Ornithological Books of Interest

Compiled by Kurt Leuschner, MS

College of the Desert, Department of Natural Resources

May 2008

Adler, Bill Jr., editor, The Quotable Birder, The Lyons Press, New York, 2001.

ISBN 1-58574-003-9

Alderfer, Jonathan and Dunn, Jon L., National Geographic Birding Essentials, National

Geographic Society, Washington DC, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4262-0135-6

Attwood, Jonathan L., A High Elevation Occurrence of Scrub Jays in the San

Bernardino Mountains, in Western Birds, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1984. pg. 32.

Austin, Oliver L., Families of Birds, Golden Press, New York, 1985.

ISBN 0-307-13669-8 out-of-print

Barnes, Simon, How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher, Pantheon Books, New York, 2004.

ISBN 0-375-42355-9

Barrow, Mark, A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology After Audubon, Princeton

University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-691-04402-3

Barton, Roger, How to Watch Birds, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 1961. Out of Print.

Baughman, Mel, editor, National Geographic Reference Atlas to the Birds of North

America, National Geographic Society, Wash DC, 2003. ISBN 0-7922-3373-5

Bejcek, Vladimir, & Stastny, Karel, The Complete Encyclopedia of Birds, Rebo

Publishers, The Netherlands, 1999. ISBN 90-366-1594-1

Birders Journal, The Basics of Bird Identification, Birders Journal Publishing Inc., 1998.

No ISBN. Available through the ABA ph 800-634-7736

Brinkley, Edward S., National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North

America, Sterling Publishing Co., New York, 2007. ISBN 13:978-1-4027-3874-6

Beolens, Bo, and Watkins, Michael, Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People

They Commemorate, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT 2003.

ISBN 0-300-10359-X

Bircham, Peter, A History of Ornithology, Harper-Collins, London, 2007.

ISBN 13: 978-0-00-719969-3

Bird, David M., The Bird Almanac, Firefly Books, Inc., Buffalo, New York, 2004.

ISBN 1-55297-925-3

Bridge, Eli, et. al, “Measuring egg size using digital photography: testing Hoyt’s

method using Florida Scrub-Jay eggs” in Journal of Field Ornithology, vol. 78, no.1, March 2007, pp. 109-116.

Bruun, Bertel, The Dell Encyclopedia of Birds, Delacorte Press, New York, 1974.

ISBN 0-440-01785-8

Bumstead, Pat E., Canadian Feathers: A Loon-Atics Guide to Anting, Mimicry and

Dump Nesting, Simply Wild Publications Inc., Calgary, Alberta, 2001.

ISBN 0-9689278-0-7

Carlson, Douglas, Roger Tory Peterson – A Biography, University of Texas Press,

Austin, TX, 2007. ISBN 978-0-292-71680-3

Carter, Geoffrey M., et.al., Nocturnal Nest Predation: A Potential Obstacle to Recovery

of a Florida Scrub-Jay Population, in Journal of Field Ornithology, 78(4): 390-394, 2007.

Chapman, Frank, Autobiography of a Bird-Lover, D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc.,

New York, 1933. No ISBN

Collins, Henry Hill, What Bird Is This?, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1961.

ISBN 0-486-21490-7

Cooper, Daniel S., Important Bird Areas of California, Audubon California, 2004.

Library of Congress # 2003115291

Dunn, Jon L., & Alderfer, Jonathan, National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of

North America, National Geographic, Washington, D.C., 2006.

ISBN 0-7922-5314-0

Dunne, Pete, Pete Dunne on Bird Watching, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 2003.

ISBN 0-395-90686-5

Dunne, Pete, Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion, Houghton Mifflin Co.,

Boston, 2006. ISBN 13: 978-0-618-23648-0

Ehrlich, Paul, The Birder’s Handbook, Simon and Schuster Inc., New York, 1988.

ISBN 0-671-62133-5

Elphick, Jonathan, Editor, Atlas of Bird Migration, Firefly Books, New York, 2007.

ISBN 13: 978-1-55407-248-4

Erickson, Laura, 101 Ways to Help Birds, Stackpole Books, Mechancisburg, PA, 2006.

ISBN 13: 978-0-8117-3302-1

Farrand, John Jr., editor, The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding (3 volumes),

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1983. ISBN 0-394-53382-8 out-of-print

Fisher, James and Peterson, Roger Tory, World of Birds, Crescent Books Inc., New

York, Library of Congress #77-149490

Faaborg, John, Saving Migrant Birds: Developing Strategies for the Future, Univ. of

Texas Press, 2002. ISBN 0-292-72548-5

Forshaw, Joseph, Birding, Fog City Press, San Francisco, CA 1994.

ISBN 978-1-74089-582-8

Froehlich, Dan, Ageing North American Landbirds by Molt Limits and Plumage

Criteria, Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, Calif., 2003. ISBN 0-9168940-2-4

Garrett, Kimball & Dunn, Jon, Birds of the Los Angeles Region, R.W. Morse Co.,

Olympia, Wash., 2006. ISBN 0-9640810-5-9

Garrett, Kimball & Dunn, Jon, Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,

Los Angeles Audubon Society, 1981. No ISBN out of print

Gill, Frank and Wright, Minturn, Birds of the World: Recommended English Names,

Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2006. ISBN 13: 978-0-691-12827-6

Gotch, A.F. 1981. Birds – Their Latin Names Explained. Blandford Press, Dorset.

ISBN 0-7137-1175-2

Guttman, Burton, Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Birdwatchers,

Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-0-618-78216-1

Hamilton, Robert, & Patten, Michael, Rare Birds of California, Western Field

Ornithologists, 2007. ISBN 13: 978-0-9790585-0-9

Harrison, Colin, A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American

Birds, William Collins and Sons, London, 1978. ISBN 0-529-05484-1

Harrison, George H., Roger Tory Peterson’s Dozen Birding Hotspots, Simon and

Schuster, New York, 1976. ISBN 0-671-22329-1

Harrison, Hal H., A Field Guide to Western Birds’ Nests, Houghton Mifflin Co., New

York, 1979. ISBN 0-618-16437-5

Heintzelman, Donald S., The Illustrated Bird Watcher’s Dictionary, Winchester Press,

Tulsa, OK 1980. ISBN 0-87691-314-1

Henderson, Carrol, Oology: Ralph’s Talking Eggs, University of Texas Press, Austin,

2007. ISBN 978-0-292-71451-9

Hickey, Joseph J., A Guide to Bird Watching, Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1975.

ISBN 0-486-21596-2

Holden, Raymond P., The Ways of Nesting Birds, 1970. Dodd, Mead, & Co., New

York. Lib. Congress # 76-102728

Holloway, Joel Ellis. 2003. Dictionary of Birds of the United States, Timber Press,

Portland, OR ISBN 0-88192-600-0

Howell, Steve, Hummingbirds of North America, Princeton University Press, New

Jersey, 2002. ISBN 0-691-11603-2

Howell, Steve, and Dunn, Jon, Gulls of the Americas, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York,

2007. ISBN 13: 978-0-618-72641-7

Hume, Rob and Couzens, Dominic, Birdwatching: All the Tips and Techniques You

Need to Get Into Birdwatching, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2005.

ISBN 10: 0-06-084989-4

Jobling, James. 1991. A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Oxford University Press,

New York. ISBN 0-19-854634-3

Kastner, Joseph. A World of Watchers, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986.

ISBN 0-394-52869-7

Kaufman, Kenn, Birds of North America – Kaufman Focus Guides, Houghton Mifflin

Co., New York, 2000. ISBN 0-395-96464-4

Kaufman, Kenn, A Field Guide to Advanced Birding, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York,

1990. ISBN 0-395-53517-4

Keenan, Philip E., Birding Across North America: A Naturalist’s Observations, Timber

Press, Portland, Oregon, 2002. ISBN 0-88192-528-4

King, Alicia, Orvis Beginner’s Guide to Birdwatching, Creative Publishing

International, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2008. ISBN 13:978-1-58923-349-2

Koeppel, Dan. To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, A Son, and a Lifelong

Obsession, Penguin Books Ltd., New York, 2005. ISBN 1-59463-001-1

Kroodsma, Donald, The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to

Birdsong, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2005. ISBN 0-618-40568-2

Lentz, Joan E., Introduction to Birds of the Southern California Coast, University of

California Press, Berkeley, 2006. ISBN 0-520-23780-3

Liguori, Jerry, Hawks from Every Angle, Princeton Univ. Press, 2005.

ISBN-13: 978-0-691-11824-6

Lockley, R.M., and Russell, Rosemary, Bird-Ringing, Crosby, Lockwood and Son, Ltd,

London, 1953. out-of-print No ISBN.

Marler, Peter and Slabbekoorn, Hans, Nature’s Music: The Science of Birdsong,

Academic Press, London, 2004.

Martin, Glenn, National Geographic’s Guide to Wildlife Watching, National Geographic

Society, Washington, D.C., 1998. ISBN 0-7922-7130-0

Massey, Barbara, Guide to the Birds of the Anza-Borrego Desert, Anza Borrego Desert

NHA, Borrego Springs, CA 1998. ISBN 0-910805-08-3

Mearns, Barbara & Richard, 1992. Audubon to Xantus: The Lives of Those

Commemorated in North American Bird Names. Academic Press, New York

ISBN 0-12-487423-1

Miller, Alden H., and Stebbins, Robert C., The Lives of Desert Animals in Joshua Tree

National Monument, Univ. of Calif. Press, Berkeley, CA. 1973.

ISBN 0-520-00866-9

Moss, Stephen, The Birding Life, Aurum Press, London, 2006. ISBN 10: 1-84513-1800

Newton, Ian. The Speciation and Biogeography of Birds, Academic Press,

London, 2003.

O’Connor, Mike, Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Headaches?, Beacon Press, Boston, MA,

2007. ISBN 13: 978-0-8070-8574-5

Peeters, Hans, Field Guide to Owls of California and the West, Univ. of Calif. Press,

Berkeley, 2007. ISBN 978-0-520-24741-3

Peterson, Roger Tory, How to Know the Birds, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1957.

No ISBN, out-of-print

Peterson, Roger Tory, A Field Guide to Western Birds, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston,

1961. ISBN 0-395-13692-X

Pitkin, Melissa, Mist-netting with the Public, PRBO Conservation Science (booklet),

Petaluma, CA www.prbo.org

Proctor, Noble S., 25 Birding Areas in Connecticut, The Pequot Press, Chester, Conn.,

1978. ISBN 0-87106-096-05

Pyle, Peter, Identification Guide to North American Birds, Slate Creek Press, Bolinas,

Calif. 1997. ISBN 0-9618940-2-4

Ralph, C.John, Handbook of Field Methods for Monitoring Landbirds, Pacific

Southwest Research Station, Albany, CA 1993. USDA Technical Report

# PSW-GTR-144

Ralph, C. John, The Body Grasp Technique: A Rapid Method of Removing Birds from

Mist Nets, in North American Bird Bander, April-June 2005 issue, pp. 65-70

Rappole, John H., Birds of the Southwest, Texas A&M Univ. Press, College Station, TX

2000. ISBN 0-89096-957-4 cloth

Ritter, Lyman V., Nesting Ecology of Scrub Jays in Chico, California, in Western Birds,

Vol. 14, No. 3, 1983. pp. 147-158.

Schepe, Sophia G., A Naturalist’s View: Observations of some of the Creatures and

Plants of the Anza-Borrego Desert, Galeria Press, Borrego Springs, CA 1985. ISBN 0-9615137-1-3

Schodde, Dr. Richard, The Encyclopedia of Birds, Fog City Press, Sydney, Australia,

2006. ISBN 1-740-89355-7

Schram, Brad, A Birder’s Guide to Southern California, American Birding Associtation,

Inc., Asheville, NC. 2007. ISBN 1-878788-51-5

Shackleford, Clifford and Rozenburg, Edward, Migration and the Migratory Birds of

Texas, Texas Parks & Wildlife, 1999.

Sibley, David Allen, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America,

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. ISBN 0-679-45121-8

Sibley, David Allen, Sibley’s Birding Basics, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2002.

ISBN 0-375-70966-5

Smith, Gusse Thomas, Birds of the Southwestern Desert, Doubleshoe Publishers,

Scottsdale, AZ 1965. Library of Congress Catalog Number 56-2505 out-of-print

Snyder, Noel and Helen, The California Condor: A Saga of Natural History and

Conservation, Academic Press, San Diego, 2000. ISBN 0-12-654005-5

Stacey, Peter B., and Koenig, Walter D., editors, Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-

term Studies of Ecology and Behavior, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990. ISBN 0521378907

Stokes, Donald & Lillian, Stokes Field Guide to Birds – Western Region, Little, Brown

& Co., New York, 1996. ISBN 0-316-81810-0

Stokes, Donald & Lillian, Field Guide to Warblers, Little, Brown & Co., New York

2004. ISBN 0-316-81664-7

Stutchbury, Bridget, Silence of the Songbirds, Walker and Co., New York, 2007.

ISBN 10: 0-8027-1609-1

Tait, Malcolm, and Taylor, Olive, The Birdwatcher’s Companion, Robson Books,

London, 1985. ISBN 1-86105-833-0

Thompson, Bill, Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification

Challenges, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2005. ISBN 0-618-51469-4

Trovern-Trend, Jonathan, Birding Babylon, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA 2006.

ISBN 1-57805-131-21

Udvardy, Miklos, The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Alfred

A. Knopf, New York, 1977. ISBN 0-394-41410-1

Unitt, Philip, San Diego County Bird Atlas, San Diego Natural History Museum, San

Diego, CA 2004. ISBN 0-934-797-21-8

Van Hulsteyn, Peggy, The Birder’s Guide to Bed and Breakfasts, John Muir

Publications, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1993. ISBN 1-56261-106-2

Weidensaul, Scott, Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds,

North Point Press, 1999. ISBN 0-86547-591-1

Weidensaul, Scott, Of a Feather – A Brief History of American Birding, Harcourt Inc.,

New York, 2007. ISBN

Wells, Jeffrey, Birder’s Conservation Handbook, Princeton University Press, New

Jersey, 2007. ISBN 978-0-691-12322-6

White, Lisa, editor, Good Birders Don’t Wear White, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York,

2007. ISBN 13: 978-0-618-75642-1

Williamson, Sheri L., A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America, Houghton

Mifflin Co., New York, 2001. ISBN 0-618-02496-4

Wilsdon, Christina, Smithsonian Q & A Birds, HarperCollins, New York, 2006.

ISBN 10: 0-06-089114-9

Winker, Kevin, Obtaining, Preserving, and Preparing Bird Specimens, in Journal of

Field Ornithology, Vol. 71, No. 2, Spring 2000.

Woolfenden, Glen E., & Fitzpatrick, John W., The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a

Cooperative-Breeding Bird, Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 1984.

ISBN 0-691-08367-3

Zimmer, Kevin J., The Western Bird Watcher: An Introduction to Birding in the

American West, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 1985. ISBN 0-13-950817-1

A Few Other Favorites:

Merlin, Pinau, A Field Guide to Desert Holes, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum Press,

Tucson, 1999. ISBN 1-886679-12-6

Morhardt, Sia & Emil, California Desert Flowers, University of California Press,

Berkeley, 2004. ISBN 0-520-24002-2

Powell, Jerry & Hogue, Charles, California Insects, University of California Press,

Berkeley, 1979. ISBN 0-520-03782-0

Russo, Ron, Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States,

University of California Press, Berkeley, 2006. ISBN 13: 978-0-520-24885-4

Stebbins, Robert, A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Houghton Mifflin

Co., New York, 2003. ISBN 0-395-98272-3 (note: this is the newest edition)