Hi all -
I certainly endorse most of the previous suggestions, and glad to see
the Canadian content too. I'll resist the urge to correct spelling
mistakes!

Here are a couple of additional favourites of mine:

Hawks in Flight by Pete Dunne et al (Houghton Mifflin), in my opinion
the best identification guide of any kind, to any family, anywhere.
No one has yet mentioned The Birds of North America in 18 "volumes" -
put it in the "must have if you can afford it" category
Audubon to Xantus by Mearns and Mearns (Academic Press) - a fabulous
compendium of biographies of people who have birds named after them.
You will learn another side of Audubon's reputation.
For fun - World Birds by Brian P. Martin, a Guiness book of world bird
records (out of print I think)
Attracting Backyard Wildlife by Bill Merilees, Whitecap Books (in
Canada - also published in US) a very useful book on creating wildlife
habitat.
For nostalgia - Birds of Canada, or Birds of Western Canada, both by
P.A. Taverner, National Museum of Canada (1930s) pretty widely
available used. Another of the many early bird books illustrated by
Allan Brooks.
For pleasure - Owls of the Northern Hemisphere by Voous and Cameron,
MIT - exquisite paintings.
ditto the books of J. Fenwick Lansdowne; fabulous paintings and
insightful commentary (especially the two volumes of Birds of the West
Coast).
For stretching the borders - The Handbook of Bird Identification for
Europe and the Western Palearctic by Beaman and Madge (Princeton) -
excellent (if expensive) reference for European vagrants
Also A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America,
Howell and Webb, Oxford
And finally, the book that turned me on to bird books (many years ago)
- The Birds of Alberta, by Salt and Salt (Hurtig) - dated now, but with
a charming and deceptively useful text not often found in today's
intensive field guides.


Bruce Whittington
Ladysmith, BC
mailto: fieldnat at pacificcoast.net