A shout out to Alison who gave me two books that I recommend, Ibis News and the opening of "Bird Facts!"

Hi! A shout out which I don't do very often:

Hey, Alison! Thank you for those two books! Woop Woop! They are epic and so was last afternoon-to-night!!!! :o) :o) (slightly OTT but oh well).

Well, there's a shout out to Alison. Yes it was slightly Over The Top but it was awesome. Alison gave me two books (on birds) yesterday. I strongly recommend them. The RSPB Children's Guide to Bird Watching by David Chandler and Mike Unwin is a fantastic book for 8-12 year old birdwatchers (or anyone wanting to start birding) who are just starting to birdwatch. The first part of the book is about the skills needed for birding and it has information about binoculars and other equipment and seawatching (watching seabirds not at a breeding colony). The second part of the book is a short field-guide for identifying birds. It shows you how to record your data and how to submit it to your local Bird Recorder. It offers information on sexual dimorphism, breeding and non-breeding plumages and field signs.

RSPB Children's Guide to Bird Watching. The same edition as mine.

The Birdwatcher's Year by Malcolm Greenhalgh with a foreword by Robin Murrell is also a great book. It goes through all the months, focusing on birds at that time only. The paintings show birds, not always related to each other by genetics but always related by something. for example there is a page called "Three Woodland Birds" with a Treecreeper, a Nuthatch and a Woodcock (!!!) on it. These three birds are not related at all in scientific terms but they are all shy birds you can see in a damp woodland habitat in July. There are different articles within each month chapter e.g. "Owls In The Night", "Bird-table Visitors In Winter" and "Three Winter Geese" in January. There is a "Bird of the Month" for each month e.g the Dovekie (Little Auk) is November's Bird of the Month. Malcolm Greenhalgh has had some epic ebird experiences with birds, it seemed. One I particularly liked was when he mentions westerly gales at sea bringing Leach's Petrels closer to the shore. He says when gales reach storm force, the Leach's Petrels are blown far inland. He says once he found one crouching in the corner of a bus-shelter in Preston late at night! The only down side to this book is that Malcolm does not use CAPITALS for vernacular names. I like to think that vernacular (common) names of species are like the names of people. It also makes it much clearer that you are talking about a species:

"I saw a common gull." It looks like you are simply describing a gull as being common.
"I saw a Common Gull." The capitalisation makes it clear you are talking of Larus canus, the species.

The Birdwatcher's Year. My edition is the same except the Redwing in the middle is replaced by a Kingfisher. 

Time for ibis news! I failed for the eighth time. NOOOOOOO! The Glossy Ibis got in the newspaper two days ago so it should still be there. I will keep searching!

I will now be doing somethin new on the blog!!!! exiting! I will be putting a "Bird Facts!" bit at the end of each post and check the blog every day because even if I was not originally going to do a post, I will be putting a "Bird Facts!" on it any way. "Bird Facts!" is a bird fact every day.

Let "Bird Facts!" begin! The first ever "Bird Facts!" bird fact:

There is around 90 species of kingfisher in the world (some say it is less, some say more). The smallest one at 10 cm in length is the African Pygmy Kingfisher. The largest is the Giant Kingfisher at 48 cm. Our British Kingfisher is the Common Kingfisher. The kookaburras are kingfishers.

African Pygmy Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher