February is National Bird Feeding Month, and if there is one thing I’m particularly passionate about it’s birds. In the spirit of the season, we’ll look at some bird-themed books and other resources from the library you can check out for free with your library card.

 

We’ll start with one of the more unique items in the collection, our Bird Watching Hobby Kit. Like all of our Hobby Kits, this kit features all the basics you need to get started, which includes a pair of binoculars, a hanging bird feeder, a small bag of bird seed, and a copy of The Bird Watching Answer Book by Laura Erickson published by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

 

Then why not supplement your birding adventures with a field guide? We have all the big names like Peterson, Sibley, and National Geographic in our collection. Each guide has their strengths and weaknesses, and each birder has their favorite, so try them out and see which one suits you best. I’m partial to the Sibley field guide myself. The guides helped me determine that the hawk I’ve been seeing around the library is a red-shouldered hawk and not a Cooper’s hawk like I initially thought.

 

In addition to the field guides, we also have several great nonfiction reads. Here are just a few of my recommendations. The Backyard Bird Chronicles follows the birding adventures of bestselling author, Amy Tan, after she turned to birds when the world became overwhelming. The book reads like a journal and is peppered with sketches and full illustrations Tan drew of the birds she encountered. Speaking of illustrations, The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany by Graeme Gibson digs deep into the history humanity has had with birds and the many ways we have depicted birds. This book features poems, travel journals, prose, and more writings detailing birds across time and place. The Bird Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Birds by the Smithsonian Institution takes a similar approach but also features incredible nature photography. 

 

All these items and more are available for free with your library card. Good luck with your birding adventures, and I hope you get to add some new birds to your life list soon. See you next week with a new Off the Shelf!