Complete Idiot's Guide to Birdwatching

by Buff, Sheila

ISBN13: 9780028631066

ISBN10: 0028631064

Format: Paperback

Pub. Date: 1999-05-01

Publisher(s): DK Publishing, Inc.

Other versions by this Author

This Item Qualifies for Free Shipping!*

*Excludes marketplace orders.

List Price: ~~$18.95~~

Rent Book

Select for Price

Add to Cart

There was a problem. Please try again later.

New Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

Used Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

eBook

We're Sorry
Not Available

Buy from our Marketplace starting at $4.40

Summary

You're no idiot, of course. You Know that robins are one of the first signs of spring and pigeons like large statues. But when it comes to identifying anything between a hummingbird and a hawk, you feel like a dobo bird.

Author Biography

Sheila Buff is a freelance writer specializing in natural history and the outdoors. She is the author of Birding for Beginners, The Birder's Sourcebook, and Nature Walks In and Around New York City. She divides her time between New York City and Westchester.

Welcome to Birdwatching	p. 1
Why Birds?	p. 3
The Joy of Birding	p. 3
Today's Birders	p. 4
Hobby or Sport?	p. 5
The Birds in Your Life	p. 5
The Science of Birds	p. 5
Birding and the Environment	p. 6
Birding Economics	p. 7
Fun in the Field	p. 7
Getting Started	p. 9
Looking for Mr. Goodbird: How to Use Your Binocs	p. 9
Taking a Closer Look	p. 10
Getting on the Birds	p. 11
Flipping Through Your Field Guide	p. 12
Playing the Field	p. 13
Using Your Field Guide	p. 14
Where Are the Birds?	p. 15
Finding Feathered Friends	p. 16
Being an Ethical Birder	p. 16
Your First Field Trip	p. 19
Where to?	p. 19
Your Birding Wardrobe	p. 21
Finding the Birds in the Field	p. 22
To PishPishPish or Not to PishPishPish	p. 24
Blinded by the Birds	p. 24
Follow the Leader	p. 24
Clocking In	p. 26
Finding Guides	p. 26
What's Bugging You?	p. 26
Look, but Don't Touch	p. 27
Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird!	p. 29
May I See Your ID, Please?	p. 31
I See It! Now What?	p. 31
Find the Field Marks	p. 32
Your Basic Bird	p. 33
Size Does Matter	p. 34
Getting in Shape	p. 35
Tailing Off	p. 35
In Living Color	p. 36
Head Trips	p. 36
Filling the Bill	p. 36
Making Headlines	p. 38
The Body of Knowledge	p. 39
On the Wing	p. 39
A Feeling for Feet	p. 40
Where Are You?	p. 41
Where's the Bird?	p. 42
What's It Doing?	p. 42
I Can Resist Everything Except Temptation	p. 42
Location, Location, Location	p. 45
Ranging Afield	p. 45
Home on the Range	p. 46
Get in the Habitat Habit	p. 46
Birding by Habitat	p. 47
A Niche for Everyone	p. 48
Edges and Hedges	p. 48
Swamps and Marshes	p. 49
Hotspots: Where the Birds Are	p. 50
Birding Through the Year	p. 51
Understanding Migration	p. 51
Who Migrates?	p. 52
Flyways and Migrant Traps	p. 53
Migration and the Weather	p. 54
Spring: Welcome Back	p. 55
The Lazy Days of Summer	p. 56
Fall Farewell	p. 56
Winter: Birding in the Cold	p. 57
Enjoying Irruptions	p. 57
Crazy Mixed-Up Birds	p. 58
Understanding Bird Behavior	p. 61
Table Manners	p. 61
Eating Like a Bird	p. 63
The Birds and the Bees	p. 65
Keep Off!	p. 67
Don't Distract Me	p. 68
What Big Eyes You Have	p. 68
Preening and Cleaning	p. 69
Birds on the Wing	p. 69
Keeping Track	p. 71
Putting the Pigeons in the Right Holes	p. 73
Nine Thousand Ways to Be a Bird	p. 73
Name That Bird	p. 75
Common Names	p. 76
Being Specific	p. 77
It's Splitsville	p. 77
Who's in Charge Here?	p. 79
List Mania	p. 81
Check!	p. 81
Checking It Out	p. 85
Important Checklist Abbreviations	p. 86
The Value of Listing	p. 87
You and Your Life List	p. 88
Checklist Areas	p. 88
List Lust	p. 89
Lots of Lists	p. 89
Listing Software	p. 90
Birding Journals	p. 91
Tools for Birding	p. 93
Optics: Binoculars and Spotting Scopes	p. 95
Binoculars: Don't Leave Home Without Them	p. 95
Raising the Roof	p. 98
Choosing Binoculars	p. 99
Birding with Your Bins	p. 101
Binocular Extras	p. 101
Scoping Out the Right Spotting Scope	p. 101
Traveling with Optics	p. 103
Making a Difference	p. 103
Birding by Ear	p. 105
Learning to Listen	p. 105
Do Heard Birds Count?	p. 106
How to Home In	p. 106
Songs, Chips, and Chirps	p. 107
Singin' a Song	p. 107
Call Me	p. 108
Bring in da Noise	p. 109
Learning Bird Sounds	p. 109
Birdsong Mnemonics	p. 110
Easy Listening	p. 112
Eavesdropping on the Birds	p. 114
Other Cool Birding Gear	p. 117
Voting with Your Feet	p. 117
Packing It In	p. 119
Roger, Over	p. 120
Weather Radios	p. 120
Other Cool Stuff	p. 120
Basics of Bird Photography	p. 123
Join the Crowd	p. 123
Investing in Your Camera	p. 123
L-o-o-ong Lenses	p. 124
I'm Ready for My Close-Up Now	p. 126
Hunting with Your Camera	p. 126
Ethical Photography	p. 128
What to Do with Your Pictures	p. 128
Buying Pictures	p. 128
That Family Feeling	p. 131
Hawk Watching	p. 133
Wrapped Up in Raptors	p. 133
Know Your Hawks	p. 134
Kites: Poetry in Motion	p. 134
Accipiters: Hawks of the Forest	p. 135
Buteos: Soaring on the Wind	p. 135
Eagles: Size Does Count	p. 136
Falcons: Masters of Flight	p. 136
Northern Harrier: The Hawk of the Marshes	p. 137
Osprey: Fish Tales	p. 137
Vultures: the Raptors That Aren't	p. 137
Hawks in Flight	p. 139
Finding Hawks to Watch	p. 140
Migrating Hawks	p. 141
Owl Prowls	p. 145
Owls: The Eyes Have It	p. 145
Who-o-o-o Are You?	p. 147
Seeing Owls	p. 148
Going on an Owl Prowl	p. 151
Sorting Out the Shorebirds	p. 153
A Day at the Beach	p. 153
Birding at the Beach	p. 156
Shorebird Families	p. 157
Plowing Through the Plovers	p. 157
Sorting Out the Sandpipers	p. 158
Other Shorebirds	p. 161
Shorebird Migration	p. 162
Terns and Gulls	p. 165
Meet the Larids	p. 165
One Good Tern Deserves Another	p. 166
Where the Gulls Are	p. 167
Gull Plumage: The Wonder Years	p. 168
Guessing at the Gulls	p. 168
Larids on the Lam	p. 170
Nesting Colonies	p. 171
How Gullible Are You?	p. 172
Ducks and Geese	p. 173
Waterfowl Facts	p. 173
Duck!	p. 174
Wood Ducks and Whistlers	p. 176
Digging Up Ducks	p. 177
Getting Goosed	p. 178
Swanning Around	p. 179
Loony Tunes	p. 180
Isn't That Just Ducky	p. 180
Waterfowl Migration	p. 180
Making a Difference	p. 181
Warblers, Warblers, Warblers!	p. 183
Welcome to Warbler World	p. 183
Woods + Water = Warblers	p. 184
Which Warbler?	p. 184
Watching Warblers	p. 187
Head Games	p. 187
Layers of Warblers	p. 188
Warblers by Ear	p. 190
Warbler Waves	p. 190
Confusing Fall Warblers	p. 191
Hummingbirds: Tiny Terrors	p. 193
Life in the Fast Lane	p. 193
Living Dynamos	p. 196
Nectar of the Gods	p. 197
Hum a Few Bars	p. 199
Hot-Dogging Hummers	p. 199
Love 'em and Leave 'em	p. 200
How Hummers Hover	p. 201
Heading South	p. 201
Hummers Far from Home	p. 201
The World's Smallest Bird	p. 202
Where to See Hummingbirds	p. 202
Sparrows: Little Brown Birds	p. 205
Sparing Time for Sparrows	p. 205
On the Fringe	p. 206
The Spurious Sparrow	p. 206
Sorting Out the Sparrows	p. 207
Little Brown Birds: Separating the Sparrows	p. 209
Spotting Sparrows	p. 212
Spaced-Out Sparrows	p. 213
Birds of the Ocean Blue	p. 215
Far-Out Birds	p. 215
Taking in the Tubenoses	p. 216
Flying over the Sea	p. 217
ABC's of Albatrosses	p. 217
Sheer Pleasure: Shearwaters	p. 218
Peeking at Petrels	p. 219
Puffins!	p. 220
All About Alcids	p. 220
Sea Birds from the Shore	p. 222
Boat Trips for Birders	p. 222
Sailing, Sailing, Over the Ocean Blue	p. 223
Chumming	p. 224
Bonus Points: Marine Mammals	p. 225
Your Backyard Bird Habitat	p. 227
The Backyard Bird Buffet	p. 229
Best Backyard Birds	p. 229
Eating Like a Bird	p. 231
Mix Your Own	p. 233
Buying and Storing Your Seed	p. 234
Favorite Feeders	p. 235
What's Your Hang-Up?	p. 238
Here, Birds!	p. 239
Brushing Up Your Feeder	p. 239
Keep On Feedin'	p. 240
Chewing the Fat: Suet Feeders	p. 240
Chef's Specials	p. 241
Egg Heads	p. 242
Keeping a Backyard Journal	p. 243
Backyard Biology	p. 243
In the Good Old Summertime	p. 245
The Sweet Taste of Success	p. 245
Sweet Surprises	p. 247
Fruitful Ideas	p. 249
Bringing Up Baby	p. 249
Got Those Hungry Blues	p. 249
Live Bait	p. 250
So Suet Me	p. 251
Feeder Pests and Problems	p. 253
Keep It Clean	p. 253
In Sickness and in Health	p. 254
Duking It Out	p. 254
Squirrels!	p. 255
Cat-astrophe	p. 259
Bad Birds	p. 260
Hungry Hawks	p. 261
A Plethora of Pests	p. 261
Unsafe at Any Seed	p. 262
Window Strikes	p. 262
Wet and Wild	p. 265
Taking a Bath	p. 265
Hey, Mister	p. 267
Winter Water	p. 268
Dusting Off	p. 268
It's a Natural	p. 269
If You Build It, They Will Come	p. 269
Making a Difference	p. 270
Equal Opportunity Housing	p. 271
Where Birds Nest	p. 271
Habitat for Housing	p. 272
Nesting Box Basics	p. 272
Sizing Up Your Nesting Boxes	p. 274
Building Boxes	p. 275
Slumming It	p. 275
Feathering the Nest	p. 278
Watch the Birdie	p. 279
On the Shelf	p. 280
The Bluebirds of Happiness	p. 281
The Swallows of Summer	p. 282
Martins Move In	p. 283
Resident Raptors	p. 283
Wood Ducks	p. 284
Roosting Sites	p. 284
Going Batty	p. 284
Gardening for the Birds	p. 287
A Garden Spot for Birds	p. 287
Elevated Thoughts	p. 288
Lose the Lawn	p. 288
In the Zone	p. 290
Plants for Birds	p. 291
Humming Along: Hummingbird Plants	p. 294
Float Like a Butterfly	p. 294
Bird-Safe Gardening	p. 297
Gimme Shelter	p. 297
Making a Difference	p. 298
Beyond the Backyard	p. 301
Hotspots and Rare Birds	p. 303
Where the Birds Really Are	p. 303
Hot Stuff	p. 304
Visiting a Hotspot	p. 305
Local Hotspots	p. 305
Rare, Rarer, Rarest	p. 305
Rare Bird Alert!	p. 306
Help! I've Seen a Rare Bird!	p. 308
Cut to the Chase	p. 308
Birders on Tour	p. 311
Why Tour?	p. 311
Choosing the Best Trip for You 312
Ecotourism and the Environment	p. 313
Service Trips	p. 313
Doing It Yourself	p. 314
Guiding Lights	p. 315
Mommy, Can't We Go to the Mall?	p. 316
Squeezing in Some Birding	p. 316
Birding Events	p. 319
Flocks of Birders	p. 319
Birding Festivals	p. 319
International Migratory Bird Day	p. 320
Competitive Birding	p. 321
Big Days	p. 321
North American Migration Count	p. 322
Christmas Bird Counts	p. 323
The Big Sit	p. 324
Great Backyard Bird count	p. 324
Volunteer Birding	p. 327
Making a Difference	p. 327
Finding Volunteer Opportunities	p. 328
Project FeederWatch	p. 328
Cornell Nest Box Network	p. 330
Important Bird Areas	p. 330
Atlas Projects	p. 331
Breeding Bird Survey	p. 331
Bird Banding	p. 332
Virtual Birding	p. 335
Computers and Listers: the Perfect Match	p. 335
Name That Bird	p. 337
Singin' on the Web	p. 337
Birding Online	p. 338
Birding on the Web	p. 342
Learning More	p. 345
Classy Birding	p. 345
Read All About It	p. 348
Books for Birders	p. 350
Libraries for Birders	p. 351
Get Stuffed	p. 352
It's All Happening at the Zoo	p. 353
Appendices
Birding Organizations	p. 355
American Birding Association Code of Ethics	p. 357
Rare Bird Alerts	p. 359
Birding Hotspots	p. 367
Optics Manufacturers	p. 373
Your Basic Birding Bookshelf	p. 375
State and Provincial Birds	p. 381
Glossary	p. 385
Index	p. 393
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.