ink illustrations of literary works. Despite poverty and mental anguish, Anderson called himself "Fortune's favorite child." Few artists have been more grateful than Anderson for the moments of artistic truth extracted from adversity, isolation, and illness.He was the second of three sons of a good-natured grain merchant and a strong-willed New Orleans society woman who encouraged the children to devote their lives to art. After studying in New York, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in Europe, Anderson returned to the South and settled in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to live by his art. During the Depression he earned a meager living by decorating pottery and designing figurines for his family's pottery, Shearwater.Spending his life on the edge of the art world and the edge of society, Anderson fell into many intense adventures, for which his community regarded him as an eccentric. In 1937 he suffered a devastating attack of mental illness that foreshadowed a long battle with emotional turmoil. In an escape from a mental institution in Baltimore, he trekked a thousand miles homeward. Occasionally he lived in self-isolation on Horn Island. He sallied south to Costa Rica to hunt orchids. He rambled across China during the Maoist revolution.In tracing a life that the artist himself regarded with gratitude and wonder, this biography recounts the story of Anderson's marriage and fatherhood, his bouts with illness, his creative periods of astonishing work, and his spells as a solitary rover expressing his artistic vision and searching for spiritual fulfillment.Christopher Maurer, head of the department of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is the author (with Maria Estrella Iglesias) of "Dreaming in Clay on the Coast of Mississippi: Love and Art at Shearwater." His work has appeared in the "New Republic," the "New York Times," "Hispanic Review," and "El Pais" (Madrid).

Birds of Nebraska Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Nebraska. This book features 117 species of Nebraska birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Birds of Michigan


Ted Black - 2003
    Descriptions of each bird, illustrations and range maps help you identify birds and understand their habits. A checklist helps you keep a list of your birding accomplishments.

Birds of Utah Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2003
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Utah. This book features 130 species of Utah birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines


Caroline Arnold - 2003
    Readers will learn the mechanics of bird flight from takeoff to landing and discover how wing types meet the survival needs of each species. Popular science writer Caroline Arnold infuses this informative look at avian flight with her love of birds. Patricia J. Wynne's exquisitely detailed illustrations show these amazing creatures in action.

Warblers of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern North America


Chris Earley - 2003
    However sightings can be rare due to the warbler's migratory nature, feeding habits, and sometime-endangered status.Warblers is a handy reference for watching these fast-moving and elusive birds. It explains why warblers are difficult to spot and what you can do to see more of them. It accurately identifies 42 species found in the Great Lakes region and eastern North America. By focusing on this one family within a defined geographical area, the book's format is compact yet packed with information.Photographing these highly spirited birds is never easy. Birders will appreciate the crisp, clean images of the warblers in their natural environment. Comparison pages group similar-looking birds on a single spread for quick reference. Each species is presented in accurate, full color to ensure precise identification. Species are presented in taxonomic order to show how one relates to the next. The information is concisely organized and includes:Common names Biological classification Distinctive markings Seasonal plumage changes Song description Behavioral habits

Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds


Christopher M. Perrins - 2003
    There is a species that nests at the Arctic Circle and winters at the lower tip of South America, migrating up to 235,000 miles in its lifetime. These and thousands more winged wonders are described in fascinating detail in the Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds.Authoritative, easy-to-read essays explain mating rituals, historical significance, evolutionary development, and nesting habits. Organized alphabetically by Family, this comprehensive encyclopedia is illustrated with 2,000 color photographs and location maps. The text is lively, well researched, cleanly organized and completely understandable to nonscientific readers. A Fact File for each bird family lists the relevant data including species, genus, global distribution, habitat, plumage, voice, nest, egg descriptions, diet and conservation status.With contributions by a team of 100 distinguished zoologists, the Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds is a major reference work for all birders as well as students and naturalists.

Flight Identification of European Seabirds


Anders Blomdahl - 2003
    It contains photographs of European seabirds in flight, complemented with an identification-focused text.

The Complete Pet Bird Owner's Handbook


Gary A. Gallerstein - 2003
    It covers all aspects of pet bird ownership, including selection, nutrition, behavior, home physicals, emergency medical care, preventive medicine and much more. Keep it by the cage for quick reference. User friendly with an index of signs for medical treatment and applicable for all species of pet birds.

Field Guide to Australian Birds


Michael Morecombe - 2003
    Simple, clear design links text and paintings; unique system of organisation of information; includes breeding section; and maps define variances in ranges and subspecies. It covers 850 species; includes breeding section; 3500 paintings and 800 maps.Librarian's Note: This is a paperback edition of the book that shares an ISBN with the hardcover (ISBN 13: 9781740214179)

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker


James T. Tanner - 2003
    A series of expeditions continue to search for the rare bird, and all seekers rely on this elegant treatise. Written by James Tanner as his doctoral thesis, it was published by the National Audubon Society in 1942, when a few of the species could still be found in the cypress and bottomland forests of the southern United States.The book opens with a general description of the Ivory-bill, explaining how to distinguish it from its more commonly encountered cousin, the Pileated Woodpecker. It then plots the species’ original distribution pattern; tells the history of its disappearance and the story of its distribution as of 1940; discusses the population density and range of individual birds; food and feeding habits; daily routine in the non-nesting season; voice; reactions to human presence; roosting; reproductive and nesting habits; care of the young; and causes of nesting failure. In conclusion, the author outlines both a general and a specific program for conserving the species. An appendix covers nomenclature, related species, plumages, anatomy, and measurements, and lists the scientific names of birds, mammals, and reptiles mentioned in the text. A model of patient, exacting field research, this book offers fact-filled and engrossing reading for birders and other nature lovers.

Birds of Oregon: A General Reference


Mathew G. Hunter - 2003
    Five years in the making, this comprehensive volume includes individual accounts of the 485 species now known to occur in Oregon (about 150 more than in 1940), including detailed accounts of the 350 species that regularly occur and briefer accounts of another 135 species that are considered vagrants and wanderers, and thus accidental in Oregon. A separate chapter covers extirpated and questionable species as well as those which have been introduced but have not become established.Oregon is long overdue for a book of this kind. Although northern states generally support fewer species of birds than more southerly ones, Oregon ranks fifth behind only Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and California in terms of numbers of species. This is due to its varied climate, its wide range of habitats, and the mild winters over much of the state, which make it an important wintering area.Birds of Oregon is not a field guide for identifying birds, although it describes the appearance and any unique or special characteristics of each species, and approximately 100 species are illustrated with attractive line drawings. Instead, it compiles and presents in a single large volume what is known today about the population status and distribution of each species, as well as their habitat requirements and diet, their seasonal activities and behavior, where and how they might be found, and any conservation problems. It includes about 200 range maps that reflect the work of more than 700 volunteers who participated in the Oregon Breeding Bird Atlas project, as well as othersources. Subspecies -- of which Oregon has many because of the variability of the state's avian habitats -- are listed with their ranges, thus providing the first accounting of subspecies in the state since 1957.In addition to the species accounts, Birds of Oregon also includes a discussion of changes among Oregon's birds since 1940 and a description of the state's nine ecoregions and how they relate to bird species.Approximately 100 contributing authors volunteered their time and expertise to create Birds of Oregon, and numerous other individuals reviewed drafts of the species accounts to insure that they are as accurate and up-to-date as possible.Although heavily referenced with approximately 4,000 literature citations, Birds of Oregon is written in nontechnical language and will appeal to a broad audience, including birders, wildlife biologists, land managers, conservationists, naturalists, hunters, and wildlife enthusiasts in general.

Stokes Backyard Bird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Understanding the Birds in Your Backyard: A Treasury of the Best from Donald and Lillian Stokes


Donald Stokes - 2003
    

Birds of Northern India (Helm Field Guides)


Richard Grimmett - 2003
    The plates are accompanied by text that highlights the identification, voice, habitat, altitudinal range, distribution and status of the birds. The text is on pages facing the plates, and there are distribution maps for every species.

Pipits & Wagtails Of Europe, Asia And North America: Identification And Systematics


Per Alstrom - 2003
    Pipits are a large and difficult group which invariably causes vexation to birders on both sides of the Atlantic. This guide covers the 26 species of northern hemisphere pipits and wagtails in detail. It treats identification in the field and in the hand, and includes colour plates, detailed distribution maps and sonograms of songs and calls.