Books About the Birds of North America

There are many books about North American birds that are available for purchase, although they can vary greatly in quality and price. Listed below are some of the books that I have found helpful.

The Focus Guide to Birds of North America is written by Kenn Kaufman. This reference book utilizes a interesting approach to illustration by using digital images based on photographs to help make birds easier to identify. This is an ideal book to take out into the field as it fits into your pocket. Unfortunately this book is out of print, but you should be able to find used copies online should you decide to buy it.

The Sibley Guide to Birds is another excellent bird reference book. More experienced birders will especially appreciate the extensive details that are provided in the descriptions. Sibley’s book contains over 6600 water color illustrations covering 810 species in North America. As this book is somewhat large sized you may not be able to use it as a field guide book.

The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is a fourth edition paperback book that’s extremely comprehensive. This book covers many different bird types and species including some very rare birds from places like the Western Aleutians Islands of Alaska and the Dry Tortugas of Florida. Even though at 480 pages this book is fairly large, you should be able to manage using it in the field.

The last book that I’ll mention here is Golden Field Guides' Birds of North America. This book was written by Chandler S. Robbins and is also in paperback format. While it’s the least expensive of the bird reference books covered in this article, it is a longtime favorite of many amateur bird lovers. Like the other guides, it features excellent range maps, bird descriptions and clear illustrations.

In summary, purchasing a good bird guide book will help you to identify the many birds you’ll see, both around your home as well as on any bird watching treks that you might go on. This in turn will make your bird watching activities more satisfying and enjoyable. So if you’re interested in birds and bird watching then do yourself a favor. Go out and buy one of these excellent bird watching guides to the birds of North America. Who knows what kind of birds you might encounter on your way there.