Not like years previous, when subjects like migration or hen conduct predominated, we’ve been handled, in 2024, to a vigorous mixture of titles about conservation and analysis, historical past and artwork, hen households, and nation subject guides. There have been books by a few of our most beloved and revered authors, auspicious new authors, and one bestseller by a world-famous creator.
The ten,000 Birds reviewers (Donna, Dragan, Susan, Mark, and John) have right here chosen their selections for finest hen and birding titles of 2024, books chances are you’ll wish to purchase for the novice or skilled birders in your sphere or as presents to your self. Or you’ll be able to merely learn a replica borrowed out of your native library (don’t hesitate to ask them to seek out you a replica if it’s not on the cabinets!).
DONNA:
It was a tricky job deciding on titles this 12 months, and I’m grateful I’m not restricted to a sure quantity. (I simply completed recording the American Birding Affiliation podcast on Greatest Birding Books of 2024 with Nate Swick and Rebecca Minardi, the place the restrict is 5 Greatest Books per individual; fortunately Nate allowed us to sneak in some ‘honorable mentions.’ The podcast can be out there after Thanksgiving.)
BIRDS AND ART:
A number of books embraced the artwork of drawing birds, though in very alternative ways. In The Yard Chicken Chronicles, creator Amy Tan embraces nature journaling. From 2017 to the tip of 2022, Tan recorded the conduct and fantastic thing about her Northern California yard birds, discovering comedy in Crow and Scrub-Jay household squabbles, tragedy in an injured Cooper’s Hawk, and a meditative peace in ‘being the hen,” her methodology for drawing the character of every hen. I discovered the ebook inspiring and should begin drawing birds in my native park (I don’t have a yard) within the close to future.
On the different finish of the spectrum is Birds of the World: The Artwork of Elizabeth Gould by Andrea Hart and Ann Datta (Prestel). This coffee-table sized ebook is a celebration of the life and artwork of the largely unknown 19th-century artist who drew, painted, and engraved most of the hen plates for husband John Gould’s well-known ornithological books earlier than dying early in childbirth. Working from specimens, descriptions, and ultimately from life, Gould’s depictions of the birds of South America, Australia, and Europe are gorgeous.
Kenn Kaufman’s The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Need within the American Wilderness is about an iconic hen artist, creating artwork, and our North American ornithological historical past—its myths and realities, some solely uncovered now by persistent researchers. Kaufman explores many, separate strands, from historic taxonomic puzzles to Audubon’s problematic life to his personal creative aspirations, weaving it along with intelligence and a way of surprise that our ornithological forefathers (no moms until you depend Lucy Audubon) navigated such a incredible world of unknown birds and creating pure science.
FAMILY HISTORIES & IDENTIFICATION GUIDES
The Shorebirds of North America: A Pure Historical past and Photographic Celebration by Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson is strictly what the title says, a celebration of considered one of our most cherished and feared hen teams (perhaps concern is just too sturdy a phrase, let’s say intimidating). The pictures, most by Karlson, are stunningly stunning. The essays and chapters by each authors provide a wealth of pure historical past info, from nesting to molt to migration, on the 54 species that comprise the 5 households of the shorebird group. This ebook can be loved by birders and individuals who merely love nature and good pictures.
Subject Information to North American Flycatchers: Kingbirds and Myiarchus by Cin-Ty Lee with illustrations by Andrew Birch is the second quantity in what can be a three-volume sequence. Whereas the species lined right here will not be as puzzling because the Empidonax species lined within the first quantity, there’s sufficient confusion about figuring out the six Myiarchus flycatchers and ten Tyrannus flycatchers that comprise this quantity to greater than justify its acquisition (there may be additionally a bonus, a piece on hybrids!). I like the ‘look’ of those books—clear design, elegant illustrations, with most of the identification charts that made the primary quantity so distinctive. Extremely beneficial for birders who love identification challenges and glorious birding books.
Over six years within the making, The Gull Information: North America, by Amar Ayyash, is a complete, dense information to North American gulls and past. It’s a singular achievement, one that each one larophiles and birders who wish to advance their identification abilities of gulls will wish to personal. It’s packed filled with gull pictures of seemingly each plumage of each species (molt might be the commonest phrase of the ebook), discussions of taxonomy, and tips from Ayyash, gull observer supreme, on tips on how to determine the gulls at your lake, seaside, and dump. (Assessment to return)
Surprisingly, Stokes Information to Finches of america and Canada is the primary complete information to this household that features acquainted feeder birds and charismatic boreal species. Authors Lillian Q. Stokes and Matthew A. Younger make a fantastic workforce. Stokes brings her lengthy historical past of writing guides on birds and yard hen feeding; Younger brings his experience on boreal birds. Along with the 18 breeding species in mainland U.S. and Canada, the ebook contains vagrant finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers (who’re finches). It is a ebook that each birder at each talent degree will discover helpful.
CONSERVATION & INDIVIDUAL JOURNEY:
Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Amongst Endangered Birds by Sophie A. H. Osborn is considered one of my favourite books of the 12 months, the one I take into consideration essentially the most. It’s about endangered species, the science of reintroduction, the significance of conservation, and Osborn’s particular person, joyful and difficult experiences working with three endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala), and California Condor. Osborn seamlessly goes from observing falcons on prime of a mountain in Wyoming or monitoring mischievous crows within the rainforest to histories of how these birds turned endangered and the way reintroduction initiatives search to reverse these trajectories. Most of all, her writing brings us into her intense experiences together with her birds and assist us recognize them much more.
HONORABLE MENTION:
I have to give a shoutout to an unbelievable ebook, years within the making: Dragonflies of North America, written & illustrated Ed Lam. Over 300 species and subspecies are lined, every illustrated in beautiful element (in case you’ve ever tried to {photograph} or seize a dragonfly, you know the way tough intently observing these species could also be). Like The Gull Information, it is a vital achievement, achieved with artistry, experience, persistence, and pure love for this fascinating group of predators. (Assessment to return.)
DRAGAN:
Whereas Steve Mills began his information with northern Greece, by the third version he has expanded the protection to embody your entire continental Greece, other than Attica (the environment of Athens) and the Peloponnese Peninsula. The third version of Birdwatching in Northern Greece is a exceptional achievement that surpasses its predecessors in each scope and high quality. The inclusion of latest websites corresponding to Lake Karla, Messolonghi, Mount Parnassos and others expands the scope of the information, whereas the addition of color-coded sections, detailed GPS info, up to date standing lists, and lodging suggestions additional improve the usability of the information. This ebook is certain to grow to be an important companion on my future birding journeys in Greece.
There may be another reason to take my hat off: all funds raised from promoting the books go immediately in the direction of hen safety initiatives in Greece. Now you already know which information you really need.
When the brand new NL 14×52 mm binoculars have been introduced by Swarovski Optik, despite the fact that I discover this sequence a bit outsized for my tastes, I used to be nonetheless curious. I imply, which birder makes use of 14s? Are you aware anybody utilizing such a excessive magnification? Precisely, neither do I. NL Pure 14×52s come as a powerful, specialised beast, nice for bigger however distant waterbirds and raptors, but in addition small, but nearer larks and pipits, and for open habitats corresponding to grasslands, open savannas, deserts, lakes and marshes, cliffs, scree and mountain-tops above the tree-line, and shore-to-sea watching.
SUSAN:
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN:
In case you are in search of one excellent ebook to attract kids into the thrill of birding, I like to recommend The Kids’s E book of Birdwatching, by Welsh ornithologist and wildlife advocate Dan Rouse. Filled with pictures, illustrations, suggestions and actions (you may make DIY hen meals or seed bombs with the children), this ebook focuses not simply on the birds themselves, however on caring for them and caring for the planet. (Studying age 5-9)
For the children in your life who’re auditory learners, music-makers and tech-lovers, Hearken to the Birds by birdsong skilled Donald Kroodsma, illustrator and designer Léna Mazilu, and interactive developer Yoann Guény is a should. The workforce created an image ebook of frequent North American birds that’s accompanied by an augmented actuality “Birdie Reminiscence” app. With the app downloaded onto a cellphone and the cellphone digital camera pointed to a hen within the ebook, the hen appears to return alive, transfer — and sing. The impact is totally enchanting. (Studying age 4-11)
Within the small (however important for bird-lovers!) class of birding bedtime books, the husband and spouse workforce of David Obuchowski and Sarah Pedry created How Birds Sleep, a beautiful exploration of the numerous methods and areas that birds relaxation—together with whereas flying within the sky, sleeping on one leg, or tucked inside a termite mound. The backmatter on this nonfiction image ebook offers the grownup readers with info to assist reply a few of the inevitable questions: how are you aware if a hen is asleep—and what precisely is sleep, anyway? (Studying age 4-8)
MARK:
Avian Structure: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Construct, by Peter Goodfellow, is a revised and expanded model of his ebook that first appeared in 2011. The primary version was terrific; this new one is even higher, with extra case research and illustrations of the extraordinary number of nests (and different constructions, corresponding to bowerbirds’ bowers and sapsuckers’ and Acorn woodpeckers’ meals shops) constructed by the world’s birds. The Horned coot takes tons of of journeys to construct a mound of stones weighing 1 1/2 tons simply offshore in a lake within the excessive Andes — and that’s simply to get its nestbuilding began. This ebook is stuffed with astounding tales like that.
For those who’re planning a birding journey for the brand new 12 months or merely fantasizing about one, you must look at The Pleasure of Birdwatching. It offers you 4 well-designed and enticing pages on sixty completely different locales and the avian sights to see in them — Griffin vultures within the Pyrenees; Kingfishers in Sri Lanka; Sandhill cranes in Nebraska; Sooty falcons in Jordan; and others — with simply the correct amount of native colour and tricks to information guests. And the writing and pictures within the ebook is first-rate.
Twenty-three thousand photographs have been submitted for the 2024 Chicken Photographer of the 12 months competitors (it’s run by British charities), with the winners printed right here, in varied classes: Greatest Portrait, Black and White, Birds in Flight, Chicken Conduct, City Birds, Comedy, and others. You’ll, once you open the ebook and begin trying on the pictures, chuckle at lots of them, most of them, with utter delight. They’re that good.
JOHN:
Spurn, in East Yorkshire, is considered one of my favourite locations to observe birds, however I’ve by no means visited the Little Tern colony there. So Richard Boon’s Clinging to the Edge, an intimate look into the breeding season of a colony there, is very welcome. Boone paints a vivid image of those delicate birds, from their arduous migration from West Africa to their each day struggles for survival on the North Sea Coast. And he provides eager insights into the distinctive ecosystem of Spurn Level, a dynamic landform continuously formed by the ocean. His ebook is a poignant reminder of the fragility of our pure world and of the pressing want to guard its most weak inhabitants.
These looking for to hone their avian auditory abilities will wish to seek the advice of Stanislas Wroza’s Figuring out Migratory Birds by Sound in Britain and Europe, a complete and holistic perspective on the flight and call calls of 450 species. It contains sonograms, in addition to QR codes linked to downloadable sounds. And Wroza offers helpful insights into migratory conduct and optimum listening situations. The ebook is a must have for the intense birdwatcher.
In his ID Handbook of European Birds, Nils van Duivendijk has created an ID information for the ages.
His systematic method makes identification a doddle. And the emphasis on sensible identification methods – things like conduct, habitat clues, molt technique — makes this a ebook your mustn’t dawdle to buy and seek the advice of. It is available in two volumes (however can be out there as a downloadable PDF file); not low-cost however nothing worthwhile is: in different phrases, that is actually value the price.
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M.C.! H.H.! God bless you all!
