Look around New York, and you'll probably see birds: wood ducks swimming in Queens, a stalking black-crowned night-heron in Brooklyn, great horned owls perching in the Bronx, warblers feeding in Central Park, or Staten Island's purple martins flying to and fro. You might spot hawks and falcons nesting on skyscrapers or robins belting out songs from trees along the street. America's largest metropolis teems with birdlife in part because it sits within the great Atlantic flyway where migratory birds travel seasonally between north and south. The Big Apple's miles of coastline, magnificent parks, and millions of trees attract dozens of migrating species every year and are also home year-round to scores of resident birds. There is no better way to identify and learn about New York's birds than with this comprehensive field guide from New York City naturalist Leslie Day. Her book will quickly teach you what each species looks like, where they build their nests, what they eat, the sounds of their songs, what time of year they appear in the city, the shapes and colours of their eggs, and where in the five boroughs you can find them - which is often in the neighbourhood you call home. The hundreds of stunning photographs by Beth Bergman and gorgeous illustrations by Trudy Smoke will help you identify the ninety avian species commonly seen in New York. Once you enter the world of the city's birds, life in the great metropolis will never look the same.
Foreword, by Don Riepe Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Illustrated Bird, Wing, and Feather Anatomy 2. Bird Terminology 3. Birds Cormorant Double-crested Cormorant Waterfowl Brant Goose Canada Goose Mute Swan Mallard Duck Bufflehead Duck Northern Shoveler Ruddy Duck Wood Duck Hooded Merganser Gulls and Terns Ring-billed Gull Great Black-backed Gull Herring Gull Common Tern Wading Birds Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Glossy Ibis Shorebirds American Oystercatcher American Woodcock Spotted Sandpiper Ground Birds Wild Turkey Hawks Red-tailed Hawk Osprey Cooper's Hawk Falcons American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Owls Eastern Screech-Owl Great Horned Owl Barred Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Hummingbirds Ruby-throated Hummingbird Parrots Monk Parakeet Doves Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Woodpeckers Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Flycatchers Eastern Wood-Pewee Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird Vireos Red-eyed Vireo Jays and Crows Blue Jay American Crow Swallows Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, and Creepers Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Wrens House Wren Carolina Wren Kinglets Golden-crownedKinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Thrushes Veery Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Mimids Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher Northern Mockingbird Starlings European Starling Waxwings Cedar Waxwing Warblers Ovenbird Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Sparrows Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Cardinals, Tanagers, and Grosbeaks Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Blackbirds and Orioles Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole Finches and Old World Sparrows House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Birding Organizations and Resources Birding Hotspots Bibliography Photography Credits Index
""Overall, this guide is not just a source of information, but fosters an appreciation for the wildlife that surrounds us every day.""
