New Title

1) Dunne, Pete. Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: Second Edition: A Beginner's Guide to Finding, Identifying and Enjoying Birds. 2015. Stackpole Books. Paperback: 308 pages. Price: $19.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Birding is one of the most popular and fastest-growing outdoor activities, but it can seem intimidating for beginners who don't know where, when, or how to search for birds. Fortunately, Pete Dunne, one of the most popular and respected writers in the field, has written a guide that will help even the most casual observers identify the skills and tools they need to develop their interest in birding. This popular how-to guide has been revised, updated, and now has color photos.
RECOMMENDATION: If you liked the first edition, you'll like this edition!

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                        Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman


My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-386/

New Title

1) Bernhard,Tim and Timothy Loe. Collecting the New Naturalists. 2015. William Collins. Hardbound: 352 pages. Price: £60.00 (about $94.00 U.S.).
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The Collins New Naturalist series is the longest-running and arguably the most influential natural history series in the world with over 120 volumes published in nearly 70 years.
     Being a numbered series, with a very low print run for some volumes, New Naturalist publications have been and continue to be highly collectable. Second-hand copies of the rarer volumes, in very good condition, can command high prices. As such, there is considerable interest in a detailed bibliography and history of the series.
    Collecting the New Naturalists offers a detailed insight into the fascinating phenomenon that has gripped Britain since just after World War II and which reflects the country’s continued enthusiasm for wildlife and nature publishing generally.
    With previously unpublished in-depth insight into the workings of the series and its collectors, the book will comprehensively cover every aspect of the New Naturalists, from rare editions produced for Bloomsbury and the Reader’s Union to foreign editions, interviews with the iconic cover artists and well-known naturalists such as Nick Baker and Alan Titchmarsh telling the story of their own fascination with the series. 
RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with an interest in the New Naturalist series!

New Title

1) Avery, Mark and Keith Betton. Behind the Binoculars: Interviews with acclaimed birdwatchers. 2015. Pelagic Publishing. Hardbound: 252 pages. Price: $26.99 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: How and why did our most acclaimed birdwatchers take up birding? What were their early experiences of nature? How have their professional birding careers developed? What motivates them and drives their passion for wildlife? How many birds have they seen?
     Mark Avery and Keith Betton, passionate birdwatchers and conservationists, interview members of the birdwatching community to answer these and many other questions about the lives of famous birdwatchers. They take you behind the scenes, and behind the binoculars, of a diverse range of birding and wildlife personalities.
     Behind the Binoculars includes interviews with: Chris Packham, Phil Hollom, Stuart Winter, Lee Evans, Steve Gantlett, Mark Cocker, Ian Wallace, Andy Clements, Mike Clarke, Debbie Pain, Keith Betton, Roger Riddington, Ian Newton, Steph Tyler, Mark Avery, Stephen Moss, Alan Davies and Ruth Miller, Rebecca Nason and Robert Gillmor. 
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting collection of interviews with British birders.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                          Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman


My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here: http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/birdbooker-report-384-5/

New Titles

 

 

1) Hadley, Jane (editor). A Birder's Guide to Washington, Second Edition. 2015. American Birding Association, Incorporated. Paperback: 613 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Few states show more dramatic contrasts in their environment than Washington. Elevations range from sea level to over 14,000 feet. Precipitation varies from over 200 inches annually on the Olympic Peninsula, nurturing a temperate rain forest and mountaintop glaciers, to a mere six inches in parts of the Columbia Basin, where near-desert conditions prevail. Between these extremes, an array of aquatic and terrestrial communities supports a remarkable diversity of bird species. This revised version of A Birder's Guide to Washington brings current the 2003 first edition, and, in the process, adds a number of new destinations, while eliminating a few that are no longer worthwhile. The guide details hundreds of birding routes and sites in the state, together with year-round access instructions and birding advice. Over 220 maps pinpoint the most productive destinations in the field and offer regional overviews to help with trip planning. An annotated checklist of 510 species recorded in the state through 2014 gives information about status and habitat associations, while the seasonal abundance and regional occurrence bar graphs will assist birders in locating regularly occurring species. 

RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone birding Washington State!

 

2) Baker, Nick. The Complete Naturalist. 2015. Bloomsbury. Paperback: 352 pages. Price: $34.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Nick Baker's fascination with the natural world began at an early age, inspired by Gerald and Lee Durrell's classic book The Amateur Naturalist. His The Complete Naturalist is an up-to-date, practical introduction to observing, understanding, and investigating the natural world around us. Whether you want to understand what makes an insect an insect, rear a family of frogs for your garden pond, or record birdsongs and calls, Nick can give you all the advice and information you need.
     Fact-packed and brimming with practical tips, techniques, and activities, The Complete Naturalist offers a rich source of new ideas for more experienced naturalists, as well as sparking the natural curiosity of a whole new generation. Covering everything from communicating with wild animals to setting up an aquarium, this is the naturalist's guide no family bookshelf should be without. Nick is an experienced and well-traveled naturalist, and his book includes his international experiences.

Nick Baker's fascination with the natural world began at an early age, inspired by Gerald and Lee Durrell's classic book The Amateur Naturalist. His The Complete Naturalist is an up-to-date, practical introduction to observing, understanding, and investigating the natural world around us. Whether you want to understand what makes an insect an insect, rear a family of frogs for your garden pond, or record birdsongs and calls, Nick can give you all the advice and information you need.

Fact-packed and brimming with practical tips, techniques, and activities, The Complete Naturalist offers a rich source of new ideas for more experienced naturalists, as well as sparking the natural curiosity of a whole new generation. Covering everything from communicating with wild animals to setting up an aquarium, this is the naturalist's guide no family bookshelf should be without. Nick is an experienced and well-traveled naturalist, and his book includes his international experiences. - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/us/the-complete-naturalist-9781472912077/#sthash.7CM1lvur.dpuf

Nick Baker's fascination with the natural world began at an early age, inspired by Gerald and Lee Durrell's classic book The Amateur Naturalist. His The Complete Naturalist is an up-to-date, practical introduction to observing, understanding, and investigating the natural world around us. Whether you want to understand what makes an insect an insect, rear a family of frogs for your garden pond, or record birdsongs and calls, Nick can give you all the advice and information you need.

Fact-packed and brimming with practical tips, techniques, and activities, The Complete Naturalist offers a rich source of new ideas for more experienced naturalists, as well as sparking the natural curiosity of a whole new generation. Covering everything from communicating with wild animals to setting up an aquarium, this is the naturalist's guide no family bookshelf should be without. Nick is an experienced and well-traveled naturalist, and his book includes his international experiences. - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/us/the-complete-naturalist-9781472912077/#sthash.7CM1lvur.dpuf

The Complete Naturalist

RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated introduction to natural history study.

New Title

1) Dial, Kenneth P., Neil Shubin, and Elizabeth L. Brainerd (editors). Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution. 2015. University of Chicago Press. Paperback: 424 pages. Price: $45.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: How did flying birds evolve from running dinosaurs, terrestrial trotting tetrapods evolve from swimming fish, and whales return to swim in the sea? These are some of the great transformations in the 500-million-year history of vertebrate life. And with the aid of new techniques and approaches across a range of fields—work spanning multiple levels of biological organization from DNA sequences to organs and the physiology and ecology of whole organisms—we are now beginning to unravel the confounding evolutionary mysteries contained in the structure, genes, and fossil record of every living species.
     This book gathers a diverse team of renowned scientists to capture the excitement of these new discoveries in a collection that is both accessible to students and an important contribution to the future of its field. Marshaling a range of disciplines—from paleobiology to phylogenetics, developmental biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology—the contributors attack particular transformations in the head and neck, trunk, appendages such as fins and limbs, and the whole body, as well as offer synthetic perspectives. Illustrated throughout, Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution not only reveals the true origins of whales with legs, fish with elbows, wrists, and necks, and feathered dinosaurs, but also the relevance to our lives today of these extraordinary narratives of change. 
RECOMMENDATION: For those with a serious/technical interest in evolution.