a great coffee table book about birds, etc?

February 24, 2009 10:43 AM

I'm looking for a big beautiful coffee table book about birds, wetlands or nature or similar ...preferably with lots of pictures and less text. It's a gift. Any suggestions?

It would also be great if it focused on the Pacific Northwest OR North America OR it could feature images from around the world... but if its focusing on a specific region it needs to be PacNor or N. America.

Thanks!

posted by dahliachewswell to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

I really loved both reading and looking at Amazing Rare Things. It's about the art of natural history, but it's an incredible looking book that tells a few stories about illustrators of natural history. It's illustrations, not photos, but it's a good combination of a lot of photos and some good stories besides.
posted by jessamyn at 10:53 AM on February 24, 2009

I thumbed through an amazing and beautiful pop-up book about birds and their habitats while browsing at, I believe, an Anthropologie store. It had a sound component as well (not automatic, I don't think), which could be either really cool or incredibly cheesy, depending on your point of view. I believe this was the one.
posted by amelioration at 10:58 AM on February 24, 2009

Best answer: Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song is a large format book with a sound engine so you can see the birds and hear their calls. The same company also makes Birdsongs from Around the World. Both of these were produced in conjunction with the Cornell lab of Ornithology. Here's a link to the publisher's site, describing both books.
posted by wheat at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2009

I second Amazing Rare Things. I'd also try poking around Taschen's website for something. I have and love Garden of Eden, but it may not be what you're looking for.
posted by quatsch at 11:12 AM on February 24, 2009

Best answer: Ah, a black and white photo book.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:34 AM on February 24, 2009

Any book by Andy Goldsworthy would be amazing. It's more art created with nature. We have "Andy Goldsworthy: a collaboration with Nature" and it's awesome.
posted by in the methow at 11:41 AM on February 24, 2009

The Sibley Guide to Birds has amazing hand-drawn illustrations of most of the bird species in North America, along with ways to identify the, their habits, etc. I don't know if this is exactly the kind of thing you want, but it's definitely fun to browse through.
posted by Gneisskate at 12:17 PM on February 24, 2009

James Brandenburg is an all around great wildlife photographer who, when I was still working in galleries and selling his prints, tended to focus on wolves, but I remember some of the best stuff in his books were his birds; specifically his ravens, crows, and eagles and the interactions between them.

Digging through his site, it appears that he's done quite a bit with birds in Africa as well.
posted by quin at 12:43 PM on February 24, 2009

Creature
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:11 PM on February 24, 2009

Best answer: Birds : the art of ornithology / by Jonathan Elphick. -beautiful book full of illustrations , some text.

On feathered wings : birds in flight / Richard Ettlinger - amazing and beautiful photographs of birds in flight.
posted by ljesse at 8:18 PM on February 24, 2009