Birders and Naturalists rejoice! Our annual Birds & Natural History catalog is now available online. Below is a message from editor and group publisher Robert Kirk highlighting a few of our forthcoming spring titles. Be the first to check them out here.

Welcome to our new catalog. And what better way to start than with The Crossley ID Guide. The word ‘revolutionary’ has been cheapened by overuse; but I really cannot think of a better way to describe this book. Forget static, decontextualized images of birds floating in white space on the page. The in-focus scenes on each plate in The Crossley ID Guide show birds in all plumages, at varying distances, poses, and habitats—as you truly see them in real life. But the book is far more than just an amazing visual feast; it’s a powerful teaching guide, showing how to focus on shape, size, behavior, patterns of color, and probability to identify birds. Above all, Crossley shows that by learning to look you will learn to see, and in the process become a better birder, whatever your level. Comprehensive, stunningly attractive, this guide ushers in a new era of real-life guides. Heady stuff!

Switching gears, we have a bunch of excellent references—local and global. Mike Unwin’s The Atlas of Birds, through detailed maps and graphics, distills a vast amount of data covering distribution, behavior, and conservation of birds worldwide. At the more local level, Bill Boyle’s The Birds of New Jersey is an up-to-the-minute summary of the status and distribution of the Garden State’s birds, and is richly illustrated with color maps and more than 200 photographs. A much needed reference for any East Coast birder. Avian Architecture is a superbly illustrated guide to the variety of ways in which birds construct nests. Breaking down nests into major types, Peter Goodfellow provides a step-by-step overview of the whole process, using species from around the world from hornbills to hummingbirds to illustrate the different approaches. Another beautiful reference is Chris Mattison’s Frogs and Toads of the World, an accessible natural history of these charismatic amphibians and is replete with magnificent color photographs. James Lowen’s Antarctic Wildlife is specifically designed for those traveling to the great white continent from southern South America. The guide has a wealth of information on all the wildlife you will see, habitats to be encountered, and will help any visitor get the most out of their trip. Have fun!

Robert Kirk
Executive Editor, Field Guides & Natural History