The "Other" Field Guide to Birds

I am speaking, of course, of the National Wildlife Federation field guide to birds of North America, by Edward S. Brinkley. Published in May 2007 and touted on the back cover as “The most up-to-date all-photographic field guide,” this book seems to have been virtually ignored by bird (and virtually all other) bloggers. That is a shame, as I find it to be an incredibly well-designed and quite useful guide, much more so than other photo-based guides such as those by Ken Kaufmann and Don and Lillian Stokes. More than 750 species are illustrated with 2,100 full-color photographs (an average of nearly 3/species). Each photograph is enhanced with captions highlighting important field marks. Four-color range maps are provided for 600 species. In my opinion, this book should be a mandatory addition to every North American birder’s collection of field guides.

Backyard Birding

Having recently purchased a new home near Buchanan, Michigan, I was anxious to scope out the birdlife in my new backyard. That opportunity came earlier this month when I spent my first weekend there January 4-7. Situated as it is on the shores of Crescent Lake and surrounded by an abundance of natural habitats, I am excited about the possibility of a robust yard list. The first task of the weekend was to set up a variety of seed and suet feeders, which were mostly in place by Saturday.

January 4th brought two species to the yard: Dark-eyed Junco (#1) and Northern Cardinal (#2). The next day brought five new species: Canada Goose in flight over the lake (#3), Ring-billed Gull over the lake enroute to the Southeast Berrien County Sanitary Landfill (#4), Blue Jay (#5), American Goldfinch (#6), and American Crow (#7). On Sunday the 6th, six new species were recorded (all at the feeders): Black-capped Chickadee (#8), Tufted Titmouse (#9), American Tree Sparrow (#10), House Finch (#11), Red-breasted Nuthatch (#12), and Pine Siskin (#13). Great Blue Heron (#14), Downy Woodpecker (#15), and Cooper’s Hawk (#16) were seen in/from the yard on the 7th, and a small group of Mallards was observed on foot at the south end of the lake.

As of January 7, my 2008 Buchanan yard list stands at 16 species, my Walking BiGBY (Big Green Big Year) list at 17 species, following 4 days of incidental birding.

Year-in-Review: 2007

I posted a 2006 Year-in-Review that I picked up as a meme. I found it to be so much fun and so interesting that I’m repeating the exercise this year.

The rules are simple: go to your monthly archives and post the first sentence of the first post of each month of the preceding calendar year. To eliminate redundancy, I violate this rule by listing the second entry posted in two months (August and December).

January: Hundreds, if not thousands, of species of birds have been featured on untold numbers of postage stamps issued by countries around the world. (more)

February: An excerpt from this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. (more)

March: The fatal (to the bird) impact occurs at about the 8-second mark on this video. (more)

April: Introduction: A daily (or as often as I can find time to compile it) feature that highlights recent entries from North American bird blogs listed in my blogroll; also see here. (more)

May: Frank Gill and Mintern Minturn Wright’s Birds of the world: recommended English names (2006), produced on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee “to promote the use of a standard set of English names of the birds of the world,” is available in an online version. (more)

June: Lord God Bird is a colloquial name that has been widely applied to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) since the ‘rediscovery’ was announced in 2005, even though there is evidence that the name was historically restricted to the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) (see here and here), or, perhaps more likely, applied indiscriminately to both species (see here). (more)

July: An eclectic weekly collection of recent posts about birds, birders, and birding by bloggers throughout the blogosphere—but mostly from sources other than the mainstream bird blogs—that illustrates the universal appeal and attraction of our feathered neighbors, personally selected by me for your reading and viewing pleasure. (more)

August (2): In the aftermath of the Minnesota bridge collapse, this AP article raises questions about the possible effect that the accumulated dung from Rock Pigeons (Columba livia) might have on the structural integrity of bridges across the country. (more)

September: [No posts]

October: [No posts]

November: I guess it was only a matter of time before someone jumped on the matchmaking bandwagon and tailored a Web site to appeal exclusively to a special-interest group as narrowly focused as birding. (more)

December (2): Let me say right up front that I have no problem with pet cats (Felis domesticus) and the people who own and care for them; I was once a cat owner myself. (more)

Summary: In retrospect, my 2007 blogging year started out red-hot with 237 entries the first six months (40/month), but ended decidedly cool or at best luke-warm with just 26 entries the last six months (4/month), including an 89-day stretch in which nothing was posted. Ah, the vagaries of blogging. What’s in store for 2008, I wonder?

The Complete Chicken: A Book Review

I’ve always looked askance at the Domestic Chicken (Gallus domesticus) and it's evolutionary progenitor (G. gallus), as if they were not worthy of being considered real birds. All of that changed when I ran across The complete chicken: an entertaining history of chickens, by Pam Percy. The author, an avowed chicken afficionado, presents the lowly chicken in a brand new light in this entertaining book.

Following a brief introduction, Percy reviews “Chicken history: which, when, and where” (Chapter 1), including development of the chicken industry. This is followed by descriptions of the various and sundry breeds of chickens in “Real chickens” (Chapter 2). She then takes the reader on a delightful tour of the role of chickens in human culture, including “The artful chicken” in art, literature, and music through the ages (Chapter 3); “Famous clucks” in entertainment of all sorts (Chapter 4); and the “Household chickens” memorabilia with which we decorate our homes (Chapter 5). Finally, there is “A chicken dictionary and other chicken tidbits” (Chapter 6). The book is lavishly enlivened throughout with an abundance of color and black-and-white illustrations.

I found this book to be highly readable, visually appealing, entertaining, and educational. What more could you want in a book?