Articles in: Book Reviews
Review of The Birds of New Jersey: Status and Distribution
October 11, 2011 | 1 comment
The Birds of New Jersey: Status and Distribution covers all the birds officially recorded in the state of New Jersey, including those now extinct. It is currently the most up-to-date book on the status and distribution of birds found in the state, including pelagic birds found of the Jersey shore. The species are organized by [...]
Review of Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific
July 28, 2011 | No comment
The Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific: (Princeton Illustrated Checklists) is a concise, light, pocketable guide that can easily be packed in a carry-on bag when visiting one of the numerous islands the guide covers. These include: Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, Samoa, American Samoas, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of [...]
Review of Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer & Build
July 25, 2011 | 2 comments
Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build [Princeton University Press] by Peter Goodfellow is beautifully illustrated with art and photos depicting how birds construct their homes. Many birds design, engineer, and build their nests, structures which must withstand all types of weather, protect against predation, and all this under their own “bird” power. Avian [...]
Review – Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding
July 18, 2011 | 1 comment
The Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Understanding What You See and Hear is a great addition to Kaufman’s spectacular Field Guide to Birds Of North America. Whether you are already a seasoned birder or just getting your binoculars dirty, this book is loaded with exactly what birders need to improve their birding skills. First [...]
Review of the Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth
April 4, 2011 | 1 comment
The Species Seekers by Richard Conniff When Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus created a system for classifying species, the thirst for discovering the natural world was born. The Species Seekers is an account of the field naturalists, the closet naturalists (“specialists who stayed home and presided over specimens”), and the bumbling amateur naturalists whose rush to [...]
Review of Hawks at a Distance
March 28, 2011 | 2 comments
The following is a review of Jerry Liguori’s Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors from Princeton University Press. “. . . almost no field mark is 100 percent exclusive to one species,” says author Jerry Liguori. Thus, Hawks at a Distance provides a great way to look at shape and form of raptors, [...]
A New Birder Review of The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds
March 14, 2011 | 2 comments
We’ve reviewed a LOT of books (this is our 82nd!) including numerous identification (field) guides. We even created a “Guide to Birding Field Guides” (over a year ago!). The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds stands out and not just because of its size. There has been a lot of buzz around this new guide including [...]
Review – National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America
March 7, 2011 | No comment
The National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America is a handy-sized, easy-to-use tool for backyard birding. And no matter how many hours you log “in the field”, some of the best birding can (and is) done right at home. The guide includes 150 of the most common backyard species across North America [...]
