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The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, A Birder's Guide to Southern California, Birdscaping in the Midwest: A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds
The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, A Birder's Guide to Southern California, Birdscaping in the Midwest: A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract BirdsBookshelf -- June 2008
Published: April 25, 2008 The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America by Bill Thompson III, Houghton Mifflin, 2008, 256 pages, $14.95, paperback.
Whom would you choose to take your children birding? I might pick my friend Alicia King, director of the American Bird Conservancy's important Bird Conservation Alliance, a tireless advocate for birds and birdwatching, and an enthusiastic friend of newcomers.
Contributing Editor Kenn Kaufman comes to mind as well. When he's not at a computer writing or on the road speaking, he can be found serving as the adult coordinator for the Ohio Young Birders Club, an association for birders between the ages of 12 to 18.
He described his work with the club in our December 2006 issue: "What we are doing is teaching, after all, even if this education is sneakily disguised as fun, and any act of teaching is an act of faith in the future."
Someone else with obvious faith in the future is Bill Thompson III. In addition to being the father of daughter Phoebe and son Liam, he's the amiable and knowledgeable editor of Bird Watcher's Digest and the author of this delightful new guide for birdwatchers between the ages of 8 and 12.
Kid-friendly but not watered down, enjoyable but still useful, and engagingly illustrated by the talented artist and naturalist Julie Zickefoose, Bill's wife, The Young Birder's Guide offers a welcoming, informative introduction to 200 of the most common and often encountered birds of eastern North America, and it does so without speaking down to young readers -- or over their heads.
The first 40 pages or so swiftly give the lay of the birding landscape -- how to select and use binoculars and field guides, bird-identification basics, field skills, birding manners, and 10 things we all can do for birds. Except for a list of resources, a glossary, and the index at the end of the book, species profiles occupy the remaining 200 pages.
Each one features one or two photographs of the bird in typical plumages; a map of North America showing the species' seasonal distribution; and a drawing by Zickefoose showing an interesting facet of the bird's personality or life history. My favorites: a Hooded Merganser duckling about to leave a nest in a tree cavity, a Killdeer performing a distraction display, high-flying Peregrine Falcons courting between skyscrapers, a chickadee announcing an empty feeder by pecking on a window pane.
Thompson gives pithy descriptions of each bird's field marks, its songs and calls, its habitat preferences, and at least one extra piece of information sure to grab the attention of just about any new birdwatcher: That Hollywood directors like to dub the loon's call into movies. That a pelican's pouch can hold more than two and a half gallons of water. That Snow Buntings burrow into the snow to shelter from the wind. That spots on the back and sides of a kestrel's head look like a face. That roadrunners leap up to catch hummingbirds at nectar feeders.
This is writing from someone who knows much about how to identify birds, where to find them, what they do and why, and most important, how to connect with children, our future birdwatchers. This is education disguised as fun. -- Chuck Hagner
Chuck Hagner is editor of Birder's World. |
Birdscaping in the Midwest: A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds by Mariette Nowak, Itchy Cat Press, 2007, 350 pages, $27, softcover.
Mariette Nowak possesses a rare combination of know-how about plants and expertise on birds. She's the former director of Milwaukee's Wehr Nature Center, a board member of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, and an active member of the native-plant group Wild Ones. Her book is a treat as rare as she is. It focuses on eight states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio) but dispenses advice for planting and maintaining bird-friendly yards far beyond the Midwest. Hummingbirds, bluebirds, prairie birds, woodland birds, migratory birds - you name it. Birdscaping in the Midwest describes gardens that will attract them. |
A Birder's Guide to Southern California fifth edition, by Brad Schram, American Birding Association, 2007, 440 pages, $25.95, softcover.
This new edition of Brad Schram's guide to California from San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties south to the Mexico border is chock-full of detailed maps, readable, highly reliable, and essential. All chapters from previous editions have been updated, and new birding hotspots are highlighted, including the bird-rich Kern River Valley, rugged Clark Mountain in the Mojave Desert (Hepatic Tanager, Grace's Warbler), and suburban San Fernando Valley (Lawrence's Goldfinch). Also described is where and when to look in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary and in Santa Barbara County for free-flying California Condors. |
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