Explains the best practices for bird identification including using the weather, geography, and radar.

Offers tips and advice for how to improve bird watching skills, from choosing equipment and guides to where to watch and what features to look for when trying to identify a bird.

A straightforward approach getting good, then better, at identifying birds in the field-and having fun doing it.

The essential tools you need to become a better birder This unique illustrated handbook provides all the essential tools you need to become a better birder. Here Derek Lovitch offers a more effective way to go about identification—he calls it the "Whole Bird and More" approach—that will enable you to identify more birds, more quickly, more of the time. He demonstrates how to use geography and an understanding of habitats, ecology, and even the weather to enrich your birding experience and help you find something out of the ordinary. Lovitch shows how to track nocturnal migrants using radar, collect data for bird conservation, discover exciting rarities, develop patch lists—and much more. This is the ideal resource for intermediate and advanced birders. Whether you want to build a bigger list or simply learn more about birds, How to Be a Better Birder will take your birding skills to the next level. Explains the "Whole Bird and More" approach to bird identification Demonstrates how to use geography, habitats, ecology, and the weather to be a better birder Shows how to bird at night using radar, collect conservation data, develop patch lists—and more Offers essential tools for intermediate and advanced birders

A field guide that revolutionizes warbler identification Warblers are among the most challenging birds to identify. They exhibit an array of seasonal plumages and have distinctive yet oft-confused calls and songs. The Warbler Guide enables you to quickly identify any of the 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada. This groundbreaking guide features more than 1,000 stunning color photos, extensive species accounts with multiple viewing angles, and an entirely new system of vocalization analysis that helps you distinguish songs and calls. The Warbler Guide revolutionizes birdwatching, making warbler identification easier than ever before. For more information, please see the author videos on the Princeton University Press website. Covers all 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada Visual quick finders help you identify warblers from any angle Song and call finders make identification easy using a few simple questions Uses sonograms to teach a new system of song identification that makes it easier to understand and hear differences between similar species Detailed species accounts show multiple views with diagnostic points, direct comparisons of plumage and vocalizations with similar species, and complete aging and sexing descriptions New aids to identification include song mnemonics and icons for undertail pattern, color impression, habitat, and behavior Includes field exercises, flight shots, general identification strategies, and quizzes More information is available at www.TheWarblerGuide.com

Selected by Forbes.com as one of the 12 best books about birds and birding in 2016 This much-anticipated third edition of the Handbook of Bird Biology is an essential and comprehensive resource for everyone interested in learning more about birds, from casual bird watchers to formal students of ornithology. Wherever you study birds your enjoyment will be enhanced by a better understanding of the incredible diversity of avian lifestyles. Arising from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology and authored by a team of experts from around the world, the Handbook covers all aspects of avian diversity, behaviour, ecology, evolution, physiology, and conservation. Using examples drawn from birds found in every corner of the globe, it explores and distills the many scientific discoveries that have made birds one of our best known - and best loved - parts of the natural world. This edition has been completely revised and is presented with more than 800 full color images. It provides readers with a tool for life-long learning about birds and is suitable for bird watchers and ornithology students, as well as for ecologists, conservationists, and resource managers who work with birds. The Handbook of Bird Biology is the companion volume to the Cornell Lab's renowned distance learning course, www.birds.cornell.edu/courses/home/homestudy/.

With his first book, How to Be a Better Birder, Michael Ketover emerges as an exciting voice in travel writing. Ketover blends the power of observation with global personal experience into an entertaining and provocative mixture of powerful tales. Ketover focuses on the birds and the joy in their songs amidst disrespect, lunacy, and violence. Maybe the extra attention to birds in his world will make you feel a bit more connected to the simple beauty of birds in your own. Michael Ketover is married to Kelli. He lives in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, by the Coral Sea. COVER PHOTO AND DESIGN: ADAM GAYNOR