BEST BIRD BOOKS OF 2025

 

The following are my picks for the best bird books of 2025:

BEST BOOK:

 

1) Cheke, Robert A. and Clive F. Mann. Sunbirds of the World: Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds, Second Edition. 2025. Helm. Hardbound: 608 pages. Price: $100.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Sunbirds are among the most striking of all bird groups; their dazzling iridescent plumage and long curved bills are conspicuous when the birds visit garden flowers on sunny days to feed on nectar. Some species - especially the females - are duller in appearance and harder to spot, feeding mostly on insects high up in forest canopies. Spiderhunters, as their name suggests, feed extensively on spiders, while sunbirds' other close relatives, the flowerpeckers, are especially partial to mistletoe berries.

     This book is the last word on sunbird identification, ecology and behaviour. Now in its second edition, it has been fully revised and updated to reflect the many developments that have occurred in sunbird taxonomy, as well as the new research that has been published on their biology. It covers all 218 currently recognised species, providing details of key identification features, voice, habitat, distribution, conservation status, movements, food and behaviour. New colour art by award-winning artist Richard Allen has been added, and hundreds of high-quality colour photographs beautifully capture every species. Maps accurately depict geographical distributions of each taxon to subspecies level.

     This beautiful book is the definitive reference to the sunbirds, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters and sugarbirds of the world, and is essential reading for researchers, birders and conservationists alike.

RECOMMENDATION: The page count has increased from 384 to 608.The number of color plates has increased from 48 to 58. This book is a MUST-HAVE for anyone with an interest in Sunbirds and related birds and/or collects bird family monographs. 

 

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

 

1) Lambert, Frank. Pittas, Broadbills and Asities: Second Edition. 2025. Helm. Hardbound: 480 pages. Price: $85.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Inhabiting tropical and subtropical forests of the Old World, pittas, broadbills and asities include some of the most beautiful, elusive and sought-after birds on the planet. Pittas are medium-sized, insectivorous terrestrial birds that are rather thrushlike in their behaviour. Most are brilliantly coloured, generally solitary, and have a well-deserved reputation for secretive, skulking habits, adding to the challenge of seeing them in their often dark environment. The 52 species of pitta largely occur from Asia through Wallacea to New Guinea and Australia, with two (perhaps three) species in Africa.

     Broadbills are very different to pittas, being typically chunky birds with large heads, broad flattened beaks and short legs. The majority are colourful and sociable, but none are terrestrial. Three are highly frugivorous, but the others are largely insectivorous. They form a diverse group of 18 species in nine genera, of which four species are confined to Africa, with the rest in Asia.

     The four species of asities form an endemic Madagascan family. Two species are similar to broadbills, but the other two resemble sunbirds, even in their feeding habits. Breeding males have facial wattles (as do two broadbill species).

     The first monograph of these three groups was published in 1996; this book, by the same author, is its follow-up. Completely revised and updated, it draws together a wealth of material from the literature and from online and unpublished sources to provide the ultimate reference to these fascinating birds, from taxonomy and identification to habitat requirements, biology and ecology, accompanied by a stunning photographic selection, and the art of Martin Woodcock.

RECOMMENDATION: The page count has increased from 271 to 480. This book is a MUST-HAVE for anyone with an interest in these birds!

 

 

2) Birkhead,Tim. The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife. 2025. Bloomsbury Sigma. Hardbound: 288 pages. Price: $28.00 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The Great Auk was a flightless, goose-sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea. Fat, flush with feathers and easy to capture, the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once-remote breeding colonies. Places like Funk Island, off north-east Newfoundland, became scenes of unimaginable slaughter, with birds killed in their millions. By 1800 the auks of Funk Island were gone. A scramble by private collectors for specimens of the final few birds then began, a bloody, unthinking destruction of one of the world's most extraordinary species.

     But their extinction in 1844 wasn't the end of the Great Auk story, as the bird went on to have a remarkable afterlife; skins, eggs and skeletons became the focus for dozens of collectors in a story of pathological craving and unscrupulous dealings that goes on to this day.

     In a book rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people, Tim Birkhead reveals previously unimagined aspects of the bird's life before humanity, its death on the killing shores of the North Atlantic, and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains.

     The Great Auk remains a symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation. This book tells its story.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a MUST-READ for anyone with an interest in the Great Auk and/or enjoys Birkhead's writing! 

 

3) Beehler, Bruce M.. Flight of the Godwit: Tracking Epic Shorebird Migrations. 2025. Smithsonian Books. Hardbound: 264 pages. Price: $27.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:  Flying more than 8,000 miles from Alaska to eastern Australia without stopping to eat or rest, the Bar-tailed Godwit holds the record for the longest nonstop migration of any land bird in the world. Flight of the Godwit invites readers on ornithologist Bruce M. Beehler's awe-inspiring journey in search of North America's largest and farthest-flying shorebirds. Driving 35,000 miles between 2019 to 2023, Beehler sought birds he dubs the "Magnificent Seven":

• Hudsonian Godwit
• Bar-tailed Godwit
• Marbled Godwit
• Whimbrel
• Long-billed Curlew
• Bristle-thighed Curlew
• Upland Sandpiper

     Beehler interweaves colorful fieldwork stories and rich details on local culture with the natural history and biology of shorebirds—including evolution, the physics of migration, orientation, homing, foraging, diet, nesting, parental care, wintering, staging, elusive "super-migrators," and the importance of conservation efforts.

     With authoritative prose and 30 beautiful black-and-white illustrations from artist Alan T. Messer, the book journeys through 37 states and 9 Canadian provinces from Texas to Alaska to Canada's High Arctic. Flight of the Godwit is a captivating adventure and a tribute to remarkable birds and birding itself.

RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoyed Hall's A Gathering of Shore Birds and/or Matthiessen's The Wind Birds, you should like this book! 

 

 

4) Sweeney, Chris. The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne. 2025. Avid Reader Press. Hardbound: 320 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world’s first forensic ornithologist—Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers.

     In 1960, an Eastern Airlines flight had no sooner lifted from the runway at Boston Logan Airport when it struck a flock of birds and took a nosedive into the shallow waters of the Boston Harbor, killing sixty-two people. This was the golden age of commercial airflight—luxury in the skies—and safety was essential to the precarious future of air travel. So the FAA instructed the bird remains be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination, where they would land on the desk of the only person in the world equipped to make sense of it all.

     Her name was Roxie Laybourne, a diminutive but singular woman with thick glasses, a heavy Carolina drawl, and a passion for birds. Roxie didn’t know it at the time, but that box full of dead birds marked the start of a remarkable scientific journey. She became the world’s first forensic ornithologist, investigating a range of crimes and calamities on behalf of the FBI, the US Air Force, and even NASA.

     The Feather Detective takes readers deep within the vaunted backrooms of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to tell the story of a burgeoning science and the enigmatic woman who pioneered it. While her male colleagues in taxidermy embarked on expeditions around the world and got plum promotions, Roxie stayed with her birds. Using nothing more than her microscope and bits of feathers, she helped prosecute murderers, kidnappers, and poachers. When she wasn’t testifying in court or studying evidence from capital crimes, she was helping aerospace engineers and Air Force crews as they raced to bird-proof their airplanes before disaster struck again.

     In The Feather Detective, award-winning journalist Chris Sweeney charts the astonishing life and work of this overlooked pioneer. Once divorced, once widowed, and sometimes surly, Roxie shattered stereotypes and pushed boundaries. Her story is one of persistence and grit, obsession and ingenuity. Drawing on reams of archival material, court documents, and exclusive interviews, Sweeney delivers a moving and amusing portrait of a woman who overcame cultural and scientific obstacles at every turn, forever changing our understanding of birds—and the feathers they leave behind.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in this aspect of ornithological history.