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Notable bird books of 2011: Mid-year roundup
The editors of BirdWatching magazine describe Kenn Kaufman's latest field guide to advanced birding, Richard Crossley's groundbreaking ID guide, an important volume on identifying hawks at a distance, and seven other new books about birds and birdwatching.
Published: April 22, 2011 An e-tern-ity. That’s how Peter Delacorte and Michael C. Witte, creators of the delightful classic The Book of Terns, would probably refer to the 20 years that have passed since Kenn Kaufman gave us the authoritative Peterson Field Guide to Advanced Birding.
In 1990, when it was published, only a handful of field guides were on the market, this magazine was only three years old, and there was no In-tern-et.
How things have changed! The amount of information that is now readily available to birdwatchers, as Kaufman explains in the interview, has increased by orders of magnitude. Finding it, he says, is not the problem. “Now it’s more of a challenge just to sift through these mountains of information and try to figure out what to focus on.”
His Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding, more a new book than a new edition; Hawks at a Distance, Jerry Liguori’s long-awaited photographic guide to distant raptors; and the photo-rich Crossley ID Guide all argue persuasively that, even in an increasingly high-tech age, the low-tech book remains a valuable information-sifting, focus-providing source to tern to.
To say nothing about also being a whole lot of fun. Don’t believe us? Try Among Penguins by Noah Strycker and Extreme Birder by ABA board member Lynn E. Barber. They’re page tern-ers.
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The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds by Richard Crossley, Princeton University Press, 2011, 529 pages, $35, flexibound.
Birds as we see them
In his 529-page Crossley ID Guide, Cape May birder Richard Crossley presents 640 bird species as we’ve never seen them before. As shown in the hummingbird pages above, he crafted plates using multiple photos of each species, including different age and sex classes, and close-up, middle-distance, and far-away views. He explains how he made the book and his philosophy behind it in an interview on our Field of View blog.
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Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson, Basic Books, 2011, 352 pages, $25.99, hardcover.
All feathers considered
Wow! Thor Hanson’s fun, wide-ranging romp through the world of feathers covers feather science and evolution, plumed showgirls in Las Vegas, quill pens, and a falcon feather that’s on the moon.
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Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica by Noah Strycker, Oregon State University Press, 2011, 224 pages, $19.95, paper.
Three months in Antarctica
Our friend Noah Strycker’s first book is a delightful look at the life of a roving bird researcher, surviving at the bottom of the world and reveling amid a quarter-million Adélie Penguins. |
Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life by Todd Oldham, AMMO Books, 2009, 420 pages, $49.95, hardcover.
Art of a master
This 420-page celebration of the late Charley Harper features his best art — the pieces that author Todd Oldham calls “Charley’s A+++ work.” They include depictions of dinosaurs, bears, cars, fish, and dozens of birds, including a Rose-breasted Grosbeak feeding his brood and a cool-as-a-cucumber cardinal.
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The Book of Terns by Michael C. Witte and Peter Delacorte, Second Edition, Ternaround Press, 2011, 100 pages, $14.95, paper.
Tern is the word
When writer Peter Delacorte and artist Michael C. Witte change turn to tern in any number of common words and phrases, the results are comic genius. In “A Big Ternout,” for example, hundreds of long-billed, wide-eyed birds fill the cover and two captivating pages. Available from Buteo Books. |
National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America by Jonathan Alderfer, National Geographic, 2011, 256 pages, $18.95, paper.
Handy backyard guide
National Geographic turns its considerable field-guide expertise to birds of the backyard in this slim new softcover. It offers maps, ID info, and more for 150 of our most common species.
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Extreme Birder: One Woman's Big Year by Lynn E. Barber, TAMU Press, 2011, 288 pages, $29.95, paper.
A really big year
In engaging prose and 140 excellent photos and paintings, Lynn Barber, president of the Texas Ornithological Society, recounts seeing 723 North American bird species during her 2008 Big Year.
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The Golden Eagle, Second Edition by Jeff Watson, Yale University Press, 2011, 400 pages, $65, hardcover.
Symbol of the wild
The late Golden Eagle expert Jeff Watson’s 448-page opus is both a detailed scientific treatment of the bird and a beautifully illustrated tribute to one man’s decades-long pursuit of a majestic raptor.
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Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors by Jerry Liguori, Princeton University Press, 2011, 216 pages, $19.95, paper.
Raptors from afar
Most field guides show hawks, falcons, and other birds of prey close up. This valuable new guide from veteran hawk counter Jerry Liguori shows us distant flying raptors as they appear in the field. |
Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding by Kenn Kaufman, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, 448 pages, $21, vinyl bound.
Redefining advanced birding
Every new book by Kenn Kaufman — author of Kingbird Highway and Lives of North American Birds, originator of the Kaufman Field Guide series, and writer of “ID Tips,” our column on bird ID — is worth noting. But a new edition of A Field Guide to Advanced Birding, his groundbreaking 1990 contribution to the Peterson series, qualifies as an event. The new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding, published last month, may have started out as just an update of the earlier field guide. Along the way, it turned into a new book, one with more pages but, surprisingly, fewer chapters on specific ID challenges than the original. Eighty-five percent of the material is new, as is the book’s aim, hinted at in the subtitle: “Understanding What You See and Hear.” Editor Chuck Hagner interviewed Kaufman about the book. Read the conversation on our Field of View blog.
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