New Title

1) Dee, Tim. Landfill: Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene. 2019. Chelsea Green. Hardbound: 238 pages. Price: $25.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Over the past hundred years, gulls have been brought ashore by modernity. They now live not only on the coasts but in our slipstream following trawlers, barges, and garbage trucks. They are more our contemporaries than most birds, living their wild lives among us in towns and cities. In many ways they live as we do, walking the built-up world and grabbing a bite where they can. Yet this disturbs us. We’ve started fearing gulls for getting good at being among us. We see them as scavengers, not entrepreneurs; ocean-going aliens, not refugees. They are too big for the world they have entered. Their story is our story too.

     Landfill is the original and compelling story of how in the Anthropocene we have learned about the natural world, named and catalogued it, and then colonized it, planted it, or filled it with our junk. While most other birds have gone in the opposite direction, hiding away from us, some vanishing forever, gulls continue to tell us how the wild can share our world. For these reasons Landfill is the nature book for our times, groundbreaking and genre-bending. Without nostalgia or eulogy, it kicks beneath the littered surface of the things to discover stranger truths.
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting take on gull and Human interactions.

New Titles

1) Wright, Rick. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America. 2019. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hardbound: 434 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Sparrows are as complicated as they are common. This is an essential guide to identifying 76 kinds, along with a fascinating history of human interactions with them.
      What exactly is a sparrow? All birders, and many non-birders, have essentially the same mental image of a pelican, a duck, or a flamingo, and a guide dedicated to waxwings or kingfishers would need nothing more than a sketch and a single sentence to satisfactorily identify its subject. Sparrows are harder to pin down. This book covers the birds of the family Passerellidae, which includes towhees, juncos, and dozens of other not necessarily small and not necessarily brown birds.
      Birds have a human history, too, beginning with their significance to native cultures and continuing through their discovery by science, their taxonomic fortunes and misfortunes, and their prospects for survival in a world with ever less space for wild creatures. This book includes not just facts and measurements, but stories of the birds' entanglement with human history. 
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with a serious interest in North American sparrows.

2) Poole, Alan F.. Ospreys: The Revival of a Global Raptor. 2019. Johns Hopkins University Press. Hardbound: 205 pages. Price: $39.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Ospreys are one of the few bird species that are found throughout the world. From forests in Hokkaido to rivers in Oregon and islands off Australia, Ospreys steal the show as nature lovers easily watch them build their massive nests and tend to their young. The fact that the Osprey is one of the few large birds that can hover adds to its mystique, and to watch it plunge into the water, emerging with a fish clutched in its talons, is truly a sight one will remember.

     As widespread as Ospreys are, not long ago they were under threat of extinction. During the 1950s and '60s, scientists tied the decline of Osprey populations to the heavy use of DDT and other human pollutants. In the 1980s, Ospreys began a slow recovery due to the efforts of conservationists and through the resilience of the adaptable raptors themselves. Today they are again considered common in most parts of the world, although some populations remain threatened.
     In this gorgeously illustrated book, Alan F. Poole, one of America's premier Osprey experts, has written a lyrical exposé of these majestic creatures, describing their daily habits and exploring their relationship with the environment. Ospreys celebrates the species' miraculous recovery from contaminants and hunters, chronicles their spectacular long-distance migrations, and unveils their vital role in bringing life to coastal habitats. Few other birds have such a hold on the human imagination. This book shows us why.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with a serious interest in Ospreys.

New Title

1) Gill, Frank B. and Richard O. Prum. Ornithology 4th Edition. 2019. W.H. Freeman. Hardbound: 666 pages. Price: $131.72 U.S. 
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Ornithology, 4th Edition is a comprehensive introductory text covering a wide scope of topics essential for understanding the field of ornithology. This new edition infuses the most current research and a more conceptual approach alongside an evolutionary perspective. The 4th edition retains its hallmark readability, as well as a well updated narrative and bibliography with the latest scientific content and references.
     The 4th edition will be the first in full color in both art and design and will include over 400 color photographs. The updated design is clean, colorful, approachable, and easy to use as a narrative or study reference.
     New pedagogical elements reinforce key concepts new end of chapter assessment questions allow students to evaluate their learning. The 4th edition is the best yet, during both a student’s first read, and when revisited as a reference.
RECOMMENDATION: If you have previous editions of this title, you will want this edition.

New Title

1) Cogger, Harold G.. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia (Updated Seventh Edition). 2018. CSIRO Publishing. Hardbound: 1060 pages. Price: $127.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia is a complete guide to Australia’s rich and varied herpetofauna, including frogs, crocodiles, turtles, tortoises, lizards and snakes. For each of the 1,218 species there is a description of its appearance, distribution and habits. Each species is accompanied by a distribution map and, in many cases, one of the book's more than 1000 color photographs of living animals.
     The book also includes 130 simple-to-use dichotomous keys--accompanied by hundreds of explanatory drawings--which in most cases allow a specimen in hand to be identified. In addition, it has a comprehensive list of scientific references for those wishing to conduct more in-depth research, an extensive glossary, and basic guides to the collection, preservation and captive care of specimens.
     This classic work was originally published in 1975. The updated seventh edition contains a new Appendix that discusses recent changes and lists over 80 new or resurrected species and genera that have been added to the Australian frog and reptile fauna since the 2014 edition.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with a serious interest in the herpetofauna of Australia.