Two books for new and young birdwatchers

In a recent issue of BirdWatching magazine, we described 19 new books about birds that belong in your library — and in the hands of your favorite young birder. Here are two guides that are perfect for new birdwatchers:

Pocket guide to birds

The Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America comes from Jonathan Alderfer, a co-author of National Geographic’s comprehensive 990-species Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and our friend Laura Erickson, author of “Attracting Birds,” our regular column about attracting, feeding, sheltering, and understanding the birds in your backyard.

As you know, Laura is an author, radio producer, and public speaker who has dedicated her professional life to the love, understanding, and protection of birds. She writes Laura’s Birding Blog, and she’s the author of the books Hawk Ridge: Minnesota’s Birds of Prey, Twelve Owls, The Bird Watching Answer Book, 101 Ways to Help Birds, and other fine books.

In the Pocket Guide, she and Alderfer describe 160 birds and serve up a bevy of helpful tips, such as how to use binoculars and how to look at an unfamiliar bird in order to identify it. Key field marks, habitat types, and other facts are listed alongside photos and illustrations of each species, and brief text explains migratory habits, behaviors, feeding strategies, and more.

National Geographic Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America, by Laura Erickson and Jonathan Alderfer, National Geographic, 2013, 192 pages, $11.95 softcover, no ebook

A bird guide for kids

Jonathan Alderfer also wrote the new National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America, a fun, colorful introduction to 112 species for kids ages 8 and up. It features common birds like Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, and Osprey, range-restricted species like Elf Owl and Black Skimmer, and four pages of “Rock Star Birds” (California Condor, Emperor Penguin). Plus, young readers can learn how to draw a bird and how to make a bird feeder out of a soda bottle.

National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America, by Jonathan Alderfer, National Geographic, 2013, 176 pages, $15.95, softcover, no ebook (ages 8 and up)

Look for roundups of notable new books about birds in every June and every December issue of BirdWatching magazine.