I am trying my hardest not to be disappointed. Author Matt Kracht, in the very title, promises a guide to the WORST BIRDS EVER. By that, I thought Kracht would not allow time nor space to limit his hilarity. I thought his latest field guide to birds would tackle the worst birds ever, including extinct ones who, thankfully, can no longer pester us humans. At least that would be Kracht’s ever-so-sly take.

Alas, no. Instead it is a third guide to birds, with most of the really interesting and hilarious birds already included in the previous two. As usual, Kracht comes up with a colorful name for each bird while sharing their scientific name, actual common name, a wonderful illustration and lots of information about them, so readers learn quite a bit about these birds. And, in fairness to Kracht, some of these birds are quite awful: raiding others’ nests, eating garbage, defecating freely and frequently, even putting on airs! Here’s a sample for the Cruddy Turdstone (a.k.a. the Ruddy Turnstone):

The Ruddy Turnstone is considered cosmopolitan — not cosmopolitan like they’re all sporting the latest fashion while they sip martinis and discuss French New Wave film in swanky I bars. Ha ha, no, these birds are not stylish or fun.

To be fair, Kracht is right on all counts. However, he was laugh-until-you’re-crying funny in the original The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, and now, well….

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Chronicle Books in exchange for an honest review.

This hilarious guide showcases fifty of the “worst” birds in the world, highlighting their annoying traits with gorgeous yet funny illustrations and a unique rating system. It’s a wildly entertaining and educational takedown of these feathered fiends. (I only wish the grackle entry had mentioned their worst quality: that their call will wake you from a sound sleep in the morning, sure that your car alarm is going off. WTF, birds?) I recommend reading one entry at a time, whenever you need a laugh.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book uses several adjectives to describe birds; "substandard", "terrible", "self-absorbed" I think all make an appearance. And these are all correct. Birds are so stupid, and I am glad someone is out there doing the work of documenting it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

“Look at this handsome fuck” - this book is fabulous!

Great fun, clever, a wonderful hostess gift. I can hardly wait for the next volume.

Bird Guide to top all bird guides. This was hilarious as well as helpful. I find some bird guides can be a bit dull so the humor in this was very welcome!

Once again Matt Kracht has submitted to his readership a hilarious, foulmouthed take on the birds of our world. His third book dedicated to judging and criticizing our feathered friends - or nemeses - highlights some of the worst birds you can find. He rates each species on a proprietary BUMMR (Bird Universal Mathematical Modeling and Ranking) system that uses a variety of factors to assess the birds with results like: 'Enjoyability Equivalent: Permeant Tinnitus' to 'Good Person?: -1,082'.

I have been a serious birder for 15 years, but I am not beyond cussing out a bird at the end of a long day, so I feel sympatico with Kracht in this respect. His illustrations are beautiful and beneath all of the obscenities and jokes you will end up actually learning something about each species.

Thank you Chronicle Books, Matt Kracht, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my unbiased review.

This book is (dare I say it?)...a hoot.

(OK, I had to.)

As someone who does not currently have an established stance on which birds are best and which are worst, I'm taking the author at his word that these are the worst birds out there—but I sure learned a lot while doing so. Honestly, my favorite parts of this book were (besides the gorgeous and often hilarious illustrations) the beginning and end, which I devoured. I found the six main bird shapes in particular to be quite informative.

I do think that I would have gotten more out of this book if I had known more about birds going into it—it would have been nice to read the entries and think "Oh! Yes! I have thought that too!"—but the book does seem to be tailored to bird newbies like myself, and it was fun to just feel like I was along for the ride. If Kracht ever released a series organized by region (because I'm funny that way and like to know where to find which bird), I'd absolutely pick them all up for my shelves.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book! All opinions are, of course, my own.

This is a fun book to page through for some laughs and relaxation. I think it'd make a fun coffee table book for friends and family to browse. A nice mix of educational and humorous with lovely illustrations.

If you have a love/hate relationship with birds, you're going to love this hilarious field guide. I was cracking up at so many points throughout this book, and I also learned somethings along the way too. Example: I had no idea there were so many types of creepy-looking bird feet.

Each ID page has an associated drawing of the bird and some other perfectly-illustrated graphics throughout. Overall, such a fun book about dumb birds. What more could you ask for.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this title.

A very silly take on birding - as someone who enjoys bird identification and bird watching, I found this book enjoyable and humorous.

This book made me laugh while teaching me as the same time. Matt Kracht humerous input and stories kept me entertained and laughing. This lighthearted book covers 50 birds with amazing illustrations, maps, tips, identification information and so much more, Before you know it, this funny book will have you caught up on your bird trivia and information. Any bird lover would love to have this field guide on their shelf. I know I am definitely looking forward to reaching their other books!

Hilarious and informative! Wonderful illustrations. My son is huge bird watcher and I will definitely get this for him when it's released, it's a must for bird watchers!

Serious birders are probably not going to enjoy A Dumb Birds Field Guide to the Worst Birds Ever. But the rest of us, the casual birders, at least those okay with bad language, will find it humorous.
You need to pay attention to find all the insults hidden throughout. Kracht finds lots to dislike about birds and has even devised his own “scientific scale” to measure their obnoxiousness. I even learned a few things (who knew a woodpecker’s tongue can be up to 4” long?)
The book covers the entire globe and I will admit to having no idea about most of the birds included. But that didn’t lessen my enjoyment. I was surprised that a few birds that I dislike didn’t make the list. Canadian Geese don’t (but their cousin, the Cackling Goose does). No thieving about Crows.
The drawings are great. A minor quibble, I would have preferred the illustrations to be before the text. I found myself paging back and forth on those birds I was unfamiliar with.
I wasn’t familiar with his earlier books, but am off to try and find his The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America.
My thanks to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for an advance copy of this book.

So glad that Matt Kracht added another book to this series. This book is hilarious and crude yet somehow charming in how it discusses how utterly inane birds can be. You come away from this book having chuckled, belly laughed and also learned something.

I felt guilty for laughing so much at this, and there was a lot of swearing. The pictures were wonderful and the insults were hilarious. I honestly recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor, and I feel like you'd have to like birds a lot to learn this much about them.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

Would make for an excellent coffee table book to flip through leisurely. Funny, nice pictures, cool facts.

As a bird hater, this is my kind of book! Everyone knows that birds are awful. Absolutely awful. They’re loud. They’re annoying. They make messes on your car—and you know they do it on purpose. They’re secretly plotting to take over the world. And swans are the worst. Those particular feathered fiends are not featured in A DUMB BIRDS FIELD GUIDE TO THE WORST BIRDS EVER, but they are perched at the top of the hierarchy of dreadful fowls. Take it from me, I was attacked by a swan when I was a child. Over thirty years later, and that encounter still haunts me. And explains my absolute hatred of all birds. In this wonderfully written and illustrated book, Matt Kracht provides negative reviews of a variety of birds. The book kept me entertained and introduced me to a few new bird species to fear. This book is both educational and hilarious.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The third in Matt Kracht's birding series, A Dumb Birds Field Guide to the Worst Birds Ever builds on his earlier books. The writing and descriptions are angry, flabbergasted and sarcastically hysterical with a healthy dose of curses sprinkled throughout. Here are some of the bird categories he covers (which gives you. a sense of what to expect): A Flock of A-holes, Wastes of Feathers, Creeps and Weirdos... Along the way, you'll pick up bits of knowledge about some of the unusual quirks, fun facts and random tidbits about specific types of birds. Kracht creates his own BUMMR scale that rates birds on various qualities like twitchiness, questionable lineage, and all that warbling. This is just a fun book for serious and non-serious birders alike and the random tangents into topics like Japanese folklore, history, bird anatomy and drawing tips - in short, there's something for everyone and some beautiful illustrations to boot!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the e-arc. This is the kind of book where you'd like a hard copy to share with others!

This guide to some of the worst birds ever is just as fabulous as all of Matt Kracht's guides on some of the worst animals ever. After reading I can confirm that all of the worst birds I can think of are here (including the Fire Kite which....if you know you know). Not only is it funny but there are SO MANY facts about the birds too, you will laugh and learn!
This (or any of Matt's brid guides really) is a great guide for anyone who what to know what the big deal is about birds. I work outside and one of my favorite things about birds is that they are all some from assholes secretly. They might be neat but they also have the potential to act with malicious intent.

A Dumb Bird’s Field Guide to the Worst Birds Ever by Matt Kracht | 4 Stars

Love birds? Hate birds? Either way, you're in for a squawking good time.

As someone recently knee-deep into birding myself (yep, it’s official: I’m that person with binoculars), Matt Kracht’s “A Dumb Bird’s Field Guide to the Worst Birds Ever” is a hilarious, irreverent romp through the world of birds. Kracht doesn’t just love to hate birds—he goes out of his way to categorize every feathered “squawkbox” for its faults, flaws, and general idiocy, all while still managing to give you actual birding facts.

The Fowl Line-Up
If you've ever looked at a Downy Woodpecker and thought, “Wow, this bird’s a bit of a jerk,” then this book will speak to your soul. Kracht’s field guide introduces you to the absolute worst birds in the animal kingdom with entries like the “Cruddy Turdstone” and the “Dowdy Woodfucker,” each paired with lovingly vicious descriptions and colorful, satirical drawings. And yes, every bird gets rated on a “scientific” scale of terribleness.

For Bird Lovers with a Sense of Humor
What makes this guide both laugh-out-loud funny and informative is Kracht’s dedication to his craft. Each profile is packed with snark, yet somehow you still come away knowing the bird’s call, migratory habits, and a few key identifying features. It’s a little like reading a roast session at the birding club.

Final Take
For birders, casual nature lovers, or anyone who has ever thought, “Birds are nice...from a distance,” this guide is a gem. Just don’t expect gentle observations or poetic musings on avian grace. This is birding with a side of sarcasm and a whole lot of profanity—and it’s perfect for your next birding trip or coffee table.

Whether you’re into birdwatching or just watching birds get roasted, “A Dumb Bird’s Field Guide” has you covered.

Fair warning: once you’ve read this, you might never look at a flycatcher the same way again.