3 comments about Cocker Spaniels (Complete Pet Owner's Manual).

1. I've owned dogs since I was young, which makes it more than a few decades. I'm used to finding these generic books, which seem to be the same book over and over, with only the pictures and name of the breed changing from title to title. This one is no such thing. I'm contemplating adopting another Cocker in about a year, and picked up this book from the local big box pet store because it was the only one they had. Started reading it seriously, and was surprised to find a good deal of specificity, a large dose of experience, and very good Cocker Spaniel history and breed knowledge. Highly recommended.



2. It was a good book but it was too general. The book should have covered more on the different aspects of grooming, different inherited defects the cocker spaniel can have and how you can pick them at the puppy stage. I liked how it had examples of the cockers behaviour from personal experience. Overall it was a good book.



3. A fantastic book brimming over with incredibly useful information. It has priceless information in it about every aspect of raising a cocker puppy whether you are raising your puppy to be a house pet or a show dog. It even tells the exact color requirements for show dogs. As a cocker spaniel owner myself, I can tell you that I refer to this book several times a day. It's a book well worth it's price!

3 comments about The Cockatiel: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Your Happy Healthy Pet).

1. This book is informative and well set out. Looking up a paticular part is easy. It has good pictures and is easy to read. It needs to expand a little more in the illness section as when my bird was ill, the symptons did not match any in the book. It is a good book for kids to start with as it goes through care of a cockatiel, diet and general day to day concerns. If you have a sick bird, another book on the shelf is recommended.



2. This book is not just for owners of cockatiels.

   When I first bought my pet tiel, this book was very helpful in discussing all the elements of owning a new cockatiel.

   Ms. Rach does a very nice job of outlining all the necessary steps in making sure your tile is healthy and happy.

   Various chapters in the book include nutrition, training, taming, purchasing, health, diagnosing sickness, cockatiel behavior and other helpful chapters.

   The book is enjoyable to read as Ms.Rach draws from her love and experience in raising these wonderful birds.

   What is distinguishing about her book and other books is her style of writing. You can really tell that she really loves these particular birds.

   The book does not delve into the subjects of breeding or other heavy duty bird type topics such as formulating your own bird seed diet, etc. But if you are a new cockatiel owner who needs a good basic book about how to take care of your bird, I would recommend this book to you.




3. This book is good, It dosen't talk to much on one topic, however it does talk about almost everything such as feeding, behaviour, history, taming (training) and more. However if you want a more usefull book that tells you what to do and how this isn't the book for you.

1 comments about The Birdie Treats Cookbook.

1. Cute book fun to look at. Not many recipes, but didnt' really buy it for that just loved it's look !! good buy :)

2 comments about Handling and Nursing the Game Cock (History of Cockfighting Series) (History of Cockfighting Series).

1. We have here an invaluable resource for the care of game cocks. It offers a lot of that advice that you are otherwise only likely to get from the old timers in the sport. The concerns raised by other reviewers (whom I bet haven't even READ this book!) that the sale of this book constitutes some kind of cruelty are misplaced. Hundreds of cookbooks exist wherein ingredients can only be got through the slaughter of chickens. Does that constitute condoning animal cruelty as well? At least game cocks die honorably and in accordance with their nature, in stead of being mechanically "turned off" in a factory. If they were people, game cocks would go to Valhalla.



2. I thought you might be interested in this Humane Society US campaign to stop Amazon.com's sales of illegal animal fighting materials. Amazon
   sells both cockfighting magazines and bloody, graphic
   dogfighting DVDs. The company is so determined to continue
   selling these materials that it filed a motion against The HSUS
   in federal court, essentially asking that federal and state laws
   to protect animals be gutted to accommodate Amazon's sales of
   animal fighting paraphernalia!
   
   Please ask Amazon to remove these materials from its website.
   Here is a link for more information:
   [...]

4 comments about Birds of Argentina & Uruguay: A Field Guide.

1. Basics: 2003, 15th edition, softcover, 341 pages, 256 color plates, 975 species, range map for each bird
   
   First published in 1987, this is a brief, concise identification guide covering all of Argentina, Uruguay, and the Falkland Islands.
   
   There are 975 species illustrated, with 3-4 on each page. The majority of the birds are illustrated with multiple views (e.g., perched vs. flying; dorsal vs. ventral) and are accompanied by a very short (20-60 words) physical description of the bird. Only the minimum of text is given to range or habitat - typically only a dozen words.
   
   The artistic quality is decent but not great. The physical structure of the passerines is captured with better realism than other groups such as the gulls, terns, shorebirds, ducks, or petrels. These latter groups have misproportioned wings, bills, chests, or length-to-width ratios. Additionally, similar species (e.g., elaenias, flycatchers, furnarids, etc.) will expose the limitations of the minimal descriptions, small-sized paintings, and average detail.
   
   The color reproduction is much better in the 2003 and later editions than in the books printed up through the mid 1990s. The earlier editions have muted or washed out colors on a thinner paper that allows birds from the other side to bleed through. The new books have sharper edges to the illustrations and are on thicker, glossy paper.
   
   The range maps are tiny at 1x2cm; however, they do effectively illustrate the generalized range of the birds.
   
   Heads-up: This book is the original source used to create four other scaled-down books that use the same paintings, text, and maps. They're mini-clones. These include 1) Aves de Patagonia y Antartida, 2) Guia Para la Identificacion de las Aves de Paraguay, 3) Aves de Costanera Sur y Ciudad de Buenos Aires, and 4) Guia para la Identificacion de las Aves de Iguazu. Owning this one book means you own all four of the other books, other than 60 species added to the newer Paraguayan guide.
   
   If you're going to the Patagonia region, I recommend you also take the Chilean guide by Jaramillo and/or the Birds of Patagonia guide by Couve. The illustrations are superior in Jaramillo's book. Couve's book, even with photographs, is also better. And, text is more useful.
   
   This book is available in both Spanish and English.
   
   Other Related Books:
   1) Birds of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and Antarctic Peninsula by Couve
   2) Birds of Chile by Jaramillo
   3) Las Aves de Chile: Nueva Guia de Campo by Martinez and Orlando
   4) Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica by de la Pena
   5) Las Aves del Uruguay by Gore/Gepp
   6) Birds and Mammals of the Antarctic, Subantarctic and Falkland Islands by Todd
   7) Falkland Islands Birds by Woods
   8) Guide to Birds of the Falkland Islands by Woods



2. This book served me well in Patagonia, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu Falls.
   
   Weaknesses: It's a bit big and bulky to easily bring along. Substantively, this book could be improved with larger maps and pages comparing similar species. With the biodiversity of this area, perhaps the only solution is to split the book in two.
   
   Strengths: Complete, good index, names of species in both English and Spanish.
   
   Given the alternatives, I'm still quite pleased that I bought and used this book.



3. This book is depressingly poor, especially considering its price. Some are touting it because the descriptions, images (paintings) and range maps for each species appear together. Bravo! That would be lovely if they were useful, but the maps are too small, the descriptions too brief and vague, and the paintings are (I'm tempted to say "hopelessly") amateuristic. Quality of the illustrations not withstanding, all good modern field guides depict similar (e.g., congenric) species in the same pose so key differences are conspicuous. This field guide seems to go out of its way to do the opposite, featuring as many poses as species, making it essentially impossible to determine essential field marks. There must be something better. If not, avoid Argentina and bird Afghanistan! The result is bound to be more positive.



4. It's an excellent field guide. The little maps with each bird showing the distribution area makes the identification fast and easy. Drawings are very good and so are id clues. I think that due to printing problems sometimes the colors are not so accurate (few cases). If you are coming to Argentina to watch birds, is a must (I'm not the author cousin).

5 comments about The Conure: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet.

1. This is a great intro to Conures for people who are thinking of adopting one. It gives a write up on 25 different species of Conures. It gives a nice over view of what Conure species might be right for you by mentioning noise levels and habits like prone to chewing or feather plucking. It is pretty good in mentioning the responsibilites that come with bird ownership. I think this is important for everyone to know before getting a bird of any kind! The book did get into all kinds of care items to from medical to feeding to grooming and even some tricks & games training.
   
   My favorite part was learning that some Conures will actually sleep on their backs in their food dishes! (HAHA) Other good tips included how to administer meds if you have a sick bird. It gave me some good basic tips.
   
   Things I didn't agree with is not kissing your bird on it's beak and feeding it some low-fat dairy (I don't give my birds any dairy) but to be fair the book did say only a tiny bit because they lack the enzymes to digest dairy. As for the beak thing, I understand the point about human siliva being bad for birds but I certainly don't slobber on my birds!
   
   Overall, I would recommend reading this book if you are thinking of getting a Conure, you just got a Conure and you need to know what to do, or you have one and just can't get enough info on them. It is somewhat basic for any of you that are already experience bird owners though.
   
   Note: Consider visiting a local bird rescue if you are considering a pet bird!



2. When I bought this book, I also purchased Conure books by Anne Watkins and Matthew Vriends. GUIDE TO CONURE is not the best of the three, in my opinion. However, that said, if this is the book you can find then get it and use it. The book is a hard back whereas the others are soft covered books (if that matters), and Rach covers all the basics regarding food, shelter, health issues, etc. In fact, you could use much of the material in her book for any bird's care. She also includes a nice section on the various types of Conures and sections on Conure health that cover issues of concern to this species in particular as well as things to beware of if your Conure is a "free-flight" bird.
   
   Rach includes a nice long section on cage selection as does Watkins. If you haven't given much thought to the cage you should. Conures can be messy birds and you want to buy something big enough to house your guy made of a substance he can't dismantle that is relatively easy to clean. This means you must think about the cage in terms of space considerations and weight. When the FedEX guy delivered my conure's cage he accused me of ruining his health. There are great cages available, but you should consider the cost of the cage and it's accessories when you buy your bird. Rach's book will help you reflect on these and other issues



3. I LOVE this book because most other books on Conures put WAY to much focus on breeding, which is good if you are an avid breeder, but can be a pain if you keep, or want to keep, a Conure as a pet. When I was thinking of getting a Conure, I bought one book, it told me SO little, then I bought another, same stuff said, in a different form, THEN I found this book, and that made me deicide on a Sun Conure, I would recommend it to people who are considering getting a bird the most, it tells you what might happen if you get a Conure, it doesn't try to mask the fact that Conures are VERY high need birds, if there is anything wrong with it is that the author doesn't seem to call a bird a he or a she, its weird, but WHO(???) cares, sometimes when I write I make it them problems, and it is understood, so that didn't bother me, but I had to find at least 1 thing wrong with it, and that was all I could think of!
   Hope this helps!!!



4. My family and I have two parakeets and two cockatiels; they are such energetic members of the family and are so loved that we decided to add another bird - you guessed it, a conure. When we brought our Jenday conure home (at 12 weeks old), we had little knowledge of how to take care of a "larger" bird - that is, until we bought and read Julie Rach's fabulous book. It is written in such an easy, friendly style that it's almost addictive to read - and add to this all the up-to-the-minute information on care and proper diet - it's the Conure Bible! We don't hesitate for a moment to say - GO OUT AND GET THIS BOOK!! You and your conure(s) will be glad you did!



5. This is a truly informative book. I was leary about buying this book. Some of the other books i bought seemed to be written for idiots, and i was bored quickly. This one answered all of my questions and went into hard to find detail. I highly recommend this to people who own other birds and are already experienced in bird keeping. It is not just the basics, but the odd things that apply to just Conures. BUY THIS!

No comments about African Greys (The Birdkeepers' Guides).

5 comments about Parakeets (Animal Planet Pet Care Library).

1. As a new parakeet owner, I wanted to make sure I had all the essential information, so I browsed a lot of books, including the same author's "Parakeets for Dummies".
   
   While there are a lot of other excellent informative books out there, I wanted a book that would be appealing to read and clearly and concisely written, so that I'd actually read it all and absorb the information.
   
   That's where this book wins. The design is beautiful and modern, with full color throughout and photographs on almost every page. In spite of being as many pages as most other books on the subject, it felt like an effortless read.
   
   All the basics are covered--choosing and positioning a cage, nutrition, selecting a bird, taming, daily care, looking out for illness, safe and dangerous foods, and so on. This isn't the book for a serious budgerigar breeder, but if you think you might want a pet parakeet, buy this and read on!



2. Knowing next to nothing about birds of any variety, much less Parakeets, I picked up this book as a precursor to purchasing my avian friend. I found all of the content very comprehensive, the author outlined all of the preliminary basics to owning and caring for a bird. This book I feel is safe for all age levels as it gives easy to use and find information. The images and lay out of the book are lively and fun (if you have a short attention span). I felt all of my questions were answered, I had a great understanding of what is required in the diet of a parakeet as well as all of the do's and dont's of a parakeet owner.
   
   I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for advanced information such as how to breed your bird, in-depth medical references, etc. I feel also the author has a slight habit towards redundancy but in most cases it is on/over safety information (which is to say it is good things to know).



3. Its hard to find a book out there on budgies these days that isnt outdated, this one is definitely more with the times, mentions a varied diet and examples of how to go about it, setting up your keet home before you bring it in and most importantly mentions common signs of illness to watch out for. All in all, a great read and I highly recommend it.



4. I was thinking about getting a parakeet so I bought this book and it taught me everything I ever wanted to know about what having a parakeet would entail. I did notice there was nothing about breeding parakeets, but as a new parakeet owner that is far from my top concern at this point. Everything in the book was pertinent to what I needed to know. There was a great chapter on setting up your home for the parakeet and everything you would need to get and how to make your home safe, as well as a chapter about all the different things you can feed your parakeet (including several easy recipes that your parakeet is guaranteed to enjoy!) There are too many parakeet owners out there who neglect their birds, and this book teaches you how to be a great owner instead. I know that when my hand-fed baby parakeet comes home with me in a few weeks the knowledge I gained from this book will make me a great budgie owner!



5. My Mom bought this book for me and my sister. It's too complicated!!! It's ridiculous. Maybe it does have some good information; maybe not. If your under 12 years old, don't get it.

No comments about Amazon Parrots.

3 comments about The Complete Book of Finches and Softbills: Their Care and Breeding.

1. This book does not cover the different types of finches & softbills. It is very general information only, on breeding and care of finches & softbills, no help to the person wanting more specific info. on the different types of finches and their care.



2. I think this is a very good, detailed book for someone new to finches & softbills. At times, it flips back & forth between finches & softbills in a paragraph, which can be confusing for a novice, but it's easy to figure out. It has enough nice pictures to give a good overview of many species, but is not a "picture book" - it is for someone who is serious about the birds and their care. Early on it has a section of compatability which is useful and neccessary. It has a lot of details on aviary housing (many finch books do), and bird rooms, which isn't useful to the average home/apt. bird owner, but more information is better than too little. It is definitely a good resource book.



3. This book encapsulates the best possible groundwork for the beginner to still leaqrning softbill fan. Comprehensive care and breeding "how to's"
   I enjoyed this book immensely and learned some breeding tips even.Thanks