Featured Title

                                                 
1) Attenborough, David and Errol Fuller. Drawn From Paradise: The Discovery, Art & Natural History of the Birds of Paradise. 2012. Collins. Hardbound: 256 pages. Price: GBP 30/ $45.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: Drawn from Paradise is David Attenborough’s journey through the cultural history of the birds of paradise, one of the most exquisite and extravagant, colourful and intriguing families of birds.
     From the moment they were introduced to the European mind in the early sixteenth century, their unique beauty was recognised and commemorated in the first name that they were given – birds so beautiful must be birds from paradise.
     In this unique exploration of a truly awe-inspiring family of birds which to this day is still shrouded in mystery, David Attenborough and Errol Fuller trace the natural history of these enigmatic birds through their depiction in western works of art throughout the centuries, featuring beautiful illustrations by such luminary artists as Jacques Barraband, William Hart, John Gould, Rubens and Breughel, to name but a few. Experienced ornithologists and general nature and art enthusiasts alike will delight in this journey of discovery of the world’s most beautiful and mysterious birds.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with an interest in the Birds of Paradise and/or ornithological history.

New Titles

                                                 
1) Burton, Robert & John Croxall. A Field Guide to the Wildlife of South Georgia. 2012. Princeton University Press/WILDGuides. Paperback: 200 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: South Georgia is rich in wildlife and spectacular scenery, and it is a prime destination spot on most Antarctic tours. This beautifully illustrated field guide depicts the birds, mammals, insects, flowering plants, and other vegetation found in this unique part of the world. It features 368 full-color photographs of more than 180 species, including 65 species of birds, 20 species of sea mammals, nearly 60 species of insects, and more than 40 species of flowering and nonflowering plants. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, with information on status, behavior, threats, and distribution. This one-of-a-kind photographic guide also includes introductory chapters on South Georgia's geography, climate, ecology, and conservation.
     This book includes:
*Features 368 photos of more than 180 species
*Covers birds, sea mammals, insects, and plants
*Provides detailed species accounts
*Includes chapters on geography, climate, ecology, and conservation
*The only photographic field guide to focus specifically on South Georgia

RECOMMENDATION: Visitors to the region will find this guide very useful!



                                                 
2) Gehrman, Elizabeth. Rare Birds: The Extraordinary Tale of the Bermuda Petrel and the Man Who Brought It Back from Extinction. 2012. Beacon Press. Hardbound: 256 pages. Price: $26.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: The inspiring story of David Wingate, a living legend among birders, who brought the Bermuda petrel back from presumed extinction
     David Wingate is known in Bermuda as the birdman and in the international conservation community as a living legend for single-handedly bringing back the cahow, or Bermuda Petrel-a seabird that flies up to 82,000 miles a year, drinking seawater and sleeping on the wing. For millennia, the birds came ashore every November to breed on this tiny North Atlantic island. But less than a decade after Bermuda's 1612 settlement, the cahows had vanished. Or so it was thought until the early 1900s, when tantalizing hints of their continued existence began to emerge. In 1951, two scientists invited fifteen-year-old Wingate along on a bare-bones expedition to find the bird. The team stunned the world by locating seven nesting pairs, and Wingate knew his life had changed forever. He would spend the next fifty years battling natural and man-made disasters, bureaucracy, and personal tragedy with single-minded devotion and antiestablishment outspokenness. In April 2009, Wingate saw his dream fulfilled, as the birds returned to Nonsuch, an island habitat that he had hand-restored, plant-by-plant, giving the Bermuda petrels the chance they needed in their centuries-long fight for survival.
RECOMMENDATION: For anyone with an interest in endangered species.

Recent Title

                                                 
1) Black, Jeremy. London: A History. 2009. Carnegie. Hardbound: 440 pages. Price: GBP 25.00/ $31.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Everyone thinks they know London. Its landmarks have been used in a hundred films, its skyline and riverscape instantly recognizable. For London has been at the centre of the nation’s and even the world’s attention, on and off, for two thousand years.
     Yet familiarity does not necessarily bring enlightenment. The very size and bedeviling complexity of the city have the power to obscure and to mesmerize; the unparalleled tangle of experience over such a long period of time can seem impossible to unravel.
     What, then, was London? It was a capital city, a major port, an economic powerhouse, a magnet for talent and ambition. It was wealthy, populous, central to the nation, cosmopolitan yet self-absorbed and inward-looking. People have always migrated to London, from elsewhere in Britain as well as overseas, either to work or to seek a better life. London was the first modern city, with the world’s highest wages and the best standard of living for those in work. Yet London could just as easily be portrayed as a sink of depravity, a seething snakepit of avarice, prostitution and vice, with high death rates and pockets of great poverty and despair. In fact, of course, we cannot really talk of one London at all. Properly speaking, the City - the ancient walled city rather than the financiers’ Square Mile of today - is the true London, with its City wards, aldermen, sheriffs and lord mayor, city walls and Tower. But when we think of London now, we casually and understandably include much else besides, including the separate City of Westminster and the no less ancient Borough of Southwark.
     This new narrative history of London pulls together all of these varied themes - and many others - with great skill, perspective and clarity. Fully illustrated, it gives the most complete and accessible insight into London’s 2,000 years of history currently available.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in British history.

New Titles

1) Dunne, Pete. The Art of Bird Identification. 2012. Stackpole Books. Paperback: 135 pages. Price: $16.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: This book will tell you how to get good, then better, then even better at identifying birds in the field-and have fun doing it . It's a straightforward approach from Pete Dunne, one of the country's top birders and birding instructors, written in his distinctive style. This book includes descriptive information for 75 bird groups to help get the ID process off on the right foot. It contains practical, expert advice and entertaining in-the-field examples of birding successes and common mistakes.
RECOMMENDATION: Beginning birders should find this book useful!

2) Latta, Steven C. and Kate J. Wallace. Ruta Barrancoli: A Bird-finding Guide to the Dominican Republic. 2012. National Aviary. Paperback: 241 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S. SUMMARY: In this book the two authors combine their expertise to present a guide to 44 premier birdwatching sites in the Dominican Republic. Grouped in five regional "birding trails," each site account includes descriptions of habitat, directions for reaching the site and navigating within the site, lists of special target species, and nearby food, accommodations and cultural attractions.This book includes 33 maps, 8 check-lists, and original plates of all 32 endemic species. RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must have for those birding the Dominican Republic. Contact Steven Latta to order this title: steven.latta@aviary.org

New Title

1) Davis, R. Michael, Robert Sommer, and John A. Menge. Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America. 2012. University of California Press. Paperback: 459 pages. Price: $26.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: California and the Western States are rich in abundant and diverse species of mushrooms. Amateur mushroom collectors and mycologists alike will find over 300 species of the region’s most common, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms profiled in this comprehensive field guide. It provides the most up-to-date science on the role of fungi in the natural world, methods to identify species, and locations of mushroom habitats. With excellent color illustrations showing top and side views of mushrooms of the Western States and a user-friendly text, it is informative but still light enough to be carried into the woods. When used to identify mushrooms, keys bring the reader to individual species, with a descriptive text providing cues for identifying additional species. Mushrooms common in urban landscapes are included, which is especially useful for the casual encounter with backyard fungi. The guide also provides a table of both old and new species names, and information on edibility and look-alikes, both dangerous and benign.
      A section on mushroom arts and crafts features mushroom photography, painting, philately, spore prints, dyes, and cultivation. The guide also offers a comprehensive list of resources including national field guides, general mushroom books and periodicals, club and society contact information, and web sites.
     This book includes:
· Primary descriptions and illustrations of 300 species of mushrooms plus text descriptions of many more.
· Latest word in mushroom taxonomy and nomenclature. Clear discussion of DNA sequencing and new classifications.
· Especially good coverage of southern California and Southwestern mushrooms often neglected in other field guides.
RECOMMENDATION: Mushroomers should find this book useful.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                      Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/sep/02/1

New Title

                                                 
1) Bart, Jonathan and Victoria Johnston (editors). Arctic Shorebirds in North America: A Decade of Monitoring (Studies in Avian Biology monograph # 44). 2012. University of California Press. Hardbound: 302 pages. Price: $80.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: Each year shorebirds from North and South America migrate thousands of miles to spend the summer in the Arctic. There they feed in shoreline marshes and estuaries along some of the most productive and pristine coasts anywhere. With so much available food they are able to reproduce almost explosively; and as winter approaches, they retreat south along with their offspring, to return to the Arctic the following spring. This remarkable pattern of movement and activity has been the object of intensive study by an international team of ornithologists who have spent a decade counting, surveying, and observing these shorebirds. In this important synthetic work, they address multiple questions about these migratory bird populations. How many birds occupy Arctic ecosystems each summer? How long do visiting shorebirds linger before heading south? How fecund are these birds? Where exactly do they migrate and where exactly do they return? Are their populations growing or shrinking? The results of this study are crucial for better understanding how environmental policies will influence Arctic habitats as well as the far-ranging winter habitats used by migratory shorebirds.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with a technical interest in shorebird surveys.