Sunday, April 17, 2011

On Line Bird Books

        If you've followed my blog for a while you will have noticed that I have many posts about birds. I have been interested in birds since I was very young. One of my posts details how my  Mom showed me  a beautiful mallard drake when I was about four years old. I've liked birds ever since although I get to spend more time on this activity since I retired.

       So needless to say, I have some bird books and have borrowed good bird books from the library. My Aunt gave me a second hand Taverner's when I was about five years old. Pieces of this book still exist in the family home.

      What I have discovered lately are some excellent on line sites for bird identification and information. Expert birders probably use these sites continuously. For the average birder these are excellent places to consult.

      I will give you links to two sites. I can describe both of them together. Both sites have a number of excellent pictures of each bird. Their descriptions are concise. What these sites have that books don't have is video of the bird. So you can look at the bird as it walks swims, flies or feeds. There is also sound recordings of the birds various calls. These are features that really add to your ability to identify a bird.

      I hope you will take a look at All About birds and What Bird.

      For those who are electronically blessed you will be able to use these features in the field and not have to come home and look them up on my computer. I hope that you will find these sites useful.