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Favourite Book About Birds/Birding? (1 Viewer)

yaffle27

Active member
Having just finished Stephen Moss’s excellent ‘A Sky Full of Starlings’, I’m looking for recommendations for other books about birds/birding? Rather than an ID guide.

Thanks in advance!
 
A few suggestions:

'Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?' by Lev Parikian
'H Is For Hawk' by Helen Macdonald
'Mrs Moreau's Warbler' by Stephen Moss

Welcome to BirdForum!

Chris
 
Second the recommendation for “‘H’ is for Hawk”, a wonderful book.

Also—
“The Wisdom of Birds” by Tim Birkhead for an informative and readable romp through bird biology and behavior.
 
I find these books hold their own as well-written informative and enduring reads:
Mark Cocker & David Tipling 2013, Birds and People. Jonathan Cape.
Sean Dooley 2005, The Big Twitch. Allen & Unwin.
Don Stap 1990, A Parrot without a Name. Univ. Texas Press.
David Lack 1971, Ecological Isolation in Birds. Blackwell.
Guy Mountfort 1958, Portrait of a Wilderness. Hutchinson.
Roger Tory Peterson & James Fisher 1956, Wild America. Collins.
George Miksch Sutton 1951, Mexican Birds. First Impressions. Univ. Oklahoma Press.
 
"Birding on Borrowed Time" and "life List". Both are books about Phoebe Snetsinger. The first one is an autobiography and the second is written by Olivia Gentile. Phoebe Snetsinger was diagnosed with a fatal illness. She decided to spend what was left of her life with birding. During this time she saw more species than anyone else in the world and she died doing what she loved. Amazing story.
 
For evoking the sheer joy of nature, anything written by Seton Gordon (1886-1977). Some of these books are now hugely expensive collectors' items...

He was an amazing character. having walked over the entire Highlands of Scotland, he took on and ran the task of organising coastwatchers in the remote north-west during WW1 to find any lurking U-boats. In WW2, he helped set up a similar organisation.

He was also much in demand as a judge of piping competitions. His amazing ability to interpret a piper's grace notes he attributed to the 'ear' he had developed from a young age in identifying birds by their calls and songs.
MJB
 
Thank you all for the lovely welcome and all your recommendations - it’s greatly appreciated! I look forward to ordering and getting stuck into a few of them.

Just as a recommendation of my own: I’ve enjoyed books by John Lewis-Steimpel amd John Lister-Kaye.
 
Hi yaffle27! I'm arriving late to the party which is the usual! Have you read Stephen Moss's previous book to 'A Sky Full of Starlings'? it's called 'This Birding Life' and if you enjoyed the former you will like that too! His collaborations with Brett Westwood in the books 'Tweet of the Day' and 'Wonderland' are brilliant and I thoroughly recommend them also. Some others that are good are:

Mike Dilger 'Nightingales in November'
Mike Dilger 'My Garden and other Animals'
Miriam Darlington 'Owl Sense'
Conor Mark Jameson 'Looking for the Goshawk'
 
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For evoking the sheer joy of nature, anything written by Seton Gordon (1886-1977). Some of these books are now hugely expensive collectors' items...

He was an amazing character. having walked over the entire Highlands of Scotland, he took on and ran the task of organising coastwatchers in the remote north-west during WW1 to find any lurking U-boats. In WW2, he helped set up a similar organisation.

He was also much in demand as a judge of piping competitions. His amazing ability to interpret a piper's grace notes he attributed to the 'ear' he had developed from a young age in identifying birds by their calls and songs.
MJB

+1 for MJB’s recommendation. I also enjoy Mike Tomkies’ books.

Rich
 
Some books from my bookshelf that I have enjoyed:
Dan Koeppel: to see every bird on earth (about a world lister, described through the eyes of his son who therefore also include some negatives)
Simon Barnes: how to be a bad birdwatcher
Tony Juniper: Spix's Macaw (on what the threats were and what was done to preserve the bird species - this is a slightly older book, but recent news was that some birds has been released back into the natural area)
L L Haupt: Pilgrim to the great bird continent (About Darwin and the background for his discoveries; the front page says "the importance of everything and other lessons from Darwin's lost notebooks")

Niels
 
I've read a lot of books on Birds & Birding here are a few of my favourites

Follow That Bird by Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie's Little Blackbird Book by Bill Oddie
Birdwatchingwatching by Alex Horne
Behind The Binoculars by Mark Avery & Keith Betton
Behind More Binoculars by Mark Avery & Keith Betton
Birds Britannia by Stephen Moss
Bearded Tit by Rory McGrath
Bill Oddie Unplucked by Bill Oddie
 
Just finished two classics that were great adventure reads and a welcome distraction from "Lockdown":

Kenn Kaufman - Kingbird Highway

Noah Strycker - Birding Without Borders
 
Each Day a Small Victory by Chips Hardy - dark humor / satire. Animals talk, but otherwise behave as animals do. Birdwatchers will appreciate surprisingly accurate observations of English wildlife: stoats, crows, sparrows etc. This is a dumb and brutal book, in the sense that nature is dumb and brutal. A good antidote to idealizing and glorifying nature.
 
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