Bird books

I picked up a few new birding books this evening, thanks to a nice 40% coupon I got in my inbox from Borders:

Birding Journal by Potter Style - this is a cute little field journal for jotting down notes when out birding. It has areas for checklists and descriptions of habitat, birds, weather, etc, along with bird related quotes scattered throughout. I fell in love with this little book, and I'm sure it will become both a journal and a keepsake of my first year of birding.

The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible by Sally Roth - This one got me with the author's enthusiasm! I flipped through several books geared toward back yard birders, and most were dry and... well... factual. This one is teeming with personality! It covers gardening ideas for attracting birds, seed and feeders, and great ideas for projects like edible wreaths and pine cone bird treats. The author sounds just as excited as I feel, and that sold me on this book. I can't wait to dig into it tonight!

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley - There are a LOT of bird guides out there, and eventually I will get one specifically geared toward my region, but the thing that drew me to this book is that each bird has multiple drawings of all different variations - plumages, gender differences, juveniles vs adults, etc. Most books and web sites explain the differences, but this one has an illustration for every variation of every bird in the book. I seem to have the most trouble with the variations, so I thought this book would be most helpful for me starting out. We'll see!

I'm still waiting for my Project FeederWatch welcome kit to arrive. I'm excited to start! I've been submitting my bird observations to eBird.com, but I'm really looking forward to receiving the materials that come with the Project FeederWatch kit.

Birds birds birds! I can't get enough! :)