New Titles

1) Cambodia Bird Guide Association (CBGA). Birds of Cambodia. 2019. Lynx. Flexibound: 288 pages. Price: $59.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: This field guide offers the perfect introduction to the country's varied avifauna. Taxonomy follows the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Detailed texts covering status, habitat and behaviour, age, sex and geographical variation, voice, and confusion species. Over 1300 illustrations covering all species and distinctive subspecies, birds in flight, males and females, juveniles and non-breeding plumages, where appropriate. QR code for each species, linking to the Internet Bird Collection gallery of photos, videos and sounds. Close to 600 full-colour range maps for all species other than vagrants. Well-marked subspecies groups receive full accounts, and the distributions of subspecies breeding in the region are clearly mapped. Local species name included. Features: 636 species; 16 endemics or near-endemics, 2 introduced, 55 vagrants. c. 1300 illustrations and c. 600 distribution maps.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those birding Cambodia!

2) Chikara, Otani. Birds of Japan. 2019. Lynx. Flexibound: 392 pages. Price: $59.95 U.S.
SUMMARY: Similar in design to the above except covering Japan. This book features: 737 species; 21 endemics or near-endemics, 21 introduced, 210 vagrants. c. 1500 illustrations and c. 500 distribution maps.
RECOMMENDATION: When compared to Brazil's (2018) Birds of Japan, this book is thinner but larger overall with a flexibound binding and includes the Japanese names of the birds.

3) Zickefoose, Julie. Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay. 2019. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hardbound: 254 pages. Price: $25.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: For fans of Wesley the Owl and The Soul of an Octopus, the story of a sick baby bird nursed back to health and into the wild by renowned writer/artist Julie Zickefoose.
     When Jemima, a young orphaned blue jay, is brought to wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose, she is a virtually tailless, palm-sized bundle of gray-blue fluff. But she is starved and very sick. Julie’s constant care brings her around, and as Jemima is raised for eventual release, she takes over the house and the rest of the author's summer.
      Shortly after release, Jemima turns up with a deadly disease. But medicating a free-flying wild bird is a challenge. When the PBS show Nature expresses interest in filming Jemima, Julie must train her to behave on camera, as the bird gets ever wilder. Jemima bonds with a wild jay, stretching her ties with the family. Throughout, Julie grapples with the fallout of Jemima’s illness, studies molt and migration, and does her best to keep Jemima strong and wild. She falls hard for this engaging, feisty and funny bird, a creative muse and source of strength through the author’s own heartbreaking changes.
     Emotional and honest, Saving Jemima is a universal story of the communion between a wild creature and the human chosen to raise it.
RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoyed the author's other works, you will enjoy this one!