A list of books, Cds and DVDs

While I'm waiting for the Brooklyn Red-tailed Hawks to fledge I decided to finish my list of recommended books, CDs and videos. It is not a comprehensive list, just material I've read, listened to or watched and think they are worth passing along. The list will eventually be transferred to a series of pulldown menus in the sidebar to the right.

The field guides range from general birding reference to specific families of birds (usually the ones I find difficult to learn). Many are recent publications, but a few are fairly old and worth owning. One example is Jack Connor's, "The Complete Birder". His easy-going, humorous style of writing makes learning easy.

Much of the material on the list is specific to birding, however there are also items that would be of interest to non-birders. I've included some insect and botanical guides, as well as, some videos that anyone who loves nature could appreciate. This past weekend National Public Radio broadcast a story about the recent publication, "Songs of Insects". You can listen to the broadcast on NPR's website. I highly recommend it.

Two award winning films about a bird of prey and their family are also on the list; "Pale Male" and "Kestrel's Eye". One is seen through the eyes of New Yorkers with NYC as its backdrop. The other views life through the eyes of a falcon with a small Swedish village as its backdrop. View the "Pale Male" trailer here. View "Kestrel's Eye" trailer here.

I'll continue to update the list over time. Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments.

Books

Birding Skills
The Complete Birder: A Guide to Better Birding
by Jack Connor
Published by Houghton Mifflin

Field Guide to Advanced Birding : Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them
by Kenn Kaufmann
Published by Houghton Mifflin

Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips from North America's Top Birders
by Lisa White (ed.)
Published by Houghton Mifflin

Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Migrant Raptors
by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, Clay Sutton
Published by Houghton Mifflin

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding
By Peter Dunne
Published by Houghton Mifflin

Sibley's Birding Basics
by David Allen Sibley
Published by Tandem Library


Field Guides - Birds, Families
Seabirds of the World The Complete Reference
by Jim Enticott and David Tipling
Published by Stackpole Books

The Shorebird Guide
by Michael O’Brien, Richard Crossley, Kevin Karlson
Published by Houghton Mifflin

A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors
by Brian K. Wheeler & William S. Clark
Published by A & C Black

Raptors of Eastern North America
by Brian K. Wheeler
Published by Princeton University Press

Raptors of Western North America
by Brian K. Wheeler
Published by Princeton University Press

Sparrows of the United States and Canada: The Photographic Guide
by David Beadle & James Rising
Published by Natural World

Warblers of North America
by Jon Dunn & Kimball Garrett
Published by Houghton Mifflin


Field Guides - Birds, General (North America)
National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America
by Jon L. Dunn, Eirik A. Blom, George E. Watson, John P. O'Neill
Published by Tandem Library

The Sibley Guide to Birds
written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley.
Published by Alfred A. Knopf

- The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
- The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America


Field Guides - Insects, Families
Butterflies of the East Coast
By R. B. Cech, Guy Tudor
Published by Princeton University Press

Butterflies Through Binoculars: The East
By Jeffrey Glassberg
Published by Oxford University Press

Butterflies Through Binoculars: The West
By Jeffrey Glassberg
Published by Oxford University Press

Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America
By Sidney W. Dunkle
Published by Oxford University Press


Field Guides - Plants
Newcomb's Wildflower Guide
By Lawrence Newcomb
Little, Brown and Company

The Eyewitness Handbook of Trees
By Allen J. Coombes
Published by Dorling Kindersley

New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area
By Edward Sibley Barnard
Published by Columbia University Press


Non-Fiction
101 Ways to Help Birds
by Laura Erickson
Published by Stackpole Book

Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul
by Scott Weidensaul
Published by North Point Press

Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds
by Miyoko Chu
Published by Walker & Co.


Reference
The Birder's Handbook : A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds
by Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, Darryl Wheye
Published by Simon & Schuster

Bull's Birds of New York State
by John L. Bull, Emanuel Levine, Federation of New York State Bird Clubs, American Museum of Natural History
Cornell University Press

The Singing Life of Birds (includes audio CD)
by Donald Kroodsma
Published by Houghton Mifflin

The Songs of Insects (includes audio CD)
By Lang Elliott, Wil Hershberger
Published by Houghton Mifflin


Local Guides
The New York City Audubon Society Guide to Finding Birds in the Metropolitan Area
By Marcia T. Fowle, Paul Kerlinger
Cornell University Press


MULTIMEDIA

Videos (DVD)
The Large Gulls of North America
Narrated by Jon L. Dunn
Produced by Peregrine Video Productions

The Small Gulls of North America
Narrated by Jon L. Dunn
Produced by Peregrine Video Productions

Looking Skyward: A Passion for Hawkwatching
Produced by Migration Productions, Inc.

Kestrel's Eye
by Mikael Kristersson

Pale Male
by Frederic Lilien

Watching Warblers
by Michael Male and Judy Fieth
Produced by Blue Earth Films


Audio (CD)
Birding by Ear, Eastern/Central
by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson
published by Houghton Mifflin Company

More Birding by Ear, Eastern/Central
by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson
published by Houghton Mifflin Company

Birding by Ear, Western
by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson
published by Houghton Mifflin Company

Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region
by Lang Elliott with Donald and Lillian Stokes
published by Little, Brown & Company

Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Western Region
by Lang Elliott with Donald and Lillian Stokes
published by Little, Brown & Company