New Title

1) Pasquier, Roger. Birds in Winter: Surviving the Most Challenging Season. 2019. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 304 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Birds in Winter is the first book devoted to the ecology and behavior of birds during this most challenging season. Birds remaining in regions with cold weather must cope with much shorter days to find food and shelter even as they need to avoid predators and stay warm through the long nights, while migrants to the tropics must fit into very different ecosystems and communities of resident birds. Roger Pasquier explores how winter affects birds’ lives all through the year, starting in late summer, when some begin caching food to retrieve months later and others form social groups lasting into the next spring. During winter some birds are already pairing up for the following breeding season, so health through the winter contributes to nesting success.
     Today, rapidly advancing technologies are enabling scientists to track individual birds through their daily and annual movements at home and across oceans and hemispheres, revealing new and unexpected information about their lives and interactions. But, as Birds in Winter shows, much is visible to any interested observer. Pasquier describes the season’s distinct conservation challenges for birds that winter where they have bred and for migrants to distant regions. Finally, global warming is altering the nature of winter itself. Whether birds that have evolved over millennia to survive this season can now adjust to a rapidly changing climate is a problem all people who enjoy watching them must consider.
     Filled with elegant line drawings by artist and illustrator Margaret La Farge, Birds in Winter describes how winter influences the lives of birds from the poles to the equator.
RECOMMENDATION: A detailed overview of the subject.

New Title

1) Seaton, Richard et al.. Australian Birds of Prey in Flight: A Photographic Guide. 2019. CSIRO Publishing. Paperback: 131 pages. Price: $31.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Birds of prey spend most of their time in flight, and, when viewed from the ground, they are notoriously hard to identify. Australian Birds of Prey in Flight is a photographic guide to the eagles, hawks, kites and falcons flying high above you. Individual species profiles describe distinguishing features and the text is supported by detailed images showing the birds at six different angles and poses, using photographs from many of Australia's leading bird photographers. Annotated multi-species comparison plates highlight key features that can help differentiate birds of prey in flight.
     This book will be of value to anyone who wants to learn more about Australia's birds of prey, and will provide a useful reference for identifying soaring birds in the field, and also while trying to identify images from your own camera.

Features:

- First guide to focus solely on helping you to identify Australian birds of prey in flight.
- Coverage of 26 birds of prey, including all resident Australian species, as well as 2 regular visitors.
- Lavishly illustrated with photographs from many Australian bird photographers.
- Photographic plates combine multiple photographs of birds at different angles of flight for easier comparison of key characteristics.
- Detailed text and annotated photographs to explain the key features and markers that help you to identify that distant flying bird of prey.

RECOMMENDATION: I see this title as a supplement to the standard Australian bird guides.

New Title

1) Kirwan, Guy M. et al.. Birds of the West Indies. 2019. Lynx. Flexibound: 400 pages. Price: $59.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Most people associate the Caribbean with palm-fringed sandy beaches, cricket and rum. Mention the West Indies to birders and they think todies and tremblers, among a remarkable array of c. 190 endemic species. Furthermore, no fewer than six families are confined to the region, and another (spindalises) virtually so. The region also receives many vagrants from both North and South America, and even transatlantic arrivals from the Old World. If this were not sufficient enticement, several of the most poorly known and enigmatic birds in the world—including Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Semper’s Warbler—as well as others requiring further taxonomic investigation, provide additional allure. This book covers over 700 species with over 1600 illustrations and more than 650 full color range maps.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those birding the West Indies!

New Title

1) Collette, Bruce, John Graves, and Val Kells. Tunas and Billfishes of the World. 2019. Johns Hopkins University Press. Hardbound: 351 pages. Price: $75.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Tunas and billfishes are peak predators of the oceans. Admired by scientists and naturalists for their speed, grace, unique physiology, and diversity, they are important both ecologically and socioeconomically. Vital sources of food and income for many maritime nations, whose fleets of vessels target them with huge purse seines or miles-long lines, these exhilarating fishes are also highly desired and avidly sought by big game fishers across the globe.

     In Tunas and Billfishes of the World, Bruce Collette, a leading marine ichthyologist and conservationist, and John Graves, an expert on the biology, fisheries, and management of tunas and billfishes, focus on three families of fishes: Scombridae, the mackerels and tunas; Istiophoridae, sailfish and marlins; and Xiphiidae, the Swordfish. Over the course of 61 in-depth species accounts, Collette and Graves

• describe what each species looks like and where it lives
• include detailed summaries of the fishes' biology―size, food, habitat, reproduction, and early life history
• offer current information about fisheries interests and conservation status
• provide up-to-date evaluations of the threat status for each species

     Accompanied by full-color, scientifically accurate illustrations by renowned illustrator Val Kells, along with range maps for each species, this spectacular volume is the essential book on these majestic inhabitants of the sea. Destined to quickly become the standard reference for scientists, students, and naturalists, Tunas and Billfishes of the World will also be prized by all fishers who pursue these species.

RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those with a serious interest in these species.