When the weather is cold and miserable I stay indoors and read more. In winter I am especially drawn to beautiful bird books because I want to see birds, not just read about them.
This winter I can’t say enough about a beautiful book I got last month: BIRD The Definitive Visual Guide, Audubon, DK Publishing, 2007.
It’s a gorgeous book, full of photos illustrating bird anatomy, bird habitat and over 1,400 species from around the world.
Every page is beautifully done. The layout is gorgeous and the contents are a fireside birders dream with informative species accounts, range maps, species size, habitat and migration. And it includes a CD of 60 species’ songs and calls.
I open BIRD at random for the “wow effect” and am never disappointed.
It’s even beautiful when it’s closed. The margins are printed with flock, jungle and feather patterns so the edges look marbled.
If you’re looking for something to do indoors, take a look at this book.
Read another review on the BirdFreak blog. If you want to buy it, I suggest Amazon where the price is discounted.
I have this book too! It was a Christmas gift from my husband. He was very proud of himself for finding it and he should be, because it’s spectacular.
This is a very unique book about birds. It’s a very large book with extraordinary photographs, and includes just about any topic you can think of about birds. The introductory chapter is about physiology and behavior and is loaded with photographs and interesting facts. The second chapter focuses on every kind of bird habitat found in the world, also loaded with breathtaking pictures of the habitats and examples of birds that live in them. The rest of the book contains species profiles from all over the world.
Many of the photographs sprawl across two pages; some show huge flocks of birds in flight, sometimes with colorful sunsets in the background, and some show more intimate scenes with only one or two birds in their natural settings. All are absolutely glorious.
Lauren Conkle