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| Recommended Birding Books |
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Kathleen O' Connor
recommends "How to Be a (BAD) Birdwatcher" by Simon Barnes. Kathleen
says, "It's very short (quick read), but quite witty." The inside flap of the book describes it as: Look out the window. See a bird. Enjoy it. CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a bad birdwatcher. In this refreshingly irreverent introduction to the subject, Simon Barnes makes birdwatching simple—and above all, enjoyable. Anyone who has ever looked up at the sky or gazed out the window knows a thing or two about birds. Who doesn’t know the brisk purpose of a sparrow, the airy insouciance of the seagull, the dramatic power of the hawk? Birds are beautiful, you can encounter them anywhere, and they embody one of the primal human aspirations: flight. Birdwatching starts, simply, with a habit of looking. You let birds into your life a little at a time. You remember bird names as you would the names of people you’ve enjoyed meeting. And if you share your looking and listening with other people, so much the better. Birdwatching might even help you get along with the father who never approved of anything you did—as it did for Barnes. As Barnes shares his relaxed principles of birdwatching, he also shows us the power of place: the elation of spotting kingfishers in Kashmir, hawks over the Great Lakes, or the birds closest to home. And he shows how, no matter where you live, birds can connect you to the greater glory of life. Funny, enthusiastic, and inspiring, How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher demonstrates why you don’t have to have fancy binoculars or lifetime checklists to discover a new world. So, begin the habit of looking. See that bird...Enjoy it! |
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The GSBAS
recommends "The Birder's Conservation Handbook: 100 North American
Birds at Risk" by Jeffrey V. Wells. Endorsements from the back cover of the book: "This is truly a bird guide for the new millennium. Jeff Wells has given us a resource that gives us a more realistic and three-dimensional view of bird life. In this book we can see the birds as part of a bigger picture that includes their environment--and we can see that the picture includes us as well, with our responsibility for ensuring the survival of the birds that we all enjoy."-- Kenn Kaufman, author of Kingbird Highway "At last ornithologists, birders, and conservation planners have between two covers an exhaustive and invaluable storehouse of information about the status of bird conservation in North America. Along with one hundred carefully chosen and exhaustively documented species accounts about birds at risk, the author has produced an outstanding overview and resource to bird conservation activity that should serve as a benchmark for many years to come."-- Wayne R. Petersen, coauthor of Birds of New England and Birds of Massachusetts "Simply admiring birds isn't enough - birders everywhere need to be actively engaged in preserving them, and Birder's Conservation Handbook gives them the knowledge and the tools to do just that. Jeff Wells has done a remarkable job of assembling the most up-to-date information on one hundred of North America's most imperiled species, and of providing a road map for how the average birder can work for their protection. This book is a gold mine."-- Scott Weidensaul, author of Of a Feather and Living on the Wind "This is an excellent book. It is well written and effectively organized, and the scholarship is very sound. The combination of an excellent general overview of North American bird conservation with detailed species accounts will greatly enhance birders' and non-birders' understanding and appreciation of conservation science."-- David Haskell, University of the South "The Birder's Conservation Handbook is a gold mine of information on North America's rarest and most vulnerable birds. No other book provides as much information on the threats to each species, the conservation measures that have been taken thus far, and the steps that still need to be taken to ensure the well-being of these birds. I highly recommend it."-- David Wilcove, Princeton University "An invaluable resource for birders and concerned citizens, giving us the cold hard facts on the alarming decline in dozens of species of birds and what is being done to save our beloved birds."-- Bridget Stutchbury, author of Silence of the Songbirds |
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