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BIRD BOOKS - NORTH AMERICA - Including Mexico & Guatemala
Books on
Hawaii
Books on Belize
Books on
North American Butterflies, Mammals, Herps, Natural History & Conservation
Jesse Fagan & Oliver Komar.
Illustrated by Robert Dean & Peter Burke.
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central
America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(Forthcoming November 2016). Covers Belize, Guatemala,
El Salvador & Honduras.
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
David Allen Sibley.
The Sibley Guide to Birds - Second
Edition. Knopf & Helm (March 2014).
Overall, the best available field guide to North
American birds, if you avoid the defective first
printing. I prefer the
National Geographic guide
in some respects, including portability, but even the improved sixth edition contains color
plates that ought to be repainted. Steve Howell is in
the early stages of work on a North American field guide
that he hopes will be comparable to the superb
Collins Guide to the Birds of Europe,
the world's best bird field guide.
Details. Helm:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP Knopf:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
Jon L. Dunn & Jonathan Alderfer.
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of
North America - Sixth Edition. National
Geographic Society
(November 2011).
A great leap forward over the fifth edition and still
the book I carry in the field, although Sibley has
better illustrations of some difficult plumages and more
consistent illustrations overall. Both the top North
America guides still lag behind the superb Collins Guide
to the birds of Europe.
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
Steve
N.G. Howell. Rare Birds of North America.
Princeton University Press (February 2014).
Details.
Book:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP Kindle:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
Kenn
Kaufman. Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 2011).
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
Steve
N.G. Howell. Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North
America - A Photographic Guide.
Details. Princeton University Press 2012.
xxiii + 483 pages, 975 photos and figures, 66 maps.
Book:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP Kindle:
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP
This is the finest identification guide to pelagic birds
published to date. For the first time, everything you need to
prepare for tubenose ID on both east and west coast pelagic
trips is accessible in one volume. It's also an authoritative
and well-written text on tubenose biology. The book is extremely well-organized to help
the user zero in on critical marks. Thus, for example, the
section on Pacific gadfly petrels is introduced by five pages of
photos and accompanying text showing and comparing the 10
species most likely to be encountered. Following are subsections
on each species with comparative photos, including species not
yet recorded but which may occur. For Cook's
Petrel, there five pages of photos, with comparative shots of De
Filippi's Petrel, Black-winged Petrel, and Pycroft's Petrel.
Without question, a 2012 WorldTwitch Best Bird Book award
winner.
|
Bob Flood & Ashley Fisher.
Multimedia Identification Guide to North Atlantic
Seabirds vol. 3: Albatrosses & Fulmarine Petrels.
Scilly Pelagics (June 2016).
US |
UK |
FR |
DE |
CA |
JP |
Richard
Crossley.
The Crossley ID Guide - Eastern Birds. Princeton University
Press 2011.
Details.
544 pages, 10,000+ color photos. The Crossley guide is a
valuable resource and a bargain considering the number
and quality of the photos. However, the fake photos of
birds plugged into habitat backgrounds only diminish the
attractiveness and utility of the book. Natural photos
would have been a much better choice. Book:
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
JP Kindle:
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
JP |
Steve
N.G. Howell. Molt of North American Birds - Peterson
Reference Guide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 2010).
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
JP |
Steve
N.G. Howell & Jon Dunn. Gulls of the Americas - Peterson
Reference Guide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 2007).
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
JP |
Michael
O'Brien, Richard Crossley & Kevin Karlson. The Shorebird
Guide. Advanced field identification guide with 870 color
photos of shorebirds (waders) occurring in North America.
Sample page. 496 pages. Houghton Mifflin 2006.
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
David A. Sibley. The Sibley Guide to Birds
of Eastern North America. Knopf, April 2003. 432 pages.
Extracted from the continental guide with omissions, additions
and corrections.
US |
UK |
David A. Sibley. The Sibley Guide to Birds
of Western North America. Knopf, April 2003. 496 pages.
Extracted from the continental guide with omissions, additions
and corrections.
US |
UK |
Brian K. Wheeler. Raptors of Eastern North
America: The Wheeler Guide. Princeton University Press &
Poyser 2003.
US |
UK |
Brian K. Wheeler. Raptors of Western North
America: The Wheeler Guide. Princeton University Press &
Poyser 2003.
US |
UK |
Kenn Kaufman. Focus Guide to the Birds of
North America. Houghton Mifflin, September 2000. Illustrated
with enhanced photographs. No substitute for a real field guide,
but a worthwhile supplement.
US |
UK 2/03: There now is a
Kaufman Focus Guide to Butterflies. |
Peter Pyle. Identification Guide to North
American Birds Part I: A Compendium of Information on
Identifying, Aging, and Sexing Passerines in the Hand.
Information on the molts, aging, and sexing of 395 species and
857 currently recognized subspecies that regularly breed or have
bred at least once in North America. 730 pages.
Slate
Creek Press, 1997.
Online
errata page. "The most important book on identification of
North American birds to be published in the last ten years. . .
. It's not a pretty picture book; it's not easy to use; it's
just packed with highly original info." Kenn Kaufmann.
US |
James Coe. Eastern Birds: A Guide to Field
Identification. St. Martin's Press. Revised edition, April
2001. 160 pages. New edition of Jim Coe's excellent guide for
beginners. More experienced birders may want a copy for the
plates.
US |
UK |
Birds of North America. Now available
online for $40 per year. Improvements over the now out-of-print
18-volume hard copy set include updates, linked bibliographical
references, sounds and video from the Macauley Library, and a
library of digital images.
Details.
I have the original set and appreciate the convenience of having
a hard copy, but I'm also going to subscribe to the online
version. The original species accounts were of variable quality
and contained obvious mistakes, which presumably will be
corrected in the online version. Individual accounts can be
difficult to find among the 18 slipcases but they can be
referenced immediately online using site search. |
Marcia T. Fowle & Paul Kerlinger. The New
York City Audubon Society Guide to Finding Birds in the
Metropolitan Area. Cornell U. Press. 256 pages. 2001.
US |
UK |
Steve N.G. Howell, et al., Where to Watch
Birds in Mexico (same as A Bird-finding Guide to Mexico).
Cornell University Press, 1999.
US |
UK |
Steve N.G. Howell & Sophie Webb. A Guide to
the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford
University Press, 1995. Excellent guide, but some dubious
taxonomy.
US |
UK |
Ber
van Perlo. Birds of Mexico and Central America.
HarperCollins & Princeton University Press 2006?
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
Nigel Wheatley & David Brewer. Where to
Watch Birds in Central America & the Caribbean. 432 pages.
Helm & Princeton University Press. January 2002.
US |
UK |
Peter Alden. Finding the Birds in Western
Mexico: A guide to the states of Sonora, Sinaloa & Nayarit.
Color plates by John P. O'Neill. U. of Arizona Press, 1969.
US |
Lawrence C. Binford. A Distributional Survey
of the Birds of the Mexican State of Oaxaca. Ornithological
Monographs No. 43. 418 pages. Folding habitat map.
Black-and-white photos. Paperback. A.O.U., 1989. A landmark work
on bird distribution of the south-central State of Oaxaca which
includes both Pacific and Caribbean slope habitat at a complete
range of elevations. Essential for anyone interested in the
birds of Mexico.
US |
Stephen M. Russell & Gale Monson. Illustrations
by Ray Harm. The Birds of Sonora (Mexico). [Excerpt]
490 pages. 534 maps. 43 b/w & 1 color illustration.
U. of Arizona Press, 1998.
US |
UK |
Richard A. Erikson & Steve N.G. Howell (eds.)
Birds of the Baja Peninsula: Status, distribution & taxonomy.
264 pages. American Birding Association, 2001.
US |
Randell A. Beavers. The Birds of Tikal: An
Annotated Checklist for Tikal National Park and Peten,
Guatemala. 192 pages. Texas A & M University Press, 1992.
US |
UK |
Don Roberson. Monterey Birds. Status
and Distribution of Birds in Monterey County, California.
Second edition 2002.
Errata. Completely revised and expanded version of the 1985
book. 544 pages. Covers 482 species, 55 more than the first
edition. 60 color photos on 16 plates and 60 b/w photos in the
text.
Details from Don's website. |
Kevin J. Zimmer. Birding in the American
West: A Handbook. Cornell University Press. 432 pages. 2000.
US |
UK |
David B. Marshall, Matthew G. Hunter and Alan
Contreras (eds.) Birds of Oregon: A General Reference.
Oregon State University Press 2003.
US |
UK |
John H. Rappole. Birds of the Southwest.
Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California & Southern Nevada.
Texas A & M University Press 2001. 688 pages.
US |
UK |
Kenneth D. Seyffert. Birds of the Texas
Panhandle: Their Status, Distribution & History. Illustrated
by Carolyn Stallwitz. Texas A & M University Press 2001.
US |
UK |
Robert A. Armstrong. Guide to the Birds of
Alaska. Alaska Northwest Books. 323 pages. 4th edition,
1995.
US |
UK |
Gerald M. McWilliams & Daniel W. Brauning.
The Birds of Pennsylvania. Cornell University Press 2000.
688 pages.
US |
UK |
Mark Obmascik. The Big Year: A Tale of Man,
Nature and Fowl Obsession. 288 pages. Free Press & Doubleday
2004.
US |
UK |
Kenn Kaufman. Kingbird Highway: The story of
a natural obsession that got a little out of hand. 336
pages. 2000 (1997).
US |
UK |
Jame Vardaman. Call Collect, Ask for
Birdman. 247 pages. St. Martin's Press 1980. The first North
American big year book. Be sure to get the hardcover edition, as
the photos were omitted from the cheap paperback reprint. I went
on an Ocean City, MD pelagic trip on an unseasonably warm and
calm day in late December that year on which other participants
included Jim Vardaman, looking to twitch Great Skua, and several
of his guides. Not surprisingly, he was birded out by that time
and scarcely looked at a bird until a Great Skua was located.
US |
UK |
Steven G. Mlodinow & Michael O'Brien.
America's 100 Most Wanted Birds : Finding the Rarest Regularly
Occuring Birds in the Lower 48 States. Falcon Publishing
1996. 496 pages.
US |
UK |
Jerry A. Cooper. A Birder's Guide to
Planning North American Trips. ABA Sales. 1995. 376 pages.
US |
William J. Boyle, Jr. A Guide to Bird
Finding in New Jersey. 496 pages. Rutgers University Press.
Revised & updated edition. 2002.
US |
UK |
Hal Opperman. A Birder's Guide to
Washington. 650 pages.
ABA Sales 2003. |
George C. West. A Birder's Guide to Alaska.
592 pages. ABA Sales 2002.
US |
UK |
Paul E. Lehman. A Birder's Guide to
Metropolitan Areas. (of North America.) 480 pages.
ABA Sales 2001. |
Bob Morse. A Birder's Guide to Coastal
Washington. 270 pages. R.W. Morse Company 2001.
US |
Mark Lockwood, William B. McKinney, James Paton
& Barry R. Zimmer. A Birder's Guide to the Rio Grande Valley
(Texas). ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1999. 280 pages.
US |
Harold R. Holt. A Birder's Guide to the
Texas Coast. ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1993. 214 pages.
US |
UK |
Richard C. Taylor. A Birder's Guide to
Southeastern Arizona. ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1995,
reprinted in 1999 with corrections & updates. 342 pages.
US |
Brad Schram. A Birder's Guide to Southern
California. ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1998. 334 pages.
US |
Bill Pranty. A Birder's Guide to Florida.
ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1996. 388 pages.
US |
Harold R. Holt. A Birder's Guide to
Colorado. ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1997. 392 pages.
US |
Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts. A
Birder's Guide to Eastern Massachusetts. ABA Sales. 1994.
292 pages.
US |
Bonnie Chartier. A Birder's Guide to
Churchill, Manitoba. ABA Sales. Revised edition, 1994. 132
pages.
US |
J. Cam Finlay. A Bird-Finding Guide to
Canada. McClelland & Stewart. Revised edition, February
2001.
US |
UK |
Keith Taylor. The Birder's Guide to British
Columbia. Steller Press. 2d ed. 1998.
US |
Keith Taylor. The Birder's Guide to
Vancouver Island. Steller Press. 200 pages. 2d ed. 2000.
US |
UK |
Steve
N.G. Howell. Hummingbirds of North America: The Photographic
Guide. 219 pages. Princeton University Press 2003 & Poyser
2001.
WorldTwitch 2001 Best Bird Book - North America. More than
200 photos with illustrations of some little-known field marks.
Emphasizes plumages that are difficult to identify.
US |
UK |
Sheri L. Williamson. Hummingbirds of North
America. Peterson Field Guide. 256 pages. Houghton Mifflin
Co. 2002.
US |
UK |
William S. Clark & Brian K. Wheeler. Hawks
of North America. Peterson Field Guide. 304 pages. Houghton
Mifflin Co. 2d edition, November 2001.
US |
UK |
Per Alström & Krister
Mild. Illustrated by Per Alstöm & Bill Zetterström. Pipits
and Wagtails (of Europe, Asia & North America). 496 pages,
30 superb color plates, 240 color photographs, 298 sonograms, 36
maps, 89 text figures. One of the best of the bird families
books. Includes color illustrations and photographs of the
newly-described Mekong Wagtail. Christopher Helm & Princeton
University Press. 2003.
US |
UK |
James D. Rising, David Beadle (illustrator).
A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of the
Sparrows [Buntings] of the United States and Canada. Poyser
and Princeton University Press. 1996. 365 pages.
US |
UK |
David Beadle & James Rising. Sparrows
[Buntings] of the United States and Canada: The Photographic
Guide. 320 pages. Poyser and Princeton University Press.
2001.
US |
UK |
Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett. Warblers of
North America. A large guide full of useful information, and
a great bargain. Peterson Field Guide. 666 pages. Houghton
Mifflin Co. 1997.
US |
UK |
Paul J. Baichich and Colin J.O. Harrison. A
Guide to the Nests, Eggs & Nestlings of North American Birds.
Poyser and Princeton University Press. 2d edition, 1997. 350
pages.
UK |
US |
Steve N.G. Howell & Jon Dunn. Gulls of the
Americas. 516 pages. Illustrated with color photographs.
Covers 36 species: 22 in North America, 10 in South America, and
4 Old World visitors. Houghton Mifflin (Peterson Reference
Guides) 2007.
US |
UK |
DE |
FR |
CA |
Kevin Zimmer. Field Guide to the Ocean Birds
of North America. Princeton University Press. Forthcoming.
US |
UK |
2006 Mexico Road Atlas. Guia Roji. 150
pages.
US |
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