Download PDF How to Know the Birds The Art and Adventure of Birding Ted Floyd 9781426220036 Books

Product details Hardcover 304 pages Publisher National Geographic (March 12, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1426220030

How to Know the Birds The Art and Adventure of Birding Ted Floyd 9781426220036 Books Reviews

• This is a delightful book to keep by your side for a quick read when you have 5 or 10 minutes here or there. To me, it wasn’t the kind of book you sat down and read from cover to cover. It is comprised of a series of essays taken from Birding Magazine.
  
  This is not a bird identification book, it offers insights into bird behaviors and into the birding world. The reader will learn about migration patterns, how bird classifications work, why birds came to be named what they are named; I was fascinated to learn that the pileated woodpecker got his name from a Latin word that means felt hat.
  
  There are many more interesting tidbits to learn about our avian friends in this handy book. It’s the kind of book you keep by the bed to read a few essays before you go to sleep. As it has no plot there is nothing to keep you from stopping after an essay finishing and you end on a learning note.
  
  I received a free copy for my honest review
• Although the beautiful cover of Birding magazine editor Ted Floyd's How to Know the Birds may lead you to believe that this will be your typical book about birds, you would be wrong.
  
  Many bird books are field guides, with page after page of color photos or drawings of birds, along with short descriptions of what the bird look like and where you find them. Floyd's book is different. He begins by describing the history of birding, referencing the seminal books in the field. It was a quiet, gentle, often solitary study by people with sketchpads, pencils, binoculars and notebooks.
  
  Then he takes us into the present, where birding has evolved like most things- people use their smartphones to take photos to upload to numerous Facebook pages devoted to birding. There are apps to help birders organize and connect with other birders. It is much more immediate and social.
  
  Floyd introduces us to 200 bird species, each one getting a page but not necessarily a drawing. (There are a small number of beautiful pencil drawings by N. John Schmitt that accompany some of the text.)
  
  The contents are divided into six sections, organized by the calendar year, beginning with Spark Bird, which covers January-February. He discusses the birds you will likely find during those months in North America, gives the common name for the bird, such as American Robin, then its scientific name Turdus migratorius, which always capitalizes the first letter of the first name and the second name always begins with a smaller case letter.
  
  He gives you a short description of the bird, and interesting fact about the bird that is the title of the page. For the essay titled He Says, She Says, we learn about the Great Horned Owl and the difference between the sounds the male and female makes. In The Upside of Human-Modified Landscapes, he talks about the Canada Goose and how these geese have evolved to "flourish in human-dominated landscapes" living near high-rise office buildings, on golf courses and wreaking havoc near airports.
  
  Floyd sprinkles in pop culture references, talking about the movie On Golden Pond in the essay about the Common Loon, or comparing a Star Trek TV series scene to a large nest which holds a tiny Bushtit. He of course mentions the Jack Black/Steve Martin movie The Big Year, perhaps the only movie about birding ever made.
  
  The book ends with a helpful checklist of all the birds described by species.
  
  How to Know the Birds is really written for the person who enjoys birding as a serious hobby more than for a person looking to get into birding. It would make a wonderful gift for your favorite birder, maybe in an Easter basket.
• How to Know the Birds The Art and Adventure of Birding by Ted Floyd is a book which intends to inform novice and enthusiasts alike. Mr. Floyd is the editor of Birding Magazine and, of course, an avian aficionado himself.
  
  I know next to nothing about birds, sometimes I wish I knew more, especially when out in nature with the kids. Not to worry though, that doesn’t happen very often.
  But I always enjoy learning new stuff.
  
  How to Know the Birds The Art and Adventure of Birding by Ted Floyd consists of short, readable sections on many types of bird. It is clear from the writing that the author is not only knowledgeable, but also very enthusiastic about every word printed.
  
  I was expecting an off-the-shelf bird watching field guide, with pictures, stats and identifiers – but this is not this type of book. Instead I got a memoir / guide, which allowed me to appreciate birds more than I ever thought would be possible for me.
  
  For a novice like myself, I enjoyed the introductory section which talked about birds that I often see in my back yard. As a technologist, the section of how technology changed ornithology was especially fascinating.
  
  Even though bird watching has changed with the times, Mr. Floyd does insist that some things do stay the same. Learn as much as you can and appreciate nature for what it is.