Find More Birds

I’ve been birding since I was a child and this definitely has some practical tips and tricks for those looking to bird! I would definitely recommend this to someone looking to get into the hobby. It would be cool if they added some more help or Id features with silhouettes etc since they mention flight patterns and silhouettes specifically some diagrams might be helpful to demonstrate.

I like animals. I like birds. So when I saw this as an ARC, I thought, why not? In the short time it took me to read this book (it’s so readable for nonfiction!) I’ve become very excited about birding (which is the insiders term for birdwatching).

This book is broken up into numbered tips, which makes it very easy to read and reference. Each tip is a page or two long and has very practical, easy to understand information. It’s also so full of gorgeous bird photos! I wish I could share some, because they are truly stunning!

I have gone from knowing NOTHING about birding to able to spot and identify many birds in my patch (another birding term for a local area frequented regularly). My patch is my neighborhood and I’ve seen hawks, woodpeckers, humming birds, orioles…some bright yellow, birds with red heads…extremely colorful and I had never noticed them before! They are everywhere! This book will help anyone notice the beautiful birds around them. As an extreme beginner with this book as my only guide, I was surprised at how many birds I have found!

My top helpful takeaway was to download the Merlin Bird ID app. WOW! This app has helped me figure out what the birds are around me and it’s so easy to use. If you are interested in birds at all you NEED this app!!!

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Heather Wolf, and Experiment Publishing for this ARC. I can’t wait to get a hard copy of this book, it’s an incredible reference! For me this was a fantastic 5 star read and I highly recommend it.

I'd suggest this for novice birders and also for those who, like me, may have been birding for a while but tend to stumble around shambolically hoping to See Cool Things and could use a more systematic approach. I took away a large number of useful ideas: in spring, watch places where you've seen old nests, because that's where new nests are likely to turn up; devote time to staring at leaf litter; jetties are "a giant sushi bar for birds"; look for whitewash (and pellets) under dense trees if you want to find owls ... and so on.

The natural history tidbits were also fascinating. Swallows pick up sludge from muddy areas to build their nests. NYC has the highest concentration of Peregrine Falcons in the world (go, us!). Cedar Waxwings and other berry-eating birds can get drunk by gorging themselves on berries fermenting berries.

Still, I couldn't quite give five stars, for these reasons:

1. The emphasis on checklists and on traveling to specific destinations in order to see a particular species, or for that matter lots of new species. Birders should be environmentalists, by definition, no? But of course plane travel is a significant contributor to climate change. I can't get too much on my high horse about this, since I travel by plane a couple of times a year (and of course I bird wherever I'm going), but it seems to me that a book about birding ought to be a bit more judicious about encouraging extra travel aimed at lengthening one's life list. Low-carbon birding is a thing.

2. Related to 1., there's a lot of unconscious class privilege here. I take bird pix with a camera that cost me $700 on eBay, and that isn't anything like what "real" bird photographers even consider entry-level. Good "basic" binoculars cost a couple of hundred bucks. Birding is, in many ways, a privileged activity to begin with -- even setting aside equipment costs, you have to have the leisure to hang out in birdy places. In fairness, many of the tips could be applied by anyone in the course of an ordinary day (watch parking-lot light poles for raptors, for example), but I would have liked to see some acknowledgment that some are flat out of reach for a lot of people.

3. Same as 2., but for disabled birders and birders of color. I get emails from the Audubon Society about racism in birding (remember Christian Cooper?) and about accessibility for mobility-impaired people, blind people, and people who are hard of hearing. No, I don't expect a general guide to cover every possible tip for every possible kind of birder, but wouldn't it have been nice to include a list of resources for birders who are at, say, extra risk for having the cops called on them, or who would benefit from information about wheelchair-accessible birding sites? They, too, would like to Find More Birds.

So, yeah, aspects of this book annoyed me. But I recommend it anyway: it offers a wealth of advice, much of which I plan to put into practice as the spring migration season gears up.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Experiment for the ARC.

This is a very accessible book for a beginning birdwatcher or a person who is just discovering birds in their neighborhood. The author makes it very easy to understand while still imbuing the text with a lot of fabulous sources of information.

I absolutely adore this book! So much information about birds that I will definitely use in my own back yard! So many tips for finding more birds!

I liked all the information about the birds in this one. As I was looking for birds outside I found myself looking through this book to learn more about that bird. A good birding guide.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

I normally am not drawn to non-fiction books because, in my opinion, they are really dry but this book was a fun read! Each tip was concise and included bird pictures (which were my favorite part!). A lot of the tips I found really helpful and I’ve already started noticing birds around me a lot more. I especially loved the suggestion to download the Merlin Bird ID app and I have used it multiple times.

This is a fun and helpful guide for novice bird watchers. There are 111 tips arranged by topic like using technology and finding new birds. There are lots of great photos and some interesting tidbits. I didn’t learn much in terms of new ideas for finding birds (most are common sense) but I did learn really interesting facts at times. It’s a fun, easy to read guide that would also make a great gift or vacation read.

I read a temporary digital version of this book for review.

Thank you to The Experiment and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. I've recently moved from the west coast to Colorado. The birds are different here, and I've recently been making our yard hospitable to them. There is so much nature here, though, and this book was so helpful in giving me tips on finding birds anywhere in nature. I enjoyed the digital ARC so much, I'll be purchasing a hard copy for me to have in my library.

Overall a handy and easy read on how to improve your bird watching. Really liked the apps and such that are mentioned, as it is handy to identify birds by sound as well as sight. At times though, I wish instead of just stating which number of tip it would give a bit more details. Otherwise, nice book and would recommend. would be especially nice for casual birders.

I wish I had this book two years ago when I became a serious birder. It’s a great resource that includes everything a beginning birder needs to know. Sections include basics, where birds eat, looking for signs, technical resources, different places to bird, community birding, bird behavior, and more. The book is well-written with short sections that can be read in a few minutes. Highly recommended!

Find More Birds helps any birder, beginner or expert, find birds. Different regions have different landscapes. And the birds appear through different approaches. Heather Wolf uses descriptions of diverse ecosystems, where certain species of birds may appear. She also includes the most desirable species, often unseen by the most enthusiastic birders. She uses simple language, accurate descriptions, and easy-to-follow instructions. Though not everyone will visit New York City or the high peaks of mountains, common birds can easily be identified using the instructions in this book.

For people to realize, the most amazing birds exist outside their homes, they would have to use some strategy or technique to locate and identify them. A book with a logical and simple approach lets the novice understand the ease of the hobby. With a scientific background and laymen's terms, this book is suitable for everyday reference.

Thank you, Heather and The Experiment for this Advanced Reader's Copy.

I enjoyed both the format (over 100 1-2 page entries, with accompanying photos) and the content of Wolf's guide to finding birds. It would make an excellent guide for a beginning birder, but I found several suggestions that even experienced birders would benefit from. She even covers cenetery and airport birding. Nicely done.

Are you a Birder who's interested in expanding your Life List? Are you a beginning Birder who would like to identify more birds? Are you interested in the birds who live in your backyard?

If you're any of these, "Find More Birds" shows you new ways to find and identify birds when you're visiting a preserve, out for a walk, or who are living next to you but you haven't been able to discover them. The tips and suggestions work, and pay back in a wider world of birds for the interested observer and Briding fans alike.

Five Stars: Highly Recommended

Find More Birds is a spectacularly beautiful and practical book about the various signs to look for when seeking birds regardless where you live, whether a city or countryside. The layout is simple to follow and the photographs are wonderful. Learn t

I like that the author instructs us how to see signs and bird presence in a different way. There is much more to the search than merely looking to the sky or on plants but also listening to various sounds (not just songs but alarms and mobbing calls), noting movements (while we stay still), signs in various habitats (shrubs, trees, flowers, leaf litter), being aware of prey, locations (urban and rural parks, pastures, bodies of water), ogling nectar robbing and dust baths, utilizing photography and digital apps and working outside. Immersing myself in nature is one of my favourite things to do which teaches me so much. But I remind myself that birds can be found on city lawns, ponds, cemeteries and golf courses. Birds are often seasonal, too, though I do see a few species year round from the depths of -40C to sweltering heat at 40C. Traveling is also a fantastic way to learn about birds in their environments. For example, as an expat I live on two continents and the robins are very different from one another.

Whether you a new or novice birder like me, you will undoubtedly glean a lot of information here. Expert birders may find the information less challenging but it's ideal for the rest of us.

My sincere thank you to The Experiment and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this phenomenal book!

I am someone who likes to go birding with my family and am not an expert but have some experience. In "Find More Birds," I learned a lot of new information and tips that will help me be much more observant regarding bird behaviors, sounds, and habitats. This book is packed with useful tips and information about where to find birds - spoiler alert - the majority of time it is as simple as being still, patient and focusing our full attention. I learned about dust baths and the very next day a friend was telling me they saw birds do a really strange thing and I was able to explain what they were doing and why. The photographs throughout the book are gorgeous. This is a great book for novice and somewhat experienced birders. I learned a lot and the book is the type of guide you can refer to again and again. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Experiment for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.