Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips From North America's Top Birders (Paperback)

~ Lisa White (Editor), Pete Dunne (Foreword)
Key Phrases: share your passion, stand your ground, wildlife sanctuary, Mangrove Cuckoo, Snowy Owls, The Joy of Birding (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This collection of essays, by 50 contributors (David Allen Sibley and Don and Lillian Stokes are probably the most well-known), supplies 50 tips for bird-watching, and here are a few: take field notes, hug your tour leader, think like a migrating bird, linger even after you have listed a bird, play fair when sharing a scope, go birding in bad weather, go birding with kids, learn birdssongs, and keep your binoculars clean. Experienced bird-watchers will be familiar with most of these tips, but the book is a delight to read and will generate new enthusiasm for the hobby. The 25 black-and-white line drawings are hilarious. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

In these 50 light and fun original essays, the biggest names in birding dispense advice to birders of every level, on topics ranging from feeding birds and cleaning binoculars to pishing and pelagic birding. Whether satirizing bird snobs or relating the traditions and taboos of the birding culture, each essay is as chock-full of helpful information as it is entertaining.

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Product Details Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 23, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0618756426 ISBN-13: 978-0618756421 Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,091 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
share your passion, stand your ground, wildlife sanctuary, pelagic birding, pod person, pod people, shift your focus, birding etiquette, good birder, best birders, birding tours, identifying birds

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mangrove Cuckoo, Snowy Owls, The Joy of Birding, Cape May, United States, North America, Nest Egg, Bird Brain, Come Fly, Come On-a My House, Peterson Field Guide, The Road Less Traveled, The Shorebird Guide, Bird Watcher, Great Plains, Born-Again Birder, New Jersey, Follow These Rules, Capturing the Moment, Duck Stamp, Recognize True Greatness, Feather Forecasting, Cultivate Good Birding Practices, Dave's Bird Bistro, Bad Weather

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	67% buy the item featured on this page: Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips From North America's Top Birders 3.7 out of 5 stars (3) $8.95
	13% buy A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All 3.9 out of 5 stars (17) $10.20
	9% buy Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share The World's Greatest Destinations 3.8 out of 5 stars (6) $15.48
	6% buy The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls (Book & Audio CD) 4.5 out of 5 stars (10) $12.89

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 39 of 42 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Good Birders Don't Wear White, April 24, 2007 By  Barney Considine (Missoula, Montana USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Imagine someone, or a group, deciding that it would be a great idea to have a book containing essays by all of the really good contributors to the literature about birds. This is that book. There are fifty essays. The contributors have published books, written articles, edited magazines, photographed birds; in short, they are the cream of the crop. Several are represented on my bookshelves. The cartoonish illustrations in the book are fantastic and match wonderfully well with the text. The problem with the book is that the useable information content is very low. Regardless of whether you are a beginning birder, intermediate, or expert; you will find a small amount of useable information here while the rest you either knew or didn't want to know. Part of the problem is that there was too little space to develop a thought. Take 261 pages, subtract space for 24 full-page illustrations, take away enough lines for long paragraphs giving the awards and accomplishments of each writer, and provide a lot of white space. Divide that by fifty and you don't allow a writer room to say much. On the other hand, every reader will find something of value. The last two essays caused me to reflect on what it takes to be a good birder. And then, there are those delightful illustrations. 26 of 27 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Not a how-to book, but a delightful read with wonderful illustrations, August 15, 2007 By  forest historian (Durham, United States) - See all my reviews If you're looking for an encyclopedic how-to book on birding, this is not it. Rather, these essays by some of the top names in the business are reflections on birdwatching experiences with some lessons derived from those often hilarious experiences thrown in. There are some useful tips to be gleaned along the way, no doubt, but what you will really enjoy is discovering the sense of common experience with the writers even if you haven't been to these locales. I found myself chuckling throughout and thinking, "Oh, boy. Yep, that's happened to me." Or, "I've seen that too many times. When will people learn?" It's a good refresher on the do's and don't's, and a refreshing read on a wonderful avocation. I can't say enough about the illustrations--delightful, amusing, creative, and funny, for starters. They are an excellent addition to the essays. I hope we see more of Mr. Braunfield's work in other books soon. I'm giving the book 5 stars just for the illustrations alone. Lastly, this would make a great gift for the avid or amateur birder or birdwatcher in your life. You know the ones...they can be found with binoculars at the ready, decked out in white...or not, sometimes on private lands, sometimes on national forests and grasslands. What are those? Read The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History and see. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for stoplights?, August 12, 2009 By  D. Birchett - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    These are short vignettes (2 to 3 pages) by a very impressive group of bird experts that will help you with your techniques and etiquette. Although the etiquette is common sense the stories are applied with light humor making this a very easy and pleasant read.		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618756426
• ISBN-13: 978-0618756421
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,091 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Birders Don't Wear White, April 24, 2007

By	Barney Considine (Missoula, Montana USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Imagine someone, or a group, deciding that it would be a great idea to have a book containing essays by all of the really good contributors to the literature about birds. This is that book. There are fifty essays. The contributors have published books, written articles, edited magazines, photographed birds; in short, they are the cream of the crop. Several are represented on my bookshelves. The cartoonish illustrations in the book are fantastic and match wonderfully well with the text.

The problem with the book is that the useable information content is very low. Regardless of whether you are a beginning birder, intermediate, or expert; you will find a small amount of useable information here while the rest you either knew or didn't want to know. Part of the problem is that there was too little space to develop a thought. Take 261 pages, subtract space for 24 full-page illustrations, take away enough lines for long paragraphs giving the awards and accomplishments of each writer, and provide a lot of white space. Divide that by fifty and you don't allow a writer room to say much.

On the other hand, every reader will find something of value. The last two essays caused me to reflect on what it takes to be a good birder. And then, there are those delightful illustrations.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a how-to book, but a delightful read with wonderful illustrations, August 15, 2007

By	forest historian (Durham, United States) - See all my reviews

If you're looking for an encyclopedic how-to book on birding, this is not it. Rather, these essays by some of the top names in the business are reflections on birdwatching experiences with some lessons derived from those often hilarious experiences thrown in. There are some useful tips to be gleaned along the way, no doubt, but what you will really enjoy is discovering the sense of common experience with the writers even if you haven't been to these locales. I found myself chuckling throughout and thinking, "Oh, boy. Yep, that's happened to me." Or, "I've seen that too many times. When will people learn?" It's a good refresher on the do's and don't's, and a refreshing read on a wonderful avocation.

I can't say enough about the illustrations--delightful, amusing, creative, and funny, for starters. They are an excellent addition to the essays. I hope we see more of Mr. Braunfield's work in other books soon. I'm giving the book 5 stars just for the illustrations alone.

Lastly, this would make a great gift for the avid or amateur birder or birdwatcher in your life. You know the ones...they can be found with binoculars at the ready, decked out in white...or not, sometimes on private lands, sometimes on national forests and grasslands. What are those? Read The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History and see.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for stoplights?, August 12, 2009

By	D. Birchett - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These are short vignettes (2 to 3 pages) by a very impressive group of bird experts that will help you with your techniques and etiquette. Although the etiquette is common sense the stories are applied with light humor making this a very easy and pleasant read.