This eBook is best viewed on a color device. Spot the silhouette of a Northern Goshawk in flight. Identify the raucous call of the Red-winged Blackbird. Discover the secret of picking out a Chipping Sparrow from its look-alike cousins. It's simple with this classic field guide, Birds of North America, a treasured favorite among amateur bird lovers and exacting professionals. Recognized as the authority on bird identification, this invaluable resource provides: -All of North America in one volume -Over 800 species and 600 range maps -Arthur Singer's famous illustrations featuring male, female, and juvenile plumage -Sonograms that picture sound for easy song recognition -Migration routes, feeding habits, and characteristic flight patterns -American ornithologists' classifications -Convenient check boxes to record birds you have identified -Color tabs for quick references

Waders of Europe, Asia and North America – the definitive guide to this sternest of field identification challenges – just got even better. This enhanced fixed-format version of the book – featuring songs and calls – is set to change birding, forever. Optimised for iPad, it features the book in crisp, clear high-resolution. Superb, fully zoomable colour plates of the highest detail lie opposite comprehensive identification text, separated into 'at rest' and 'in flight' sections, and accurate range maps. In addition, this e-book features songs, calls and other sounds from all 124 species of sandpipers, snipes, stints, godwits and their kin in the northern hemisphere. This epic collection of images and sounds represents a step change in the way birders operate. It provides a complete field-based ID solution – no birder will want to be without it.

This is the first field guide to the identification of the birds of the islands of the tropical Pacific, including the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, southeastern Polynesia, and Micronesia. It is intended both as a reference for the expert and as an introduction to birding in the region for the novice. Small enough to be carried afield, it contains much previously unpublished information about behavior, vocalizations, ecology, and distribution. The forty-five color plates depict all plumages of all bird species that breed in the islands, as well as of those that regularly visit them and the surrounding oceans, and of most species believed to be extinct on the islands. Black-and-white figures show many of the rarer visitors. Introductory sections discuss the tropical Pacific as an environment for birds, problems of birding on islands, and bird conservation. Appendixes include maps of the island groups and a thorough bibliography.

Every year around August, large flocks of Eastern Curlews leave their breeding grounds in the Arctic and embark on a perilous 10,000km journey to the coast of Australia. The birds cannot swim; if they become exhausted and fall into the ocean, they die. But it’s a journey they have taken for tens of thousands of years, tracing invisible flyways in the sky in what is one of the most spectacular mass migrations in the animal kingdom. Following the Eastern Curlew along its migratory path, award-winning nature writer Harry Saddler explores how these incredible birds have impressed themselves on the cultures of the countries they fly through, the threat to their survival posed by development, and the remarkable ways these birds and humankind may be entwined. The Eastern Curlew is a delightful and vivid portrait of a fascinating natural phenomenon.

The first comprehensive illustrated guide to North America's vagrant birds Rare Birds of North America is the first comprehensive illustrated guide to the vagrant birds that occur throughout the United States and Canada. Featuring 275 stunning color plates, this book covers 262 species originating from three very different regions—the Old World, the New World tropics, and the world's oceans. It explains the causes of avian vagrancy and breaks down patterns of occurrence by region and season, enabling readers to see where, when, and why each species occurs in North America. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, taxonomy, age, sex, distribution, and status. Rare Birds of North America provides unparalleled insights into vagrancy and avian migration, and will enrich the birding experience of anyone interested in finding and observing rare birds. Covers 262 species of vagrant birds found in the United States and Canada Features 275 stunning color plates that depict every species Explains patterns of occurrence by region and season Provides an invaluable overview of vagrancy patterns and migration Includes detailed species accounts and cutting-edge identification tips

When many birders go out looking at shorebirds, they see a distant mud flat full of grayish brown birds in various shapes and sizes and have no idea where to begin the identification process. When advanced birders look at that same flock of shorebirds, they can identify the vast majority of birds with a quick binocular scan. Experts use the simplest, most easily observed characteristics--size, structure, behavior, and general color patterns--almost subconsciously, and can identify most birds even before looking carefully at plumage details. Now birders of all levels can learn how to identify these wildly popular birds quickly and with much less effort. This guide provides more than 870 stunning color photographs, sequenced to give a general impression of a species first and progressing to a more detailed image of the bird throughout its life cycle. Captions list characteristics in order of importance, reflecting the thought process that experts use to identify birds.

Birds of East Asia – the definitive field guide to the birds of this slice of Asia – just got even better. This enhanced fixed-format version of the book – featuring songs and calls – is set to change birding, forever. Optimised for iPad, it features the book in crisp, clear high-resolution. Superb, fully zoomable colour plates of the highest detail lie opposite comprehensive identification text and accurate range maps. In addition, this e-book features songs, calls and other sounds from the birds species, placed conveniently next to the accompanying species text. The sounds included on this e-book represent more than 95% coverage of all species in the region. This epic collection of images and sounds represents a step change in the way birders operate. No more carrying heavy books into the field; no more trying to remember sounds days or weeks after the event, while all other methods for taking sounds into the field are consigned to the dustbin. This e-book provides a complete field-based ID solution – no birder will want to be without it.

Gives readers a view of our avian world. This book includes 970 species with 700 enlarged range maps.

There are many wonderful creatures on earth - and even more incredible ways to describe them. With more collective nouns for animal groups than anyone else in the world, from a Business of Ferrets to a Wobble of Ostriches (not forgetting, of course, an Implausibility of Gnus) Alon Shulman's A Mess of Iguanas, A Whoop of Gorillas will tell you what to call a group of zebras, chickens, parrots, spiders, tigers or penguins the next time you encounter one - and will even let you know the difference between a school and a shoal of fish. Not to mention why groups of swans are known as a lamentation, a bank and a wedge. It will also tell you the most outlandish, strange yet completely accurate animal facts you can imagine. For example, did you know that polar bears are invisible to infra-red because they have transparent fur? Or that hippopotamus can't swim? Or that ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand? Filled with everything you could ever want to know about the creatures that inhabit our world, this brilliant compendium of animal curiosities is perfect for pub quizzers, language buffs, wannabe know-it-alls and any readers aged, well ... 8 to 80.