Learn how to identify 150 North American birds From the tiny ruby-throated hummingbird to the powerful bald eagle, there's a fascinating variety of unique and beautiful birds that call North America home. This compact field guide is the perfect introduction to birding. You'll find essential information about 150 North American species and expert advice on how to get started on your bird-watching journey.What sets this book apart from other bird books:The basics of bird watching―Learn important birding terminology, what equipment to have on hand, and how to log and submit your bird sightings.Complete bird profiles―Discover full-color photos and need-to-know details about each species' appearance, behavior, and population range.Easy-to-find information―This book's simple organization makes it the ideal companion for your bird watching adventures, with clearly marked sections for common backyard birds, songbirds, shorebirds and waterbirds, and raptors.Get to know your feathered neighbors with this field guide to the birds of North America. Read more

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club • With a foreword by David Allen Sibley“Unexpected and spectacular” —Ann Patchett, best-selling author of These Precious Days"The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing, suggest the layers of patterns in the natural world, and emphasize a deep personal connection between the watcher and the watched. The birds that inhabit Amy Tan’s backyard seem a lot like the characters in her novels.” —David Allen Sibley, from the forewordTracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world.In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired. Read more

National bestseller and fan favorite! This humorous look at 50 common North American dumb birds is a perfect book for the birder and anti-birder alike. For those who have a disdain for birds, or for bird lovers with a sense of humor, this snarky illustrated handbook is equal parts profane, funny, and—let's face it—true. Featuring common North American birds such as the White-Breasted Butt Nugget and the Goddamned Canada Goose (or White-Breasted Nuthatch and Canada Goose for the layperson), Matt Kracht identifies all the idiots in your backyard and details exactly why they suck with humorous yet angry ink drawings. With The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, you won't need to wonder what all that racket is anymore! ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL: This uproarious guide to all things wings includes migratory maps, tips for birding, musings on the avian population, and lessons on the ethics of birdwatching. Plus, each entry is accompanied by facts about a bird's (annoying) call, its (dumb) migratory pattern, its (downright tacky) markings, and more. POPULAR AUTHOR: Matt Kracht is an amateur birder, writer, and illustrator who enjoys creating books that celebrate the humor inherent in life's absurdities. Based in Seattle, he enjoys gazing out the window at the beautiful waters of Puget Sound and making fun of birds. Other hilarious titles from Matt include The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole StupidWorld and OMFG, BEES! WELL REVIEWED: Critics recommend this laugh-out-loud funny spoof guide:   "There are loads of books out there for bird lovers, but until now, nothing for those that love to hate birds. The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America fills the void, packed with snarky illustrations that chastise the flying animals in a funny, profane way."—Uncrate   "There are a lot of great bird field identification guides, but after a day afield with The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, you will never look at birds or birdwatching the same again...You need this book if you want to lighten up your birdwatching."—Northwest Arkansas Democrat GazettePerfect for: Birdwatching and nature enthusiasts People who think birds are creepy or annoying (and people who love birds but also enjoy a good laugh) Anyone looking for the ultimate coffee table book or bar-top conversation starter Gift givers seeking a fun Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthday, or retirement gift Read more

A new edition of the classic, best-selling field guide from Peterson Field Guides For decades, the Peterson Field Guide to Birdsof Eastern and Central North America has been a popular and trusted guide for birders of all levels, thanks to its famous system of identification and unparalleled illustrations. Following the Spring 2020 update to Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, this guide will feature updated text and range maps, and art updated to reflect current knowledge in ornithology.  Read more

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING ILLUSTRATOR    From the creator of Floriography and the Woodland Wardens Oracle Deck comes this beautifully illustrated exploration of the folklore, mythology, and history surrounding our favorite winged companions.Birds have inspired us since the dawn of time: their elegance in flight, captivating colors, and delicate mannerisms spark hope, joy, and delight. Cultures around the world have historically looked to birds as sacred messengers, intermediaries between earth and sky, including them in myths and legends and using them to teach moral lessons and historical truths.   In Jessica Roux’s Ornithography, each of 100 entries focuses on one bird species, featuring a full-page color illustration in her detailed, darkly romantic style and the lore behind each bird.   The perfect gift for birdwatchers, gardeners, and history buffs, as well as all readers who appreciate nature, mythology, and art, Ornithography is as intriguing and playful as the feathered muses that fill its pages. Read more

Renowned ornithologist Les Beletsky introduces you to 250 birds of North America, brought to life with colorful illustrations and a digital audio player that provides each bird’s distinctive song. Drawing from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Songs presents the most notable North American birds—including the rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker—in a stunning format. Features include:   A succinct description of each of the 250 birds profiled, with an emphasis on their distinctive songs, written by ornithologist Les Beletsky Lavish full-color illustrations accompanying each entry A sleek, built-in digital audio player holding 250 corresponding songs and calls A foreword by North American bird expert and distinguished natural historian Jon L. Dunn, who shares insights gained from a lifetime of passionate study Complete with the most up-to-date and scientifically accurate information, Bird Songs is the first book to capture the enchantment of these beautiful birds in words, pictures, and song. Read more

A beginner's guide to ruling the roost and raising happy backyard chickensThe Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens makes it easy to start keeping these surprisingly smart birds right in your own backyard. From constructing coops to rearing chicks, you'll learn everything you need to know to make sure your chickens stay happy and healthy all year round.Which breed of chicken is right for you? What's the best bedding material? What sort of feed should you use? Expert chicken keeper Anne Kuo answers these questions―and many others―in this fun and friendly reference book that will get you excited to raise your new feathered friends.This book on raising chickens guides you through:Getting from the chicken to the egg―Find out how to raise chicks, keep your birds safe from predators, introduce new birds to the flock, and more.Creating a custom coop―Build the perfect home for raising chickens with detailed backyard coop construction guides.Expert care advice―Learn how to identify different behaviors in your chicken, help solve egg shortages, and navigate a range of potential surprises with confidence.Get your first flock started successfully with The Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens. Read more

From writer Maria Popova, creator of The Marginalian, comes a gorgeous and inspiring book of cards: one hundred “divinations” for daily living, partway between poem and koan yet neither, collaged from the texts and illustrations of 19th-century ornithological books.How do we live with uncertainty? How can we come to know ourselves, to trust our own secret knowledge? Maria Popova was navigating a challenging season of being, longing for guidance, when this improbable project arrived one morning as a fully formed idea fusing her love of birds and her love of language, her skepticism about tarot and her compassion for the basic human yearning to be shown the way through, and her faith in constraint as a powerful catalyst of creativity.Originally intended as a gift to her friends for her fortieth birthday, she set out to create a sort of avian alternative to tarot—a deck of cards less for telling the future than for making sense of the present, for finding grace in the complexities and confusions of our human lives. Each night before sleep, she chose a single bird to work with from a favorite 19th-century ornithological book—from John James Audubon’s Birds of America to John and Elizabeth Gould’s Birds of Europe—letting her wakeful mind seize a handful of words and phrases from the page, then handing them over to her unconscious to wrestle with in the land of dreams. Each morning, she would read over the text and a kind of message would come to enflesh the skeleton of the noted words—not a poem, not a prescription, but a way of eavesdropping on the conversation between logic and intuition, between knowledge and mystery, between the part of us that already knows how to live through any perplexity and the part that forgets in the overwhelming act of living. Presented as a deck of cards tucked into book-safe in the style of a 19th-century ornithology tome, An Almanac of Birds gathers one hundred of these poetic collages for readers to savor and shuffle into relevance to their own lives, offering consolation, inspiration, and assurance for the daily perplexity of living. Read more

A sweeping and groundbreaking history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientists.The dinosaurs. 66 million years ago, the Earth's most fearsome and spectacular creatures vanished. Today their extraordinary true story remains one of our planet's great mysteries.In this stunning narrative spanning more than 200 million years, Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field - discovering 10 new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork - masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers - themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period - into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs' peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth's history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a "sixth extinction".Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research - which he calls "a new golden age of discovery" - and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs' epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come. Read more

Get the New Edition of Michigan’s Best-Selling Bird GuideLearn to identify birds in Michigan, and make bird-watching even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 118 species of Michigan birds organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Book Features: 118 species: Only Michigan birdsSimple color guide: See a yellow bird? Go to the yellow sectionCompare feature: Decide between look-alikesStan’s Notes: Naturalist tidbits and factsProfessional photos: Crisp, stunning full-page imagesThis new edition includes more species, updated photographs and range maps, revised information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. So grab Birds of Michigan Field Guide for your next birding adventure—to help ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.   Read more

COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED: Perfect for the field! The most authoritative on-the-go guide to the birds of the East •From renowned birder, illustrator, and New York Times best-selling author David SibleyCompact and comprehensive, this guide features 650 bird species, plus regional populations, found east of the Rocky Mountains. Entries include stunningly accurate illustrations—more than 4,600 in total—with descriptive captions pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry has been updated to include the most current information concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Here too are more than 600 updated maps drawn from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent, and showing winter, summer, year-round, migration, and rare ranges.This revised edition includes:• Updated habitat, description, behavior, and conservation text for each species account and all family pages.• New and revised illustrations of species and regional forms.• New design featuring species accounts in columns, allowing for better comparison and more illustrations and text. • Current taxonomic order and up-to-date common names. • All maps revised to reflect the most current range information. • More species and rarities included Read more

Get the New Edition of Florida’s Best-Selling Bird GuideLearn to identify birds in Florida, and make bird-watching even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 146 species of Florida birds organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Book Features: 146 species: Only Florida birdsSimple color guide: See a yellow bird? Go to the yellow sectionCompare feature: Decide between look-alikesStan’s Notes: Naturalist tidbits and factsProfessional photos: Crisp, stunning full-page imagesThis new edition includes more species, updated photographs and range maps, revised information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. So grab Birds of Florida Field Guide for your next birding adventure—to help ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see. Read more

With birding more popular than ever, this clever pocket-sized guide is a unique gift that celebrates the obsession with hilarious definitions and witty illustrations of terms that birders know and love.  Acclaimed science communicator and cartoonist Rosemary Mosco offers a clever, humorous “dictionary” that’s perfect for any birder. The Birding Dictionary is filled with hilarious and informative definitions for more than 200 birding terms, plus over 50 witty full‑color illustrations. Terms range from bird species, anatomy, and behaviors to the insider jargon that all birders know and speak fluently, from “alpha code” to “zygodactyl.” With equal parts quirky humor and accessible science, it’s a delightful gift for every bird enthusiast. Includes:  American Robin noun: a device that converts worms into 100-decibel songs outside your bedroom at 4 a.m.  metamorphosis noun: the process in which a rare bird transforms itself into a common bird when you lift up your binoculars to view it, point it out to an expert, or look more closely at yourphotos later.stakeout noun: a gathering of birders that evokes action-movie vibes, but mostly involves waiting in a damp field, shifting from foot to foot, and looking up until your eyes ache.   Read more

Incredible, Outrageous, Unbelievable Facts About Birds!You love birds. They’re beautiful. They’re graceful. They’re a wonder to observe. Yet even seasoned bird watchers don’t know everything about our feathered friends. Acclaimed naturalist, author and award-winning wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela has taken a deep dive into the magnificent world of birds―and you won’t believe what he’s uncovered! Why do some birds like to cover themselves with ants? Which birds can mimic the sounds of humans? Why don’t woodpeckers get concussions? In Bird Trivia, you’ll discover plenty of amazing tidbits you didn’t know that you wanted to know about birds. Paired with Stan’s famous bird photography, the information provides hours of enjoyment. You’re sure to impress your friends and family with all of the knowledge contained in this book! Read more

Get the New Edition of Wisconsin’s Best-Selling Bird GuideLearn to identify birds in Wisconsin, and make bird-watching even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 121 species of Wisconsin birds organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Book Features: 121 species: Only Wisconsin birdsSimple color guide: See a yellow bird? Go to the yellow sectionCompare feature: Decide between look-alikesStan’s Notes: Naturalist tidbits and factsProfessional photos: Crisp, stunning full-page imagesThis new edition includes more species, updated photographs and range maps, revised information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. So grab Birds of Wisconsin Field Guide for your next birding adventure—to help ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see. Read more

Bring the diversity and drama of the bird world to life with this encyclopedic new edition.A must-have for every avian enthusiast, this catalogue showcases thousands of bird species pictured in their native environment. Shot by photographers around the globe, the vivid images are accompanied by in-depth introductions to all 40 of the world's newly reclassified bird orders. Compiled by a team of experts and revised by BirdLife International, Bird provides the most up to date and comprehensive photographic tour of the wondrous world of birds. Dive in and you will find: -A bird by bird catalogue of more than 1,280 species, each with a description, data file, and distribution map-An introduction describing bird biology in beautiful visual detail. -Feature spreads showcasing the planet's most impressive sites for birdwatching -Photographic essays that display the best in bird photography Discover the world of the skies!Unrivaled in scope for a single-volume reference work, Bird's photographic catalogue features species from hummingbirds to monkey-eating eagles, organised in taxonomic order. Immerse yourself in the life of birds; read about their migrations, anatomy, feeding and breeding. All this, and special features on the world's most sought after bird watching locations, make this "A must-have reference for every bird enthusiast" - BBC Wildlife Magazine.Whether you're an avian expert who knows your Accipitriformes (birds of prey) from your Falconiformes (falcons and caracaras), or are simply a nature lover wanting to learn more, you won't find a more detailed or comprehensive photographic bird book than this. What's new? After a major reclassification of all birds, this new edition is the only guide currently in print covering the new system of 40 bird orders and 140+ families, including an updated catalogue with newly discovered species. Reviewed by the experts at BirdLife International, you can be sure that you are getting the latest knowledge of bird biology and classification. Read more

Renowned naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers in this fascinating “blend of history, science, art, biography, and memoir” (Booklist, starred review) that is “a bird lovers’ delight” (Kirkus Reviews).Raging ambition. Towering egos. Competition under a veneer of courtesy. Heroic effort combined with plagiarism, theft, exaggeration, and fraud. This was the state of bird study in eastern North America during the early 1800s, as a handful of intrepid men raced to find the last few birds that were still unknown to science. The most famous name in the bird world was John James Audubon, who painted spectacular portraits of birds. But although his images were beautiful, creating great art was not his main goal. Instead, he aimed to illustrate (and write about) as many different species as possible, obsessed with trying to outdo his rival, Alexander Wilson. George Ord, a fan and protégé of Wilson, held a bitter grudge against Audubon for years, claiming he had faked much of his information and his scientific claims. A few of Audubon’s birds were pure fiction, and some of his writing was invented or plagiarized. Other naturalists of the era, including Charles Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon), John Townsend, and Thomas Nuttall, also became entangled in the scientific derby, as they stumbled toward an understanding of the natural world—an endeavor that continues to this day. Despite this intense competition, a few species—including some surprisingly common songbirds, hawks, sandpipers, and more—managed to evade discovery for years. Here, renowned bird expert and artist Kenn Kaufman explores this period in history from a new angle, by considering the birds these people discovered and, especially, the ones they missed. Kaufman has created portraits of the birds that Audubon never saw, attempting to paint them in that artist’s own stunning style, showing how our understanding of birds continues to gain clarity, even as some mysteries persist from Audubon’s time until ours. Read more

Get the New Edition of Ohio’s Best-Selling Bird GuideLearn to identify birds in Ohio, and make bird-watching even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 124 species of Ohio birds organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Book Features: 124 species: Only Ohio birdsSimple color guide: See a yellow bird? Go to the yellow sectionCompare feature: Decide between look-alikesStan’s Notes: Naturalist tidbits and factsProfessional photos: Crisp, stunning full-page imagesThis new edition includes more species, updated photographs and range maps, revised information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. So grab Birds of Ohio Field Guide for your next birding adventure—to help ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.     Read more

""[An] intriguing philosophical journey into a critical issue within evolutionary theory that for too long has remained unresolved."" —Wall Street JournalMatt Ridley is one of our finest science writers. This book is a treat for bird lovers and evolutionary biologists alike.” —Richard Dawkins, author of The Genetic Book of The Dead and The God DelusionThe New York Times bestselling author of Genome and The Evolution of Everything revisits Darwin’s revelatory theory of mate choice through the close study of the peculiar rituals of birds, and considers how this mating process complicates our own view of human evolution.In all animals, mating is a deal. But few creatures behave as if sex is a simple, even mutually beneficial, transaction. Many more treat it with reverence, suspicion, angst, and violence. In the case of the Black Grouse, the bird at the center of Matt Ridley’s investigation, the males dance and sing for hours a day, for several exhausting months, in an arduous and even deadly ritual called a “lek.” To prepare for the ordeal, they grow, preen and display fancy, twisted, bold-colored feathers. When achieved, consummation with a female takes seconds. So why the months of practice and preparation that is elaborate, extravagant, exhausting and elegant?The full answer remains a mystery. Evolutionary biologists can explain why males are generally the eager sellers, females the discriminating buyers. But they struggle to explain why, in some species, this extravagance goes beyond the mere gaudy, taking on bizarre shapes, postures, and behavior. And further, why these bird displays seem beautiful to us humans, a species with seemingly no skin in the game.Using an early morning “lek"" as his starting point, Ridley explores the scientific research into the evolution of bright colors, exotic ornaments, and elaborate displays in birds around the world. Charles Darwin thought the purpose of such displays was to ""charm"" females. Though Darwin’s theory was initially dismissed and buried for decades, recent scientific research has proven him newly right—there is a powerful evolutionary force quite distinct from natural selection: mate choice. In Birds, Sex and Beauty, Ridley reopens the history of Darwin’s vexed theory, laying bare a century of disagreement about an idea so powerful, so weird, and so wonderful, we may have yet to fully understand its implications. Read more

Eye-opening essays about searching for peace in the cacophony of birds and discovering a world of meaning in small moments—from award-winning actor Lili Taylor.Most people don’t really know birds—or rather, they aren’t aware of them. Lili Taylor used to be one of those people. She knew birds existed. She thought about them, maybe even more than the average person. But she didn’t know them. And then something happened. During a much-needed break from her work as an actor, Lili sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her. Since then, she has kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if only one pays attention. Through a series of beautifully crafted essays, Taylor shares her intimate encounters with the birds that have captured her heart and imagination—from tracking flitting woodpeckers through oak trees to spotting majestic blue jays perched on a Manhattan fire escape; from the exhilaration of witnessing a migratory flock from the top of the Empire State Building to the quiet joy of observing a nest of hatchlings in her own backyard. Through simply paying attention to birds, Lili has been shown a parallel world that is wider and deeper, one of constant change and movement, full of life and the will to survive.Throughout Turning to Birds, Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting readers to be present and fully engaged with the world around them. Taylor's lyrical prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting readers to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places. Read more