What are some good books about birds?

August 2, 2005 9:46 AM

What are some good books about birds?

I’m looking for more of a natural history / folklore / behavior and habits type book, rather than a field guide. Things like "The American Crow and the Common Raven" by Lawrence Kilham.

Preferably somewhat technical or at least not dumbed down, but also accessible to an outsider of the bird world. They should go into more detail about habits, etc. than something like "Hope is a Thing With Feathers," but if they have some sort of narrative sense, that's fine, even preferred. They needn't be dry text books.

The best would be books that let me get a sense of what an ornithologist does and also teaches me about birds, either at a particular level (the habits and curiosities of a species) or a general level (all about, for instance, migration).

All suggestions are appreciated, the more the better. I'll wade through them all.

posted by miniape to Pets & Animals (9 answers total)

The Beak of the Finch-Jonathan Weiner (About the study of short-term evolution in the Galapagos.)

Ravens in Winter and Mind of the Raven both by Bernd Heinrich.
posted by OmieWise at 10:03 AM on August 2, 2005

I'll pimp my friends' book: Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds: Notes from a Northwest Year, by Lyanda Haupt.
posted by tristeza at 10:42 AM on August 2, 2005

An interesting book about an ornithologist's search in Peru for a new species is A Parrot Without a Name: The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth.
posted by nancoix at 11:14 AM on August 2, 2005

The Singing Life of Birds : The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong:

Morning Edition, June 13, 2005 · Don Kroodsma has studied the songs of birds for 30 years and is recognized as the reigning authority on the biology of bird vocal behavior. He's written a new book about the art and science of birdsong, The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong.

posted by pracowity at 11:17 AM on August 2, 2005

Tony Juniper, Spix's Macaw: the Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird. Read it and weep.
posted by verstegan at 11:31 AM on August 2, 2005

I'll second (big time!) the two Heinrich books OmieWise mentioned, and add One Man's Owl, too. Heinrich is by far my favorite biology and natural history author.

I'm just finishing Living on the Wind, a fantastic read about migratory birds in the western hemisphere. Educational, beautiful, and depressing all in one. Highly recommended.
posted by DakotaPaul at 5:01 PM on August 2, 2005

Almost forgot about The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. I'm always picking it up to read something new and fascinating about the different avian families.
posted by DakotaPaul at 5:07 PM on August 2, 2005

Try the Private Lives of Garden Birds. My wife and I got into bird watching a year or so ago, and this is one of the best reads that we came across after buying the obligatory idendification books. The author has written a chapter on each of about 12 of the most common birds. Very informative vis-a-vis behavior, etc...
posted by richmondparker at 6:44 PM on August 2, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks to everyone. I'll look at them all. I wish this stayed on the main page for a little longer, but... oh well.
posted by miniape at 6:23 AM on August 3, 2005