Favourite bird books (1 Viewer)

There are plenty of fabulous bird books these days, but I doubt any of them will have the same sentimental value to me as those I grew up with.

The attached photo has 4 of my 5 favourite books - my Mitchell Beazley Pocket Guide to a Random Selection of European Birds (forever moulded to the shape of my right buttock) is M.I.A. somewhere in my loft.

They are all, in their own ways, atrocious by modern standards - Williams only illustrated and described about half the species in the region and left you to guess the rest; The Pictorial Guide illustrations are straight out of a children's book; those in King aren't much better, and the layout is horrible; and Inskipp looks like it was cobbled together over a long weekend by an undergraduate student with a typewriter... and quite possibly was (but only cost about 50p in Kathmandu).

However, at the time they were all there was, and in their own ways were brilliant. As you can see, they were very well-used, and all of them bring back fond memories of days when foreign birding trips were more about heading into the unknown and enjoying what you got, rather than the stressful military operations of today.

I'd be interested to know what books others have a similar fondness for!

Hilty & Brown's Birds of Colombia is the greatest bird book ever written

Being born and bred in Gloucester, my earliest memories of birdwatching involve my dad taking me to Slimbridge (14 miles away). I remember the red soup they used to feed the flamingos, hand feeding the Hawaiian Geese (Ne Ne), the hummingbirds in the tropical house, and walking the secret lanes to the hides to see wintering wildfowl out on the estuary marshes. Dad also bought me Peter Scott's 'A Coloured Key To The Wildfowl Of The World', and I also remember studying all the painted sketches with feelings of both intrigue and hopelessness. For me to open this book today just brings it all back.
Modern day books? It has to be Collins 'Bird Guide', not only is this vital in confirming new birds, the artwork is beautiful.

One of my most sacred posessions is my old 'Observers book of Birds Eggs' which for many of my generation, was their route in to birding proper.



A

Shameless plug here, but if you're on twitter, for a bit of fun I'm currently doing a 'world cup of bird books' (well, a very UK-centric one). Hopefully people are voting for their favourites rather than the ones they consider to be best. There is certainly a fair amount of nostalgia ans sentimentality at play. Look for #WCoBB or my feed, if you're interested.

One of my favourite books from the 1970,s was the Collins Identification of Animal tracks and signs, with a useful double spread colour guide to bird pellets...this then lead me to collecting owl pellets soaking and dissecting them in my bedroom and taping all the bits and pieces to sheets of paper probably to my parents horror !!...I still have that book and occasionally use it.

Mark

Fat Paul Scholes said:

Shameless plug here, but if you're on twitter, for a bit of fun I'm currently doing a 'world cup of bird books' (well, a very UK-centric one). Hopefully people are voting for their favourites rather than the ones they consider to be best. There is certainly a fair amount of nostalgia ans sentimentality at play. Look for #WCoBB or my feed, if you're interested.

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This might finally push me on to Twitter! If not, the book that got me into birding for sure was BOLBBB (Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book) 1980. Classic.:t:

I find picking my favourite 4-5 bird books with several hundred to chose from is simply impossible. It really depends on what I want out of them which varies over time.

For example, were I thinking of bird ID (in a European context) my list would be
1 - Collins Guide - naturally
2 - MacMillan Field Guide to Bird Identification (revised as the Helm Guide to Bird Identification) - for the ID insights
3 - Jonsson's Birds of Europe - for the plates
4 - Britain's Birds (Wildguides) - best photo guide yet
5 - Martin Garner's 'Birding Frontiers' series - full of gems and challenges - I can't choose between the three books

However, I wouldn't recommend any of the above for entertaining bedtime reading - for that I'd go for -
6 - Birdscapes - a masterly and beautifully written overview of our relationship with birds by Jeremy Mynott
7 - Down and Dirty Birding - an undeservedly little known & hilarious take on American birding by Joey Slinger
8 - The Meinertzhagen Mystery - a genuine mystery story by Brian Garfield
9 - Lost Among Birds - by far the best of the current 'Big Year' books by Neil Hayward
10 - Kingbird Highway - the original 'Big Year' book by Kenn Kaufman & still a great read.

However, my essential reference works would be
11 - Handbook of Birds of the World - a work of genius!
12 - Birds of the Western Palearctic - still the best reference for birds of the area
13 - Handbook of British Birds - ancient but surprisingly useful
14 - Bannerman's Birds of the British Isles - a great book for getting lost in the text - full of anecdote
15 - The Birds of the Iberian peninsula - reflecting my interest in that region (Garcia & de Juana)

I could continue through various subdivisions but you get my drift. If you forced a 'top five' out of me then it'd be 1, 3, 6, 11 & 12 with Mynott's book as by ultimate Desert Island choice.

Birds of Britain and Europe. I remember looking through this with my father when we used to go to Whiteford Point.

Perhaps a bit of a cliché but my favourite book is generally the one I am currently reading. At the moment it is Flight of the Storm Petrel by Ronald M Lockley.

ClarkWGriswold said:

Birds of Britain and Europe. I remember looking through this with my father when we used to go to Whiteford Point.

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Yes, the Peterson, as we used to call it, was my first "Bible" regarding birds. The German version in my case. I still have it, together with a few later editions. Great way to get started.

Shortly after the death of James Ferguson-Lees I've bought his book Endangered Birds. I must say Emma Faull's artwork is still one of the best I've ever seen in a bird book (old and new). No wonder that even Prince Philip is an admirer of Emma Faull's work.

andyadcock said:

One of my most sacred posessions is my old 'Observers book of Birds Eggs' which for many of my generation, was their route in to birding proper.



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Yes I agree along with the marvel of how they constructed their nests, I have a small number of field guides by collins etc, but from experience Of buying a old edwardian book on british birds from a book shop in cromer
Norfolk some of the storys and local events Inside added a bit of magic for me and nostalgia from times long gone and the drawn coloured plates after 112 years are still bright to the eye.