4 comments about A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina.

1. This book tells where along the North Carolina coast that you might see listed birds and what time of year. I suuppose if you knew all the birds and there characteristics it might help you get around the areas.



2. The quintesential birders guide to NC! Great maps, very accurate driving directions.



3. This book is a wonderful resource for people who want to know where to go to find birds in North Carolina. It is detailed and thorough. It might be a bit intimidating for newcommers to birding but shouldn't be. It is a wonderful companion to a field guide for anyone lining or visiting in NC. A prior review by Chuck Riddle rated it low because it had no pictures. The reviewer apparently was expecting a field guide and unfortunatly rated the book based on his mistaken expectations.



4. Anybody that's at all serious about birding the fabulous NC coast needs this book. This will help focus efforts on the most productive, most reliable spots and will make figuring out where to go along the NC coast into a fun and rewarding experience. Fussell knows the NC coast like few others, and he shares that knowledge in fine detail, including very specific driving directions to some little known hotspots. Fussell tells not only where to bird, but when to bird and for what specific species. This book has not only helped increase my life list, but it's helped me really explore some of the places along the coast that are somewhat away from the maddening crowds and off the beaten path.

No comments about Bird Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques (Techniques in Ecology & Conservation).

2 comments about The Illustrated Bald Eagle: The Ultimate Reference Guide for Bird Lovers, Woodcarvers, and Artists (The Denny Rogers Visual Reference series).

1. A very comprehensive reference book on the eagle. Skeletal structure is illustrated and upper and lower details of each wing is provided in excellent detail. Color information is also provided. An excellent reference for woodcarving, painting and similar uses.



2. An absolute must for anyone who works professionally in creating America's symbol! As a sculptor of numerous public art life-size or larger pieces in bronze, this is the "new standard for reference". An absolute must for any wildlife artists' library! Should however be offered in a "Spiral Bound" Edition.
   [...]

No comments about ORVIS Beginner's Guide to Birdwatching (Orvis Guides).

5 comments about Bird-by-Bird Gardening: The Ultimate Guide to Bringing in Your Favorite Birds-Year after Year.

1. I just started reading Sally's book, one of which I should have written myself, but am delighted in the way she has designed this topic. As a person with a forestry background, I have long advocated that the birds represent the plant community, however indirectly. That said, once one gets the needs of a particular species, which has been well brought about by the endangered species advocates, then a landowner can tailor approaches with managing property in order to attract those birds. Other wildlife is benefitted, too, but we do concentrate on birdlife. So, this a two pronged effort: pay attention to the plant associations, and then realize the wildlife management aspects resulting. Each of us can be an earth citizen, making a vital contribution on one's own land. I have a radio show and weekly newspaper column here in NH, "COUNTRY ECOLOGY" where I pursue these ecological profiles and whatever one can do to make things prosper. I formerly built over 11,000 bark-faced natural birdhouses during 14 years in that business, and was on the board of directors for NABS. I take care of two UNH natural areas on Squam Lake, where "On Golden Pond" was filmed years ago.



2. I found this book to be of little use to anyone other than those just beginning to be interested in birding. Many of the chapters could be combined into simply a chapter entitled how to attract birds. Many are repeates. This book is also seriously lacking in usable pictures of many of the birds that it discusses.



3. I agree with the reviewer who said this book is of little use to anyone who knows much at all about birds. When I wasn't wanting to toss the book across the room because I was sick of the idiotic comparisons (sorting birds is like sorting socks, et al) I was saying to myself "no kidding."
   Plant sunflowers for birds. Plant tubular flowers for hummingbirds. There, I just saved you about $25 and a couple hours. Thank me by not supporting this author by buying this garbage.
   She also makes no mention of the fact that you can plant all the aforementioned goo you want but still some birds WON'T come to your yard. Why? They don't come to your part of the country. Other than hummingbirds, which the author list what hummers can be found where, the author makes little to no mention of the fact that some birds are rare to never seen in some parts of the country, plentiful in other parts. I really don't know how this author got this book sold because it lacks facts, research and anything else that makes it helpful for anyone other than readers who don't know that most all birds eat sunflower seeds. And if you don't know that, you probably can't read in the first place.



4. I really like the concept of this book. Very few of my gardening for birds books are set up by the "how to attract birds by bird family" groupings. I wish it had a little more substance though.
   
   The first section contains three chapters with some general overview information on how the bird families are divided up, basics of bird needs, general thoughts on habitats, etc.
   
   The second section features chapters on the general bird families which include: woodpeckers, flycatchers, vireos, crows/jays; swallows; chickadee/titmouse; nuthatch; wren; kinglet; thrush; mimic thrush; waxwing; warbler; tanager; large finch; small finch; blackbird/oriole; hummingbird; gallinaceous (quail, bobowhite, etc.).
   
   Each family chapter includes an overview of the bird family, a brief summary of their range and habits, the plants they eat, a suggested mini garden bed plan designed to attract them, information on their eating habits, and a chart of the top few plants to attract them. It also includes brief paragraphs on their backyard fare, feeder foods, water preferences, and nesting needs.
   
   The third section covers the seasonal aspects of bird watching - noting general migration habits, overwintering, etc.
   
   The back has a chapter of resources for things like feeders, birdbaths, plants etc.
   
   Overall I don't think it was anywhere near as bad a book as some of the other reviews imply, but I will say it didn't have as much meat as I had hoped it would have. I also agree with the comment that mapped bird ranges would have been more useful. Plant lists are somewhat skimpy (except hummingbirds - that one is pretty extensive).
   
   I felt like I learned a good amount about each of the families and that was good (and educational). I didn't really feel like I learned a lot about how to attract them to my yard in particular. The book was well written and easy/interesting to read.
   
   So, I would say it is an interesting book to add to your bird knowledge library, but it doesn't really meet its objective of showing you how to attract particular families of birds to your yard.



5. I have tried over the years to create a yard that is as friendly to wild birds as possible. I've made kind of a game out of seeing how many different species I can attract to my yard. I found this book to be very helpfull in my efforts. As the title suggests, it's more of a gardening book than a bird guide, so people who want detailed information about the birds should look elsewhere. But if you know enough about birds to know which ones can be found in your area, the information in this book will help you plant gardens that will entice those birds into your yard.

1 comments about Birding Oregon: 44 Prime Birding Areas with More Than 200 Specific Sites (Falcon Guide).

1. Falcon Guides have, through the years, become one of the most reliable nature-oriented publishers in the US. Over the past ten years or so, dozens of volumes dealing with everything from hiking, to nature watching, to birding and beyond have been published, usually to much acclaim. Like any publishing firm, of course, some of Falcon's volumes are far superior to others. Birding Texas, for example, one of the oldest guides to birding the Lone Star State, is still one of the best on the market. The far more recent Birding North Carolina, on the other hand, while interesting, is "thin" and lacking in dozens of ways. John Rakestraw's Birding Oregon, the latest in Falcon's multi-volume series, falls somewhere in the middle between these two examples.
   
   Oregon is, quite obviously, a huge state with an unbelievable diversity of geography, from 10,000 feet-plus mountains to high desert regions, from hundreds of miles of Pacific Ocean coastline to forests which seemingly never end. For birding enthusiasts, it probably is unreasonable to expect that any one volume would be able to provide a thorough guide to the state's complexity. Certainly, this particular book does not fulfill that need. That having been said, however, Rakestraw (and Falcon) have done birders and nature-lovers, whether residents of Oregon or simply tourists passing through, an important service. In Birding Oregon, the author has focused on what he calls "44 Prime Birding Areas with More Than 200 Specific Sites" where one might realistically find a wide diversity of birds within the state. Oregon has long needed such a modern guide like this--the most recent before Rakestraw's study came out in 1990--and, for now anyway, it will be the definitive volume which birders will consult.
   
   It is easy to praise this volume but it is also important to note that most of the discussions of possible sites for seeing birds in the state are very skimpy, at best, and that the directions for reaching most of them leave a great deal to be desired. Though there are nineteen pages of GPS-compatible maps in the back of the volume as well as a seasonal abundance chart to the 505 birds which have, at one time or another, appeared within the state's boundaries, in many ways, this book is far more a travel guide than a birding one. Far too often Rakestraw barely discusses the variety of bird life that can be found at the sites that he has highlighted. We can only hope that sometime in the not-too-distant future another far more detailed guide book will come on the market. Until it does, however, Birding Oregon is a "must" for glove compartments and backpacks as bird lovers head out to see the beauty that is Oregon.

5 comments about A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (Comstock books).

1. An excellent field guide to Trinidad & Tobago's avifauna, the ffrench has been around long enough, & loved well enough, in its various editions, to be considered a classic of its kind. I've used it everywhere from Port of Spain's Botanical Gardens to the forests of the Northern Range to the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust to my own back garden & never failed to identify the specimen in question (& I am no more than an enthusiatic amateur). This book, for me, is the model of a natural history field guide.



2. I used ffrench's guide for a month of birding on Tobago, and found many mistakes. The plates are incomplete and inaccurate (the chachalaca, Tobago's national bird, is not given a color plate), the "range and subspecies" descriptions are confusing, the English names are not up-to-date with current ornithological classifications, and it is just plain difficult to use. I give it two stars instead of one because it is pretty much the only guide for Trinidad and Tobago birds available, so if you plan to do any bird watching on Trinidad or Tobago, you're better off with this book than without it. One of the biggest problems is that ffrench often does not include plates of common North American birds (the broad-winged hawk, for example), so if you are not familiar with North American birds, I suggest you also bring another field guide, such as Sibley's or Peterson's.



3. I took this book to T/T on a bird watching trip and found it mildly useful. I am not a professional birder, so take that into account. The colors in the plates are not very true in many cases and the separation of plates from descriptive info is not helpful. Compared to such books as The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America it is a not very useful. Apparently not much else is available.



4. I got really shafted on this purchase. This is apparently the 1991 version of this field guide (which is not that great), recently reprinted in Britain. I could have bought the same version printed in the US for half what I paid for this version printed in Britain. The 2003 date on the description in Amazon is a reprinting date, not a revision date, which I thought it was. False advertising.



5. If you are interested in Trinidadian birds this is a good purchase. The plates are not very good (the author wanted new plates for the new edition) but the text, with descriptions and distributions is very helpful.
   
   I read this, and looked at the pictures in Hilty's "Birds of Venezuela"

No comments about Field Guide to Backyard Birds of the Midwest (Field-Guide to Backyard Birds).

1 comments about New Hampshire Birds.

1. Very handy! A nice light-weight reference to carry in your backpack, car or purse. The plastic coating can withstand moisture & will easily wipe clean.

No comments about Majestic Eagles: Compelling Facts and Images of the Bald Eagle.