Subject: Bird Book recommendations for Ian Paulsen
Date: May 6 12:29:49 2004
From: Tom Cotner - tcotner at u.washington.edu



Here are my recommendations of books that I would recommend for birders
and others who enjoy reading about birds.

The first group of books, typified by the book by Baker and the classic
studies by Tibergen and Nero, are highly recommended because you will be
taken in THAT BIRD's world. The books by Baker and Matthiessen are
beautifully written, and absolutely perfect. The books by Matthiessen and
Weidensaul are adventures, with the birds doing heroic feats.

The Peregrine--J.A. Baker
The Windbirds: Shorebirds of North America--Peter Matthiessen
Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere With Migratory Birds--Scott
Weidensaul
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time--Jonathan Weiner
The Herring Gull's World--Niko Tibergen
Bird Behavior--Robert Burton
The Great Gray Owl--Robert W. Nero
Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays--
Candace Savage
American wildlife & plants : a guide to wildlife food habits: the
use of trees, shrubs, weeds, and herbs by birds and mammals of the
United States--Alexander C. Martin, Herbert S. Zim, Arnold L. Nelson


The second set of books are here because they are valuable books that were
not listed by earlier posts. I would definitely add my imprimatur (such
as it is) to the earlier recommendations for the Shorebird book by
Paulson and Opperman's Guide to Washington.

Lives of North American Birds--Kenn Kaufman
The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds--John K. Terres
The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding--John Farrand, ed.
Waterfowl: An identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the
World--Steve Madge & Hilary Burn
The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North
American Birds--Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin & Darryl Wheye
Seabirds: An Identification Guide--Peter Harrison

Finally there were three issues of the Bird Observor, published in
Massachusetts, that listed favorite bird books. Maybe you can get hold of
these magazines to aid in your quest.

Books that made me a birder--Mark Lynch vol. 27(3) June, 1999
My favorite bird books--David Cassie vol. 27(4) August 1999
Books that made me a birder--John Kircher vo. 27(5) Oct, 1999
I don't know if the last is an addendum to the first, or a rebuttal.

Good luck in your quest and good reading!

Tom Cotner
University of Washington
Seattle