Birds Books

I found innovative ideas that I had not thought of before. The tips worked when I tried them, and the stories had me laughing!

Very well written and has helped me tremendously.

Excellent book educational, very informative. All you wanted to know about bird hunting. Fast and easy to read.

Being a great admirer of this breed,I purchased this book years ago.I recently lost my lab of 13 years and this evening reread this splendid story of two wonderful dogs.Mr Jones' words helped me accept and understand my loss.Thank you for this excellant book.

I have to confess: I have never understood the appeal of hunting. I love dogs, though, and believe that they should be put to work for their own peace of mind. In any case, this book was beautifully written and made me truly understand why somebody would want to hunt. That's saying a lot. Other titles that people who read and enjoy this book might like: the Gerald Hammond "John Cunningham mysteries" and Dan O'Brien's Equinox. Altogether an excellent book about a man, the dogs, and the sport he loves.

It's guaranteed to put a tear in your eye and a smile on your face- especially if you have lived with and hunted a lab. Our family has owned labs for many years and I and my dogs have traveled the country in pursuit of upland game, as well as ducks and geese. There can't be a better book about the companionship of a good dog. I just wish that it were available in hard cover so that I could give it to my friends.

I have a one year old and I have been reading her Baby Einstein "Animal Homes". I love this book and so I took a chance on this one, "What does Violet See? Birds and Nests". I absolutely love this. First of all, it captures my little one's attention as from the beginning I have been taking her on walks to see birds and nests and listen to the sounds of nature. She loves the real pictures at the end of the book, the close up of all the animals when violet uses her binoculars, and she loves touching the realistic feather at the end. Job well done.

My son has always loved Violet and her adventures. This book is colorful, interesting and includes real photos at the end. My son is 5 now, and when he chooses his books he still brings me the ones about Violet!

Violet loves looking at birds and their nests through her binoculars - and loves photographing what she finds!

My 18 month old daughter adores the Baby Einstein books and this is the newest addition to our growing collection, and our first of the Violet "series".

The way the actual photographs of birds and nests are encorporated into the story (as pictures that Violet takes with her trusty camera) is wonderful. I especially love the "touch and feel" feather toward the end (my daughter likes to 'scratch' it)...a pleasant surprise as none of our other Baby Einstein books have this feature.

But I particularly love Nadeem Zaidi's vivid/bold illustrations, which I believe is the key to the success of the Baby Einstein books (in the eyes of the youngsters who adore them). My daughter loves to point to the pictures as we read to her and she enjoys trying to read this story back to Mommy & Daddy (pointing at pictures while she babbles and turns the pages)). This is one of her new favorite stories - it is one of three books accompanying us on our upcoming airplane trip (and we've got hundreds of books to choose from)!

I am anxious to see the other Violet books as this one is definitely a keeper!

This is truely a wonderful work for young folk. The illustrations are absolutely great. The depiction of each species of bird and animal is actually quite accurate, even dressed in the human clothing provided by the illustrator. This is a collection of 19th century African American folk tales, quite similar to the famous Brer Rabbit tales. These stories have been reworded so that 19th century dialect can be understood and be ralated to by children of today. Each story has a wonderful teaching and the text throughout the book matches the illustrations perfectly. In addition, there is a nice section at the back of the book which tells the source of these stories which is quite interesting standing alone. Recommend this one highly.

You couldn't ask for more in a children's book. I tripped across this book at our local library, picked it up and started reading it to my two sons, ages 8 and 10. It's a book that is meant for out-loud reading. Hamilton's prose is written in a very conversational tone, which mimics the way in which these southern tales were originally passed along: orally. Each story is about 3-4 pages long, with a lesson learned at the end of each one. Birds and bats engage in ridiculous actions and we -- the humans -- can learn from them. The book is as much fun to look at as it is to read, due to the beautiful artwork of the illustrator, Barry Moser.

These stories were meant for telling. Virginia Hamilton adds a voice that is full. It is deep and loving. Most of the stories have a bit of verse or song. Each tale ends with the teller speaking the moral plainly to the children listening. For example, "How Bruh Sparrow and Sis Wren Lost Out" ends, "So, children, here's a leaf from the book of birds: Pick on your own size. For it's no use squabbling over what's too big for you to handle." I think these tales would be perfect for the mid to upper elementary audience as well as for adults.

There is a table of contents, but the stories are in no apparent order and are not grouped. Barry Moser's vibrant watercolor illustrations are not necessary for the storytelling. However, having seen them, it is hard to imagine the story without them.

Source Notes: The Afterword helps readers and tellers know the history and origins of these Southern, African-American tales. The stories in When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing were originally written down by Martha Young who wrote them in the so-called black dialect of the plantation era. It is impossible to tell now which stories she heard from African American's and which she wrote herself. These stories are written in the prose style called cante fable. They include verse or song and end with a moral for children.

There is an entire page detailing and crediting the book designers and artists who helped put this book together.
Karen Woodworth-Roman

Karen Jerome's vibrant watercolor art brings this classic poem to life. Geared for pre-readers to be read to by their parents, everyone will enjoy the fantasic day when it rained nothing but Cats and Dogs!

This is a delightful book to read aloud. My 3 year old gives it the highest compliment: when I finished reading it to him, he said "Read it again". Karen Jerome's paintings are light, lively and delightful!

Originally published in 1946 by Lippincott, with illustrations by Tibor Gergely, this new Meadow Gees Press edition of Karen Jerome's beautifully drawn and colored artwork adds a splendid visual element to a classic and engaging poem written by Nancy Byrd Turner in When It Rained Cats And Dogs. The poem tells the story of a day when it literally rained cats and dogs, each falling harmlessly into the arms of a child. The illustrations realistically capture a variety of breeds while at the same time imparting a cheerful sense of fun. This poem-based picture book is wonderful reading for children and would be a very welcome addition to any school or community library collection.

Whenever I travel on business or for vacations, I try to see the local highlights that interest me. Over the years, this has helped me to enjoy many museums, concerts, gardens, golf courses, and national parks. As an early riser, I often find myself with nothing to do before 10 a.m. on business trips. I am consciously aware that very few places I visit offer good bird watching, of the sort that I know how to find near my home. This volume is a perfect addition for me. I can now plan bird watching excursions as part of these same trips. This will add enormously to the enjoyment I will gain from my travel.

Can you name 100 outstanding places to watch birds north of Mexico? If you are like me, your list is pretty short. This guide now gives me places to look in every region of the United States and Canada.

Each site contains a brief overview, a description of the habitat, the birds you are most likely to see (which includes some fine color photographs to help with identification), a description of the bird life in the area, suggestions for visiting, and highlights of seasonal events. In addition, you get the basics about how to get to the site (driving directions), hours, cost, whether camping is available or not, ways on get more information by telephone and on-line, and the availablility of local motels, hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns. I checked out several places where I had been before, and found the information to be accurate and appropriate. For those who want to make more detailed plans, you will probably want to do more research before you visit, using the references here.

There is also a micro mini-field guide in the back for the birds you are most likely to see. But you will want to bring your own field guide, I'm sure. That's almost as important as a good set of binoculars and broken-in walking shoes. If you are new to bird watching, the introduction also contains useful information about how to prepare.

Conservationists will be pleased to see that the book contains much information about how not to disturb important nesting areas.

Whether or not these are the 100 best birdwatching places from your perspective, I urge you to get this book and use it to extend the range of your viewing. If you are a retired person with the health and resources to travel, this book could add a great deal of happiness to your life.

After you finish reading this book, I suggest that you plan a bird-watching trip to take advantage of this information. Then, go on to think about what else you like to do which might be seen on the same trip. Do some research, and add those activities to your trip. After all, the best bird-watching is often over by 8 a.m.

Enjoy the world we inhabit with our animal friends!

A must for every family.

"Where The Birds Are" is yet one more delightful installment of the seemingly eternal "Where's Waldo?" concept.

On every page you get to scour the scenery for the birds of America. Question "Where's the Red-Crested Twaddle?" Resposnse: "There it is!" Yes sir! No sooner are you about to give up all hope than you find him tucked away in a cute little baby stroller, misguidedly trying to regurgitate the morning's catch. Darling!

And the scenes themselves are as smart as they are colorful. Whether it's a gritty crime scene in New York or a babbling brook in Ontario (I've never been but I hear Ontario is lovely and probably looks a lot like the picture, but, again, I can't really speak first-hand) or a mesa somewhere in New Mexico, there's something for everyone.

It's fun for all ages, except for the really, really old with poor eyesight or the really, really young who might not grasp basic concepts like "birds."

I highly suggest buying this book, even if you must skip a meal in order to afford to do so. Maybe being light-headed from skipping a meal might even let you enjoy the book more. Who knows? There's only one way to find out.

I recently purchased three new books on birds, and I did not buy them from Amazon and I could have saved a bundle, but I am an impulsive book buyer... One of my new books, WHERE THE BIRDS ARE, was published by the National Wildlife Federation--you know Ranger Rick and the other backyard buddies--and I do live near the NWF headquarters, and they do have a gift shop.... WHERE THE BIRDS ARE lists the 100 best locations for watching birds in North America outside your own backyard. Amazingly or otherwise, the NWF lists places to watch birds in every state, as it turns out two of them here in Virginia. One of these places is Great Falls Virginia, just up the street. Guess I'll look more closely next time we visit. Each section of the book contains a description of the site including a little map, visiting hours, and other entrance information as well as the types of habitat to be found at the site and the kinds of bird life. At Great Falls Virginia, we can observe Robins and White Throated Sparrows as well as vistors on the Eastern flyway such as the Northern Parula. In fact the book says 34 types of warblers have been spotted in Great Falls. Since the NWF book does not show any other species than the three I've named, you may want to invest in a book with a more comprehensive listing of birds which brings me to one of my other purchases -- BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA from the Smithsonian. I've been a Petersen devotee for years, and love the Petersen Field Guide, but the Smithsonian book is quite good too. It contains photos and other information which will help you identify the birds you sight after you follow the NWF guide and locate your bird site. For the curious, the third book I bought is THE AUDUBON BACKYARD BIRDWATCHER and yes, I have spotted the Robin and White Throated Sparrow in my own back yard as well as a few of those confusing fall warblers Peterson lists. Still, our yard abuts National Park land which forms a contiguous chain with the Great Falls nature preserve. So, it's not surprising we should be able to spot some of the same birds.

Alfred Bester tells how he used to listen to Manly Wade Wellman recount many anecdotes in which Southerners would repeatedly get the better of Northerners. Bester decided that he could tolerate such stories, since the North had, after all, won the war. But there is no question that Manly Wade Wellman was unabashedly Southern-- more particularly, he was unabashedly a native of North Carolina. Many-- though certainly not all-- of his stories had Southern settings. And one of his nonfictional books, _Dead and Gone_ (1954), is an excellent historical study of North Carolina murderers. _Who Fears the Devil?_ (1963) is the first of Wellman's Silver John books and is also set in North Carolina. There are eleven full length short stories that appeared in _Fantasy and Science Fiction_ between 1951 and 1958. Seven vignettes appeared in _F&SF_ in 1962 under the title, "Wonder As I Wander". Four other vignettes appeared in the book for the first time. A vignette preceeds each of the longer stories in the collection. There are other Silver John stories, some novels and some short stories, that appeared later. But there is a kind of unity to _Who Fears the Devil?_ that makes it worth reading by itself.

For readers not familiar with this series, John is a folksy balladeer who wanders the Southern mountains with a silver stringed guitar and who helps deserving people get out of magical scrapes. His knowlege of music and magic, along with his basic decency, often saves the day. I am not going to spend a lot of time with the plots of the stories, which are actually straightforward enough. What I would like to call attention to is the style. All of the pieces are first person narrations by John. Here is a representative example:

_If the gardinel's an old folk's tale, I'm honest to tell you it's a true one.
Few words about them are best, I should reckon. They look some way like a shed or a cabin, snug and rightly made, except the open door could be a mouth, the two little windows might could be eyes. Never you'll see one on the main roads or near towns; only back in the thicketty places, by high trails among tall ridges, and they show themselves there when it rains and storms and a lone farer hopes to come to a house to shelter him._ (31)

There is not a false note in this passage. Wellman catches John's dialect without using phoney grammatical mistakes or unnatural rhetoric. There are a great many stories that attempt Appalachian dialect and fail abysmally... because the authors don't really know it. Wellman knows the language of his region, and it makes all the difference. Here is John again:

Another lightning flash, another thunder growl. Old Mr. Jay hunched his thin shoulders under his jeans coat, and allowed he'd pay for some crackers and cheese if the storekeeper'd fetch them out to us.
"I ain't even now wanting to talk against Forney Meechum," said the farmer. "But they tell he'd put his eye on Lute for himself, and he'd quarreled with his own son Derwood about who'd have her. But next court day at the county seat, was a fight betwixt Jeremiah Donovant and Derwood Meechum, and Jeremiah put a knife in Derwood and killed him dead."
Mr. Jay leaned forward. The lantern light showed the gray stubble on his gentle old face. "Who drew the first knife?" he asked. (118)

Wellman also nails the dialogue of his North Carolina characters. It is not just that the basic story ideas are good-- though they are. The style of the tales carries the day; there is frequently a poetry to it. It isn't easy to do this successfully, but Wellman does so. This book is highly recommended.

An authentic foray into Carolinian folklore, calling forth stories of witches, ghosts, familiars, and an assortment of other supernatural creatures, all set against the protagonist, John the Balladeer, a likable southern bard with a silver-strung guitar and a bit of occult knowledge. The book is a collection of short stories and vignettes written over a period of nearly forty years. All are good, some are excellent. The vignettes are often simply beautiful. All of the writing is first person with a genuine southern voice, without making the people or area seem ignorant or uncivilized. A wonderful collection of tales with from the much forgotten American mythology.

I went and bought this book after I came across a copy of one of his old books on the street. However, I recommend you check out 5 volume series from Night Shade Books of all of Wellman's short stories. One volume has all of the Silver John Stories.

This book helped me discover my hidden talent of observation. Though I'd like to say I draw well, it's not exactly true. But thanks to this book, I've been able to refine my drawing skills and better capture the details that catch my eye and are so hard to explain. Being able to communicate the details on paper is fulfilling in a whole new sense!

This wonderfully illustrated book is truly an adventure in the love of nature and all its creatures. The author presents an easy-to-understand approach to journal sketching through the seasons by providing the steps that help you draw what you see and feel. The sketches are based on favorite natural areas in Boulder CO but the drawing techniques are universal and can be used by the young-at-heart from 5 to 95. This delightful book will even encourage the non-artist to pick up a pencil and start sketching and will greatly enhance the way one see's and responds to nature.

This is a great book for people who think they have to be Rembrandt to keep an artistic journal. The author does a great job teaching beginers not to stress about making perfect sketches. The lively fun text puts emphasis on observation and just getting out there and doing it. This would make a great book for schools.

Mr. O'Connor runs a bird store on Cape Cod and writes a column about birds and birders for the local paper there, The Cape Codder. He answers the questions that people who shop in birder stores ask people who run the stores. Often the people who ask the questions are new to birding. Sometimes they are eighty years old and sometimes they are five years old. We've never heard a bad question from such people. How do I get birds to come to my backyard? What do I feed them? What kind of birds like peanuts? What is this "thistle" or "nyjer" you sell? If I leave my hummingbird feeders up too long will that keep the hummingbirds from migrating? How do I keep squirrels off my bird feeders? What are the best binoculars? What was that little brown bird that I had at my feeder last weekend? Mr. O'Connor answers them. He answers with wit and verve. His answers are accurate, humane and wise. This is a great book for anyone you know who is beginning to know birds. It is even a good book for a birder of any level. Best of all, you'll laugh out loud and heaven knows, we could all use some of that these days.

This book was a "hoot" (excuse the pun). It had me chuckling out loud at the author's humorous answers to a variety of bird questions. While anyone would find this book entertaining, birders will especially enjoy it, for it is informative as well as funny.

Perhaps the most entertaining book about birds ever written. This book is a collection of the author's newspaper columns entitled, "Ask the Bird Folks". These excepts discuss questions that the general public is concerned with, or that the author has repeatedly answered in his Bird-watchers Store on Cape Cod. Common questions such as, How do you squirrel proof your bird feeder, or If I keep the bird feeder full of food will the birds still migrate South for Winter, to more exotic ornithological questions. The author, Mike O'Connor, answers these questions along with some related facts usually couched in between some hilarious zingers thrown out at the questioner's expense.
All in all the book is a good balance of factual material with humor and a down-to-earth commonsense style. Kudos to the author. A very good book for short segmented reading opportunities.

This book reveals valuable information about wild turkey biology and behavior. Naturalists, wildlife biologists, and hunters would find this book useful. Scientific research is presented so that everyone can understand the data.

this book reads like a college biology text book. but one you love to read.your friends will want to shoot you for all the info you'll be able to spit out after reading this book.at first the price gave me pause but now i'm glad i bought it.

I purchased this book in anticipation of answering some self generated questions about wild turkeys. Not only were ALL of my questions answered, but it provided information beyond my needs. I would highly recommend it to any biologist or hunter.