i'm just getting into birding (and ya'll have been a big help with advice on binocs) and am hoping for suggestions on the basic books to be familiar with for a beginner. i already have sibley, the national geographic, and peterson's field guides. what other books can you recommend i read? thanks.
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basic birding library (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter brunop
- Start date
Dave B Smith
Well-known member
Brunop,
You've already got more reference material than you'll need for a while. I'd concentrate on getting out and watching the birds. Taking notes, making sketches, and then looking them up in one of your guides to ID them. You might want to try to go out with some more experienced birders from time to time also. You can arrange this through a local Audubon chapter or other birding club. But remember, it's the effort of trying to note the salient points and ID'ing it yourself that helps you learn the best.
There have been a number of threads in this forum on getting started and you might want to search through a few of them for more ideas.
You've already got more reference material than you'll need for a while. I'd concentrate on getting out and watching the birds. Taking notes, making sketches, and then looking them up in one of your guides to ID them. You might want to try to go out with some more experienced birders from time to time also. You can arrange this through a local Audubon chapter or other birding club. But remember, it's the effort of trying to note the salient points and ID'ing it yourself that helps you learn the best.
There have been a number of threads in this forum on getting started and you might want to search through a few of them for more ideas.
crispycreme
Well-known member
Get yourself a bird songs/sounds CD too, either the Stokes or the Petersons one:
<<Stokes Bird Song Guide for Eastern U.S.>>
<<Peterson's Bird Song Guide for Eastern and Central U.S.>>
Also, get yourself a book on understanding birds and bird behavior, something like:
<<Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior>>.
One other basic necessity is to get a local guide book for discovering the best birding locales in your area. Here's one for Western Massachusetts:
<<Bird Finding Guide to Western Massachusetts>>.
<<Stokes Bird Song Guide for Eastern U.S.>>
<<Peterson's Bird Song Guide for Eastern and Central U.S.>>
Also, get yourself a book on understanding birds and bird behavior, something like:
<<Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior>>.
One other basic necessity is to get a local guide book for discovering the best birding locales in your area. Here's one for Western Massachusetts:
<<Bird Finding Guide to Western Massachusetts>>.
Naturalist
Naturalist
If you like reading, try the Birder's Handbook by Ehrlich. It's a soft cover you leave at home, but it has essays that expalin much of the wonderful behavior you will see, from mobbing to pair bonding to duck language etc! Great essays on one side with detailed species profile on the other. North American focus.
matt green
Norfolkman gone walkabout
greetings brunop,i confess to being a secondhand book shop junkie.most books are quite expensive an although i will continue to buy the ones that really appeal trawling through secondhand bookshops and bootsales you can find some real bargains and soon build an extensive library at little cost.there is also the possibility of finding a rare edition or good quality books that are simply out of print.matt
Last edited:
dendroica_john
Well-known member
My basic birding library would look something like this:
1. Field guide, preferably the big Sibley
2. Kaufman's Advanced Birding and Sibley's Birding Basics. These are useful for sorting out tricky identifications and learning how to look at birds.
3. A guide to local birding sites - in addition to the book cited above by crispycreme, there may be information about where to bird available from your local bird clubs or Audubon Societies. Joining a local birding listserve (or looking through its archives online) will help you find birding spots too.
4. A guide to bird behavior: I find Kaufman's Lives of North American Birds most useful, but Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior and Ehrlich's Birder's Handbook are also good. The main difference between Kaufman and Sibley is that Kaufman treats individual species while Sibley only treats families.
5. Sound recordings: There are reference CDs available from Peterson and Stokes with bird calls, and also the Peterson Birding by Ear CDs. The Peterson Field Guide on CD-ROM also has audio files but generally the quality is not as good as the music CDs.
Some of these may be available at a substantial discount at Book Closeouts.
There are also many fine books that treat individual bird families, but you do not really need them right now. As you get deeper into birding, you might look into picking some up through bargain shops, second hand stores, etc. In particular there is a great guide to hawk identification by Dunne, Sibley, and Sutton. The main thing though, when you are starting out, is to get out in the field and look at birds and listen to them. Sketching is a great idea, as is writing out full descriptions noting every detail and then comparing them with the field guides at home.
1. Field guide, preferably the big Sibley
2. Kaufman's Advanced Birding and Sibley's Birding Basics. These are useful for sorting out tricky identifications and learning how to look at birds.
3. A guide to local birding sites - in addition to the book cited above by crispycreme, there may be information about where to bird available from your local bird clubs or Audubon Societies. Joining a local birding listserve (or looking through its archives online) will help you find birding spots too.
4. A guide to bird behavior: I find Kaufman's Lives of North American Birds most useful, but Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior and Ehrlich's Birder's Handbook are also good. The main difference between Kaufman and Sibley is that Kaufman treats individual species while Sibley only treats families.
5. Sound recordings: There are reference CDs available from Peterson and Stokes with bird calls, and also the Peterson Birding by Ear CDs. The Peterson Field Guide on CD-ROM also has audio files but generally the quality is not as good as the music CDs.
Some of these may be available at a substantial discount at Book Closeouts.
There are also many fine books that treat individual bird families, but you do not really need them right now. As you get deeper into birding, you might look into picking some up through bargain shops, second hand stores, etc. In particular there is a great guide to hawk identification by Dunne, Sibley, and Sutton. The main thing though, when you are starting out, is to get out in the field and look at birds and listen to them. Sketching is a great idea, as is writing out full descriptions noting every detail and then comparing them with the field guides at home.
