GOOD READS
Looking for something good to read? Here are some suggestions from MFN members of new and notable books and online magazines that might interest you.
Muskoka Field Naturalists
Best Places to Bird in Ontario
Kenneth and Michael Burrell 2019
This book, from two of Ontario's best field birders, is an insider's guide to some of the most exceptional birding Ontario has to offer. Featuring thirty highly recommended sites, the Burrells share insider tips for spotting more than 300 species, advice for exactly when and where to go for the best results, and helpful hints for finding rarely seen birds.
Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification
Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson 2019
This photographic field guide to North America's gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls.
The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London
Christopher Skaife 2018
Skaife tells the story of how he came to be the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London, with delightful insights into the history of the tower and its beguiling and highly intelligent resident birds.
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Kirk Wallace Johnson 2018
In this rollicking good read the author investigates the theft of 299 rare bird skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring in 2009, and successfully combines many genres - true crime, biography, natural history, and travel.
The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years
Jane Kim 2018
A celebration of the diversity and evolution of birds, as depicted in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's magnificent 2,500 square-foot Wall of Birds mural by Jane Kim. This beautiful book is full of lavish photographs of the birds depicted in the mural, accompanied by narratives and artistic reflections that tell of the evolutionary forces that created birds' dazzling variety of forms and colours.
Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution
Menno Schilthuizen 2018
A fascinating look at the confluence of nature and city-life and the ways that humans have altered the natural world.
The Human Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife
Nancy Lawson 2017
Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards.
Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity
Sandra Postel 2017
Postel tells a hopeful story about the future of global water security.
The Genius of Birds
Jennifer Ackerman 2016
Ackerman explores new research showing some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence.
The Sibley Guide to Birds - 2nd edition
David Sibley 2014
Alexandra Horowitz 2013
Katie Fallon 2011
This book follows Fallon's journey to learn about the rapidly declining Cerulean Warbler, and how its fate, ultimately, is ours.
The Warbler Guide
Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle 2013
Having trouble telling a Magnolia apart from a Yellow-rumped? This guide, featuring more than 1,000 colour photos, detailed species accounts, and a new system of song identification, simplifies identifying the 56 species of warbler in the US and Canada.
David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie 2012
Kenneth and Michael Burrell 2019
This book, from two of Ontario's best field birders, is an insider's guide to some of the most exceptional birding Ontario has to offer. Featuring thirty highly recommended sites, the Burrells share insider tips for spotting more than 300 species, advice for exactly when and where to go for the best results, and helpful hints for finding rarely seen birds.
Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification
Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson 2019
This photographic field guide to North America's gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls.
The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London
Christopher Skaife 2018
Skaife tells the story of how he came to be the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London, with delightful insights into the history of the tower and its beguiling and highly intelligent resident birds.
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Kirk Wallace Johnson 2018
In this rollicking good read the author investigates the theft of 299 rare bird skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring in 2009, and successfully combines many genres - true crime, biography, natural history, and travel.
The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years
Jane Kim 2018
A celebration of the diversity and evolution of birds, as depicted in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's magnificent 2,500 square-foot Wall of Birds mural by Jane Kim. This beautiful book is full of lavish photographs of the birds depicted in the mural, accompanied by narratives and artistic reflections that tell of the evolutionary forces that created birds' dazzling variety of forms and colours.
Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution
Menno Schilthuizen 2018
A fascinating look at the confluence of nature and city-life and the ways that humans have altered the natural world.
The Human Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife
Nancy Lawson 2017
Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards.
Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity
Sandra Postel 2017
Postel tells a hopeful story about the future of global water security.
The Genius of Birds
Jennifer Ackerman 2016
Ackerman explores new research showing some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence.
The Sibley Guide to Birds - 2nd edition
David Sibley 2014
The long-awaited second edition of Sibley's landmark fieldguide is now available. It contains more than 600 new paintings and more than 100 rare species have been added. The illustrations have been reproduced 15 to 20 percent larger in this edition allowing for more details to be shown. The maps have been updated and the expanded text includes habitat information and voice descriptions for all species.
On Looking: Eleven Walks With Expert EyesAlexandra Horowitz 2013
The author considers what it means to be aware and to truly observe our surroundings. She is "alarmed, delighted, and humbled" after she walks her "familiar" urban block with a geologist, an urban sociologist, a sound designer, and a physician, among others, and discovers just how much there is to see, if only we knew how to look.
Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing SpeciesKatie Fallon 2011
This book follows Fallon's journey to learn about the rapidly declining Cerulean Warbler, and how its fate, ultimately, is ours.
The Warbler Guide
Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle 2013
Having trouble telling a Magnolia apart from a Yellow-rumped? This guide, featuring more than 1,000 colour photos, detailed species accounts, and a new system of song identification, simplifies identifying the 56 species of warbler in the US and Canada.
Yale Environment 360
Not a book, but an online magazine, featuring original articles, mulitmedia content, and a daily news digest, offering opinion, analysis, reporting, and debate on a wide variety of global environment issues. You can find it at www.e360.yale.edu/
Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North AmericaNot a book, but an online magazine, featuring original articles, mulitmedia content, and a daily news digest, offering opinion, analysis, reporting, and debate on a wide variety of global environment issues. You can find it at www.e360.yale.edu/
David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie 2012
The two Ontario-based authors have produced a comprehensive field guide to over 1,500 of the common moths that occur in eastern North America. The book includes colour photos of each species at rest, range maps and seasonal abundance graphs, short species accounts, and the familiar Peterson arrow system making identification easy.