Not like years previous, when matters like migration or fowl habits predominated, we’ve been handled, in 2024, to a vigorous mixture of titles about conservation and analysis, historical past and artwork, fowl households, and nation discipline 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 fowl and birding titles of 2024, books you might wish to purchase for the novice or skilled birders in your sphere or as items to your self. Or you possibly can merely learn a duplicate borrowed out of your native library (don’t hesitate to ask them to search out you a duplicate if it’s not on the cabinets!).
DONNA:
It was a troublesome job choosing 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 particular person; fortunately Nate allowed us to sneak in some ‘honorable mentions.’ The podcast shall be accessible after Thanksgiving.)
BIRDS AND ART:
A number of books embraced the artwork of drawing birds, though in very other ways. In The Yard Chicken Chronicles, creator Amy Tan embraces nature journaling. From 2017 to the top of 2022, Tan recorded the habits and great 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 fowl,” her methodology for drawing the character of every fowl. I discovered the e book 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 e book is a celebration of the life and artwork of the largely unknown 19th-century artist who drew, painted, and engraved lots of the fowl plates for husband John Gould’s well-known ornithological books earlier than dying early in childbirth. Working from specimens, descriptions, and finally from life, Gould’s depictions of the birds of South America, Australia, and Europe are beautiful.
Kenn Kaufman’s The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Need within the American Wilderness is about an iconic fowl 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 inventive aspirations, weaving it along with intelligence and a way of marvel that our ornithological forefathers (no moms except you rely Lucy Audubon) navigated such a improbable 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 precisely what the title says, a celebration of certainly one of our most beloved and feared fowl teams (possibly worry 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 data, from nesting to molt to migration, on the 54 species that comprise the 5 households of the shorebird group. This e book shall be loved by birders and individuals who merely love nature and good pictures.
Discipline Information to North American Flycatchers: Kingbirds and Myiarchus by Cin-Ty Lee with illustrations by Andrew Birch is the second quantity in what shall be a three-volume collection. Whereas the species lined right here is probably not 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 bit on hybrids!). I like the ‘look’ of those books—clear design, elegant illustrations, with lots of the identification charts that made the primary quantity so distinctive. Extremely really useful for birders who love identification challenges and wonderful 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 expertise of gulls will wish to personal. It’s packed filled with gull images of seemingly each plumage of each species (molt might be the most typical phrase of the e book), discussions of taxonomy, and tips from Ayyash, gull observer supreme, on the way to determine the gulls at your lake, seaside, and dump. (Assessment to come back)
Surprisingly, Stokes Information to Finches of the US 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 an ideal workforce. Stokes brings her lengthy historical past of writing guides on birds and yard fowl feeding; Younger brings his experience on boreal birds. Along with the 18 breeding species in mainland U.S. and Canada, the e book contains vagrant finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers (who’re finches). This can be a e book that each birder at each talent stage will discover helpful.
CONSERVATION & INDIVIDUAL JOURNEY:
Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Amongst Endangered Birds by Sophie A. H. Osborn is certainly 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 high of a mountain in Wyoming or monitoring mischievous crows within the rainforest to histories of how these birds grew to become endangered and the way reintroduction tasks search to reverse these trajectories. Most of all, her writing brings us into her intense experiences together with her birds and assist us respect them much more.
HONORABLE MENTION:
I need to give a shoutout to an unimaginable e book, years within the making: Dragonflies of North America, written & illustrated Ed Lam. Over 300 species and subspecies are lined, every illustrated in beautiful element (when you’ve ever tried to {photograph} or seize a dragonfly, you understand how 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 come back.)
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 equivalent to Lake Karla, Messolonghi, Mount Parnassos and others expands the scope of the information, whereas the addition of color-coded sections, detailed GPS data, up to date standing lists, and lodging suggestions additional improve the usability of the information. This e book is certain to turn out to be a vital 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 fowl safety tasks in Greece. Now which information you really need.
When the brand new NL 14×52 mm binoculars had been introduced by Swarovski Optik, regardless that I discover this collection 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 equivalent 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:
If you’re searching for one excellent e book to attract youngsters into the thrill of birding, I like to recommend The Youngsters’s E book of Birdwatching, by Welsh ornithologist and wildlife advocate Dan Rouse. Filled with photographs, illustrations, suggestions and actions (you can also make DIY fowl meals or seed bombs with the youngsters), this e book focuses not simply on the birds themselves, however on caring for them and caring for the planet. (Studying age 5-9)
For the youngsters in your life who’re auditory learners, music-makers and tech-lovers, Take heed 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 e book of frequent North American birds that’s accompanied by an augmented actuality “Birdie Reminiscence” app. With the app downloaded onto a telephone and the telephone digicam pointed to a fowl within the e book, the fowl appears to come back 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 places 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 e book supplies the grownup readers with data to assist reply among the inevitable questions: how are you aware if a fowl 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 e book 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, equivalent to bowerbirds’ bowers and sapsuckers’ and Acorn woodpeckers’ meals shops) constructed by the world’s birds. The Horned coot takes a whole lot 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 e book is stuffed with astounding tales like that.
In case you’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 provides you 4 well-designed and engaging pages on sixty totally 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 e book is first-rate.
Twenty-three thousand pictures had been submitted for the 2024 Chicken Photographer of the Yr competitors (it’s run by British charities), with the winners printed right here, in numerous classes: Greatest Portrait, Black and White, Birds in Flight, Chicken Conduct, City Birds, Comedy, and others. You’ll, while you open the e book and begin wanting on the images, snicker at a lot of them, most of them, with utter delight. They’re that good.
JOHN:
Spurn, in East Yorkshire, is certainly 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 particularly 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 always formed by the ocean. His e book is a poignant reminder of the fragility of our pure world and of the pressing want to guard its most weak inhabitants.
These in search of to hone their avian auditory expertise 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 phone calls of 450 species. It contains sonograms, in addition to QR codes linked to downloadable sounds. And Wroza provides helpful insights into migratory habits and optimum listening situations. The e book 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 approachmakes identification a doddle. And the emphasis on sensible identification methods – things like habits, habitat clues, molt technique — makes this a e book your shouldn’t dawdle to buy and seek the advice of. It is available in two volumes (however can also be accessible as a downloadable PDF file); not low cost however nothing worthwhile is: in different phrases, that is actually price the price.
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M.C.! H.H.! God bless you all!