Bird Books, Guides Offered by Joyner
By Susan Butler

In the wake of the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a.k.a. as The Lord God Bird, in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas, bird watchers in the area may want to check out the host of bird books and guides in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection in Joyner Library.

            Catesby’s Birds of Colonial America, edited by Alan Feduccia, is a book of the annotated writings from the eighteenth century naturalist, Mark Catesby. This book features the entire text for Catesby’s book, Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas as well as color plates and illustrations. In fact, the first color plate in Birds is one of the magnificent ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird that was far from extinct in Catesby’s day.

            A Birder’s Guide to Coastal North Carolina by John O. Fussell III, is an excellent resource guide for both beginning and experienced bird watchers. It features an annotated checklist of birds along with detailed descriptions of bird-finding sites of the entire coastal region, including the Outer Banks.

            Birds of the Smokies by Fred Alsop, is a travel-size guide that fits easily into a birder’s pocket as they trek along the Great Smoky Mountains. It has beautiful color photographs and detailed descriptions of the birds and their habitats. Included in the guide’s contents are chapters on photographing birds and bird songs.

            You don’t have to leave the comforts of your home to enjoy birdwatching. Backyard Birds (Southern Birdwatchers), also written by Alsop, is a handy guide for identifying and listing birds that inhabit your own backyard. A small, narrow book, it’s just the right size to leave on the window sill right next to the binoculars for easy viewing.

            The late Paris Trail’s From Hawks to Hummingbirds is a journal of the writer’s observations of the plethora of birdlife in the vicinity of his Edenton home and in the Coastal Plains area. Trail’s tales include the goings on of a weird owl and turkey vultures eating peanuts—something that Trails notes is “most unvulture-like.” Trail was a former Cornell University photographer and a newspaper columnist, Hawks to Hummingbirds is beautifully illustrated with sketches by Deb Kozlowski.

            Area residents, as well as members of the ECU community, are encouraged to use the North Carolina Collection on the third floor of Joyner Library. For more information and hours, call 328-6601 or visit our website (http://www.lib.ecu.edu/NCCollPCC/ncchome.htm).

Susan Butler is a staff member in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection.