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birding resources

Welcome to my Birding Resources page!

I’ve been so thrilled to hear readers of Birding with Benefits tell me how the book has inspired them to try birding, and I wanted to provide everyone with a few of my favorite resources and books.

 

None of this is fancy! In fact, it’s just the opposite–I believe there is no barrier to entry when it comes to bird watching. Notice a bird while you wait at a bus stop? You’re birding. Watching a bird pecking the ground in your yard? Birding. Heading out with binoculars and a backpack of guide books? Also birding!

There are books, resources, and ideas below, but my main advice is this as simple as a line in my book: Start with discovery, and go from there.

If you want to know more about the inspiration behind the book, check out my blog post here!

Close your eyes and feel the weight of the book in your hands, rub the paper between your fingers, and imagine yourself outside in dappled shade. Then you'll know if it's the book for you. 

Picking the right guidebook.

If you’re going to bird, you’re going to need a guidebook.

I wish I could tell you the best guidebook to start with, but in my experience finding the best guidebook is like settling into the right book – when you know it's right, you just know. Some of it has to do with how you like to organize yourself and your birding experience. Some guidebooks organize birds by color, while others group them by type/family (speaking of which, my favorite name for a bird family is the Tyrant Flycatchers. Such despots they are!). Some are heavy on maps and bird ranges, while others will spare space for fun facts and anecdotes.
 

And it’s not only what’s in the pages that matter, but their size. Do you know a book you can put in your pocket? Or one you haul around in your backpack? A guide that is designed with your region in mind, or one you can take on any travels and get the job done?

My ultimate recommendation is thus: Get yourself to a used bookstore, and flip through as many bird guides as you can. Close your eyes and feel the weight of the book in your hands, rub the paper between your fingers, and imagine yourself outside in dappled shade. Then you’ll know if it’s the book for you.

My favorite guide books:

Birds of Southeastern Arizona

This book is extremely specific to my area, which makes it very, very useful. My favorite thing about it is the 2-page spread of “common” birds, where I can find most of the birds I see day-to-day.  If you’re not in South Eastern Arizona, it might not be very useful to you, but definitely look for an equally specific book about your area.

Here are a few other guide books I love specifically for birds in Arizona and the Western U.S.

Birds of Southeast Arizona (laminated pamphlet)

50 Most Common Birds of the Southwest

Sibley Guide To Birds

Sibley Birds West

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My favorite bird and bird-related books, generally

Sonoran Desert: Literary Field Guide

This perfect book from the University of Arizona press is one of my favorite books in print, ever. It’s not all birds, but there are birds, and mammals, and plants, and poems, and mini essays, and -- oh! It’s so very beautiful and wonderful. Anyone with a love for or interest in the Sonoran Desert needs this book.

Sparrow Envy, J. Drew Lanham 

Part poetry book, part meditation, part social justice -- this book has it all. It speaks to me as a birder, as an activist and community organizer, and as a human being. 

The Genius of Birds, Jennifer Ackerman

This book is just absolutely chock full of mind-blowing bird facts. Special perk: impress people at parties or, possibly, a bird trivia night with your fake boyfriend.

 

The Evolution of Beauty, Richard Prum

This book is 100% wow, and puts forth some really interesting ideas about bird evolution, trying to answer the question: why are birds so pretty?

Online resources and Apps

I'll admit it, when it comes to birding, I'm not an app person. But online resources can apps can be great for birders of all levels, especially in learning to identify our feathered friends.

Cornell Lab is an amazing hub of bird information, and almost always my first stop when wanting to identify or learn about a bird. And their live bird cams are captivating!

Merlin App

Merlin, put out by Cornell Lab, is my one can't-do-without-it app. It has a great interface to help you identify birds by sight and can even identify their calls (though our quiet birder John would never!).

AllAboutBirds.com

Put together by Cornell Lab, this is an amazing hub of bird information, and almost always my first stop when wanting to identify or learn about a bird. And their live bird cams are captivating!

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eBird

Also managed by Cornell Lab (seriously, they do it all), eBird is to go-to spot to record bird sightings and see what other folks are spotting. Great for the listers out there!

SongSleuth

This Sibley Guide lets you record a bird and help identify it by song alone! For those of us without a quiet woodworking birder with a particular knack for IDing birdsong...

Narrator's recommend!

The amazing narrators of the Birding with Benefits audiobook, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw and Evan Sibley, both happen to be birders in their own right! I was excited to gather up some of their expert recommendations.

Mia's picks

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Evan's picks

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Happy Birding! 

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