Birds Books

Ignorance is not Bliss when humanity is threatened with life endangering epidemics. Verona Fonte has created an essential handbook to guide us in step-by-step preparations for survival in case if an outbreak of the bird flu. While the subject is serious and packed with important information, the text is clear and lively, leavened by wit and humor. We are encouraged, not only to understand the nature of the disease, how it spreads, how to avoid contamination, how to take care of ourselves and loved ones, but also to create webs of mutual support within our communities. Verona Fonte reminds us of the necessity to be informed and prepared, but also to assist each other in a spirit of intelligent compassion. I heartily recommend it.

Bird Flu, What to Do provides the reader with an excellent overview of the issues we are likely to face during the upcoming influenza pandemic. The book is written in an easy to understand style that makes for pleasant reading despite the difficult subject matter. Dr. Fonte's liberal use of humor helps make her discussion of these unpleasant topics easier to digest. I recommend this book to anyone trying to come to terms with the possibility of a Bird Flu pandemic and who needs more information about this issue to help them decide what they should do. This book has an important role as a good way to introduce the topic to someone new to the issue. While it touches on the difficulties we are likely to encounter during a pandemic, it does so in a reassuring way, avoiding the dramatization of the worst case as found in some other books on the subject.

Grattan Woodson, MD
Author of the Bird Flu Manual

This book should be required reading for everyone living in this country (and other countries as well). If everyone took its message to heart and followed its advice, we would all be a lot safer. No need for color-coded alerts or political hype when Bird Flu - What to Do is only a bookstore or online order form away.

Bird Flu What To Do: Prepare To Survive by Verona Fonte Ph.D. (a psychologist for over twenty years' experience) with contributions from five experienced doctors, is a straightforward instruction manual for readers of all backgrounds about what to do and how to survive in a pandemic, particularly a bird flu pandemic. Chapters address how to prepare, including storing water and making sure water is safe to drink, what food and other goods to get and how to store it, healthy habits to adopt now to strengthen one's immune system, networking for a safer community, caregiving tips, what to do when death occurs, and much more. Bird flu specifically is extremely virulent and easily contagious simply from being in proximity to the sick; Bird Flu What To Do does not pretend to have a magic solution to the grim realities of a pandemic, but rather presents all the emergency advice that medical science and common sense have to offer in no-nonsense terms. Highly recommended.

Fonte has shown us that no matter what the crisis in our lives, if we prepare by being informed, knowing our neighbors and community, and face the challenges ahead with courage, we can weather any crisis the future may bring. I recommend this book highly!

Carolyn North

Super book to take in the field with you. Organized by color to make it very handy. The photos are beautiful and large. I know that Illinois is a big state but it was amazing how many native birds there are. If you love watching birds - this is a must buy.

I love this book! So easy to use! You can find the bird you see easily (by color), and Stan gives you exactly the tip you need to tell which bird it is! Plus interesting facts about each bird, and where you are likely to see them, and what they are likely to be doing. And beautiful, clear photos! This is the first of his field guides that I ever bought. I bought several others. I love them all! His field guides really work!

This book was great. My partner and I were having a little bet on what bird we had seen in our backyard. This book has it all for those of you who love to birdwatch anywhere.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the birds in their Illinois backyard. We have learned so much about the birds that come to our feeders. Our children, ages 6 and 2, are now very interested in the types of birds that are in our backyard. Excellent buy!

Like all of the other reviews, I find this book the easiest to use when trying to identify new birds who come to our feeder. One other thing I love about it - it tells what the birds like to eat! So can stock my feeder appropriately.

I came across this little gem by accident, found it in the local Missouri section while walking down the wrong aisle at B&N, rather than in the animal section. I picked it up and gave it a glance and didn't think twice about purchasing it or not.

It's practically a dictionary of local birds, each entry has a beautiful picture of the bird, both female and male. Includes important information for identification, what area of the state they prefer, what their eggs and nests look like, and much more.

I really like the color tabs. See a brown bird? Turn to the brown section for quick look up. Living in Missouri, I only recently took up an interest in feeding birds in my back yard and have purchased several books on the subject. This one is the best by far! It's easy to use, informative, and the pictures are of excellent quality!

This is a great book with great pictures of the birds. My boys were able to go straight to the color and find the bird we were looking for.

This is a great book. I got two bird feeders and was curious about the kinds of birds that were feeding. This book is easy to use, it lists birds by colors, it also says whether they are all year round, migratory, summer or winter. Very helpful for identifying the birds!!

After moving to Missouri for my husband's job, I was interested in all the colorful birds. I purchased this book and have been using it for about a year. It is easy to use and include brief descriptions and fun facts about each bird, as well as colorful photos and maps. The best thing is that the pages are color-coded so you aren't flipping through the whole book trying to find that one red bird you saw--you just flip to the red tab pages.

I just started birdwatching, and this is the first book that I bought to help me along. It is arranged by bird color, which is great for beginners like me who have no idea what to look for. I would say that this is a great book for beginners, but maybe a bit too simple for people who have been birdwatching for awhile. I am about ready for a new book myself...

We have two dozen field guides and identifiers for birds - this one book is faster than all the rest to identify what is at our feeder, on the trail or along the road. It almost seems too simple - why don't all the other guides we have go by ... color ... seems too simple right? D'oh. I almost feel like I'm cheating when I use this book - other books seem too snobberish - read: if you are a *real* birder, use our complete guide. Find a bird, lookup the color or color combination, look through 10 pages and presto - identified. How hard can that be?

If you could only get one birding book ... get this one. Or, in my case, if I only have room to pack one book, I always pack this one.

Side-note: The companion CDs are great too, and they match the pages up nicely to the book, but frankly I can't identify by ear - maybe I' tone deaf ... but they are nicely arranged discs. My wife likes them more.

I found this book to be very informative & easy to find a particular bird since they are grouped by color. However, I'm a little confused by the photo & description of the Carolina Chickadee. I've lived in Western North Carolina since Spring, 2006 & the "Chickadee" I've always seen doesn't have the tan belly as the one pictured in the book. The "Chickadee" I've seen has mostly a white belly & has a white streak on the wing. It looks most like the pictures identifying the Black-Capped Chickadee I've seen in other bird identification books. I am wondering why the author did not include a photo & description of the Black-Capped Chickadee.

Birds of the Carolinas and the companion CD have been without a doubt the best field guide we have purchased. I refer to it on a regular basis and find the new color coded format extremely easy to use. It is well worth purchasing even if you have several other guides!!

I love this field guide! It has full page pictures on the left side, making it easy to just flip through the book and find the bird that you're looking for. And limiting it to just the birds in the Carolinas eliminates the irritation of thinking that you've figured out waht bird it is - only to find that that bird only lives in Arizona!

This book is perfect for rookies. The color coded tabs helped me to quickly look up the bird's that were clustering at my new feeder. I just wanted to know a little bit about each species to better enjoy them. I now keep this the book near my window, so that I can idententify all types of birds that flock in and around my yard.
This book is most definately a great investment.
(I love the compact size)

This is a first-class field guide, with a fully comprehensive coverage of all creatures (including vagrants - even species with only single records) excellently organised, well illustrated and light and handy in size. Thoroughly recommended (the best I have yet found).

Brendan Jackson

The computer enhanced illustrations for this book are incredibly clear and easy to identify. We used this in Galapagos and loved it. If it covered some of the plants as well it would be the only guide you'd need.

An excellent, easy to use book that is well laid out with good illustrations. Ron

We bought this book as one of 5 guides to the Galapagos which we took with us on our trip in Oct 05. It was really excellent, so good in fact, that our wonderful naturalist guide asked if we could send him a copy. I just gave him ours and now I have to order it again for us! It's organized by type of animal and bird, which makes it easier for novices to experienced wildlife observers alike to identify animals and birds. It has a nice sturdy format also, which is good for taking along onto the islands.

I highly recommend this book!

Original review of 1st Edition, November 9, 2005

This is the Galápagos guide you want!

Andy Swash (photographer) and Rob Still (computer design wizard) have conspired to produce the handiest and most authoritative guide to the wildlife of these enchanted islands. They have pioneered the use of computer enhanced photographs, which combine the advantage of a photograph as an accurate record of an individual, with the artists ability to stress those features that are representative of the species. In one pocket-sized, 168 page, full-colour photographic guide you have all you need to identify almost all of the archipelago's wildlife including every living species of bird, mammal and reptile.

And since WILDGuides are a non-profit organisation which supports conservation throughout the world, you are helping ensure that the wildlife you enjoy today will still be there for others to enjoy tomorrow. Check out their other titles, all of which share the enhanced photography approach.

The prefect guide for the curious visitor and expert alike. Look no further!

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Comments on 2nd Edition, September 5, 2006

This second edition (white cover) differs from the first (blue cover - see review above) as follows:-

* it includes new species for the islands, such as Green Heron and Grey-headed Gull
* all range maps have been revised and updated
* the cetaceans section has been completely revamped
* a new section on "electronic media" is provided
* the species checklist has been brought right up-to-date

The guide remains the top recommendation for wildlife observation on the islands and WILDGuides are still a non-profit organisation with an impressive record of donations to conservation.

The Stokes bird books major in the sheer delight of discovering the bird in question. The 1991 STOKES BLUEBIRD BOOK carries this tradition forward without missing a step.

The book's three sections explore 'The Birds', 'Attracting Bluebirds', an 'Bluebird Behavior'. The first section introduces this captivating bird by way of poetry and observations made about it, mostly when the species was more plentiful than it is today. The Stokes then present the 'Eastern', 'Mountain', and 'Western Bluebird' varieties.

The second section details what we've learned about compensating for the habit destruction that has made Bluebird numbers drop precipitously in recent times. I bought my copy after undertaking the Quijote's quest of adding a bluebird house to my Indiana front yard. It was immediately fitted out by a male house wren whose spouse chose other digs.

A final section, comprising nearly half the book's pages, follows these birds through their life stages.

Through 96 pages, the authors' prose cannot veil their admiration for these birds and their sheer delight in sympathetic proximity to them.

It all adds up to a winner.

This book has great pictures and answered all of my questions re bluebirds. I love the pictures of the different nest types...it has enabled me to know what kind of bird is nesting in the bluebird box. Very helpful.

This is a good book for those who are interested in learning more about bluebirds and perhaps getting started with their own trail. It is mostly focused on the eastern bluebird but also discusses the mountain and western bluebirds, with plenty of photos. It also shows how to distinguish different types of nests so you can tell whether a house wren or house sparrow has taken over your bluebird box.

This is certainly one you will want to add to your collection. Having been a birder for well over fifty years now, and a collector of books on the subject, I found this one to be well worth the cost. As pointed out by another reviewer here, some of the information in this book is quite basic. But that is okay! Everyone has to start somewhere and this is one of the best books I know to get that start. This is not to say that an "expert" will not be able to get anyting out of this work...that is silly. But, like any work on the subject of birds, this one needs to be supplemented by other books on the subject and field guides.

The photographs in this work are wonderful, some of the best I have seen and the text is clear and concise, which is sort of a trade mark for this writing team. There is a great amount of useful information in this relatively small volume, and with it, and a couple of the other recommended works here, you should be able to become quite an authority on the subject. This particular bird is a favorite of mine and I find any work that promotes it's well being a good thing. Recommend this one highly.

Once you have a bluebird visit your backyard, you WILL be hooked...and you'll start looking for anything and everything to lure them back--it sounds crazy, but I think every bluebirder started this way! I read just about everything I could find about them on the internet, and you can find tons of information there, but sometimes I'd rather consult a book or two--The Bluebird Book is one of my two.

Actually it is pretty basic, and I thought it was too basic at times, but the further I read there was still a lot of good information about bluebird behavior, feeding habits, preferred habitat, nesting, nest boxes, predators of the bluebird, predator prevention, and what I didn't see anyplace else...bluebird language! But I think what kept me reading was the fantastic photographs--the photos will draw you in, and if you weren't too serious about doing the 'bluebirding thing', you will be after starting with this book. What it lacks in "complete reference" will certainly prompt you to take the next step of getting another more advanced book, pouring thru bluebird internet sites, or setting up a nest box or two in your yard. Just a note--depending on where you live in the US, parts of this book may not apply--but that is the same for other bluebird books also; don't get discouraged over it. Most bluebird books cover Eastern, Western, and Mountain bluebirds all at once, and what works in the east, may not work in the west, or south, for example.

The other book that goes into great detail on just about everything bluebird related is the Bluebird Monitor's Guide. This should be your next book if you can find it. Excellent stuff, expands on what you learned in the Bluebird Book, and lists many lessons and lessons-learned, easy and hard, from average folks who became very passionate about bluebirds.

After starting with the Bluebird Monitor's Guide, The Bluebird Book filled in a few areas and had some good detailed photos. And all the photos will have you wishing to have these beauties grace your neighborhood. Another note--there's also a Stokes video about bluebirding...I haven't seen it, but much of what I've read about it online is not very positive. Stick with this book and the Monitor's Guide and you will have plenty of solid information about bluebirds, setting up PROPER nest box(es), and providing a safe environment for a bluebird family, or any native wildbird family for that matter. Please be a responsible bird landlord!

Definately the best book in the series. In this book, a ton of things happen. Kate finally reveals her involvement in Wicca to her parents, and the blow a fuse!! While she's telling this to her parents, Cooper's going through a rough spot too. She's suspended for coming to school wearing her necklace that has a pentacle on it. She takes the problem to the school board, but they tell her that she can't wear it. She gets a petition signed to get a revote, and with a little help from Sophia, she wins and is alloud to wear her pentacle. This book was definately the best in the series, and I've read them all. I would definately read this book! Not just this book, the whole series!!!!!!! They're the best!!!!!!!

The Five Paths in the Circle of Three series is the one that deals with the controversy that arises from one of the three heroines - Cooper - wearing a pentagram symbol of her Wiccan religion. However, this does not go down well with her environment at school, and eventually her determination to wear a symbol of her religion leds her into serious trouble. This is a very important book in the series dealing with free-will, religious rights and personal expression, and thankfully the author gives a good account of BOTH sides of the arguement. As much as Wiccans hate it, the pentagram is also a symbol used by Satanists and people will continue to identify the pentagram with them. However, this book helps teach the ignorant that the importance is not the symbol itself, but what it means to the person who is wearing it.
Unfortunatly the entire premise is based on the possibility that wearing a pentagram symbol will led to outrage, violence, court-cases, newspaper articles and un-founded prejudice. I won't deny that there is prejudice against all religions in the world, but I found it hard to believe that all the negative events that occured in the book were simply because one high-schooler wore a pentagram necklace.

This book is about the contraversy of the pentagram and religious freedom and freedom of speech. This hit very close to home for me. I deal with this contraversy everyday and the book pointed out quite a few details about both sides of the story. It went into detail about the kind of things kids now deal with and the kind of persucution people like me face. So, it wasn't just fiction, it was fact. It's a must read!! It was by-far the best book written and I give it 5 stars.

This is the best book in a great series.

Very realistic. Presents both sides of the argument. Doesn't make any false promises that magick will fix every problem in your life or make it go away with a snap of the fingers--but does show that through magick and faith, good things can be accomplished. The girls face very realistic hurdles due to their Wiccan involvement.

Re: the prior review--I don't think all the difficulties came about solely due to the necklace. Kate had hidden her Wiccan involvement from her parents until this issue made them ask questions. Annie's family already knew and didn't care, but she had not told her boyfriend yet, then chose to come out Wiccan in the school paper. All these experiences are quite realistic and young Wiccans may have to deal with one or all of them at some point.

After reading this far in the Circle of Three books I've seen the exampls of witchcraft and the effects they have on people. This book has opend the eyes of people including me. In the book Cooper decides to show her belifes freely by wearing her pentacle star which is one of the greatest symbols involved in the Craft. Most are very unconfortable when they see her star. Will Cooper have to give up the pentacle? Meanwhile Kate is haveing trouble telling her parents about her involvement in witchcraft. Will she lose all she's worked so hard for? Also Annie decides to express her belifes in witchcraft freely. Will
her decision bring her world crashing down on her?
I rated this book a five because even though these books are about the girls and their expieriences this one really opened my eyes. And I'd just like to say that Cooper, Kate,and Annie are right, most don't truley know what witchcraft is and what it stands for... it's completely harmless unless you don't know what you're doing. And I know that some wish to make sure their children aren't invovled with the Craft, and I respect that but sometimes the best way to "protect" something, is to set it free.

After nearly 14 years with my 14-year-old sun conure, I feel I recognize good behavioral advice. I have always disliked advice that relies on dominance, punishment, or keeping a bird low (they don't have a "top bird" instinct, but feel safer up high). This book tells you how to communicate and develop a trusting relationship with your bird, and that is a priceless thing.

I would have liked a few more specific trick ideas, but I bought an additional clicker training book and registered with Melinda's online forum. So far my bird seems to enjoy the training time, even though I have a lot of learning to do!

There is not a better resource available for training companion parrots. This book is well-written, insightful, and informative. Parrots are intelligent and complex creatures. They learn so much from us, both good and bad. It is so easy to inadvertently teach a parrot unacceptable behaviors and they respond poorly to "traditional" training techniques. When these techniques don't work, the birds often find themselves neglected or re-homed. This book helps to teach the trainers to understand their birds and begin building a lasting companion relationship based on trust and positive reinforcement.

I found this book to be a wonderful resource for people who want to clicker train their birds. It's more than a recipe book -- it's a behavior problem-solver. It goes into great detail to teach not only what to do, but why, so in the end you'll have the tools you need to continue past the specific behaviors listed in the book. I must admit -- I'm a bit flummoxed by the earlier review who didn't like that this book delves into theory and bird behavior and is more than a recipe book. I think that's what makes this such an awesome resource. People who have less-than-perfect birds now have a resource that will help them understand why their bird have the problems they do and then help them find solutions that are kind, fun, and incredibly reliable.

When you own an unruly bird, you want and need help quickly. If you want a book to effeciently teach you how to click train your bird, look elsewhere.
If you want a book that goes in extreme depth into bird behaviorism, this is your mecca.
There are 14 chapters and 156 pages. It doesn't even get to practical use of the clicker until the 8th chapter at page 77. I found myself thumbing thru it to find the "meat" of the book. A lot of fluff preceeds the actual useage of the clicker technique.
This book will get the job done, but it is much like owning a car. (I'm sure if they read this, they will dissect my analogy of a DRIVING a car to training a bird) Unless you are a mechanic, you simply want to drive the car, not know exactly and precisely how spark plugs fire in synch and the timing chain turns, etc. It is extremely indepth into bird and human behaviorism and if you can stand to wade thru that, you can get info to help you teach a bird to simply step up and do more. But, unless you are a professional bird trainer, it is not always necessary to understand why of everything you do with your pet. Not to this degree, anyway.
In addition, they direct you to a Yahoo group. Overall, except for Wendy Jefferies, http://www.wendyjef fries.com this group is about as helpful as the book. There is little one on one help as they have this collection of "files" they direct you to if you have a question. Instead, they spend time ananlyzing participant's motives and it is yet another lecture in behaviorism. Nothing much about training your bird, but more of a discussions about WHY you want to train your bird. After my first post there, they actually made a written test for me and I'll put it here because it sums up the book's motive:
"Now, let's test you. :) Give me two examples of conditioned reinforcers and two examples of conditioned punishers we see commonly in the real world." huh? I want the bird to step on a perch..please tell me how.
I am not training her to perform in Vegas or on Youtube.
It's just another chat room with people examining your reason to want the bird to step up rather than helping you attain that goal.

The book and forum, in combo, could help you if you are willing to be extremely patient and understanding with them....while you are being patient and understanding with your untrained bird. The two together are too frustrating.
You need realistic evalution of your goals, step one, step two to get there. You need to be patient but also efficient in the process and not waste time in needless analytical endeavours.
If you simply want to learn how to enjoy your pet...this is not the place.
If you want to know WHY you want to enjoy it, then here is your bird behavioral buffet.

Melinda's book easily explains the theory behind clicker training and the how to in easy steps. Her book also covers how to use it when dealing with specific problems such as having a parrot stay on his cage. Our past history of training and dealing with animals was one of dominance and control. A realtionship built on that is one of fear and distrust. Training has come so far since then. Clicker training comes from operant conditioning. It is a behavioral science which gives the bird choices. The training uses positive behavioral strategies. Training a parrot this way to do tricks forms the basis for an enriching relationship for both the owner and parrot. Melinda also co-owns a great Yahoo group called Bird Click. It has wonderful files, members from all over the world and a great supportive group. I highly suggest both this wonderful book and the list for those who like the computer!
Thank you Melinda for an outstanding contribution to the field...which makes our parrot's life and ours more rewarding!

A fun and educational book. Lots of great information that can be used over and over again.

Helpful and down-to-earth author. Finding a bird, housing, breeding, showing, and more! I think this will be a great reference for a beginer to intermediete.

Buy this book and you will know all you need to know about pet bird. You will find your suitable bird and how to make it healthy, happy. This book also teach you how to tame and train your intelligent bird. I love this book very much but if you want to know bird breeding in detail and enjoy beautiful photo, you may disappointed. Lack of color photo make me reduce 1 star when I rated but if you don't care, this book is a good choice for you. In my view, it is best to read if you are beginner in pet bird.

This book has all you need to know about bird care and training. It is very informative and includes many intersesting little tidbits such as useful adresses, a directory of bird parks, and a bird care and training reference card in the front. If you're going to get a bird(or birds!), get this book!

This book is a complete reference guide to your pet bird. The first chapter deals with how to find out if a bird is the right pet for you and teh second chapter insructs the bird buyer how to choose a right cage, how to bring your bird home, what to have in the cage, etc. The next part deals with what you have to complete daily to have a healthy and enjoyable brd, what your bird should eat and how your bird should exercise. The next part is devoted into training and bonding with your bird. part 5 talks about your bird's health while part 6 gives who tricks to teach your bird, famous birds and all about bird shows. In the back of the book are different appendixes. I especially liked all the facts and warnings tucked in little boxes throughout the book. I fantastic, well-organized informative book that every serious bird-owner should own!

it covers a wide varity og game and has some interesting ideas

This book has realy been a great help for my husband. It gives him a quicker technic for cutting wild game meat. The book was received in great shape. Thank you very much.

When I came home there was a dead deer on my living room table (yes I was shocked because it didn't belong there) and my husband was looking at it holding a knife. He didn't look so sure what to do. I got this book from the library which explains in very detailed pictures how to "disect" the animal. It worked so great I bought him the book for xmas and we have used it several times for deer, turkey and the great recipes.

The book contains excellent photography making it most helpful; the problem I found with it however was the example shown for field dressing the deer. In my opinion opening the carcass from chin all the way through the crotch area is absolutely wrong. A much better way is discussed in the book entitled, "Butchering Deer" by John Weiss.
Dressing and cooking wild game is an excellent book in all other aspects and would have rated five stars if this area was correct.

One of the most comprehensive books I've ever owned on the subject. This book covers everything from how to sharpen a knife to skinning and butchering deer, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, quail, and coon. There are also several recipes in the back for each of these animals. Good pics, good information, good book.