Any decent birdfeeding store should have a few field guides to choose from; we aim for more. Introductory bird books, advanced field guides, local natural history, tree books, books about your favorite group of birds (hawks, owls, crows, hummingbirds, bluebirds. . .), bird-inspired literature - we aspire to have the best selection of nature books in the Bay Area. Are we there yet? Come in, pull down a book, take a seat, and let us know what you think.

We regularly write reviews on our favorite and new titles: see the growing list below. 

Field Guides to Birds

Books for identifying birds

#1: Lone Pine's field guide to the Birds of Northern California

#2: A modern photographic field guide from Princeton University Press: Birds of Western North America

#3: National Geographic, 6th Edition: Scott's review of a classic field guide's latest incarnation

#4: The most complete photographic field guide: The "Big" Stokes, reviewed by Don

#5: Compact, cheap, local: Birds of Napa County

#6: The eagerly awaited second edition of the Sibley Guide to Birds

#7: National Geographic's take on a guide to backyard birds. It's a good one: Nat Geo Backyard

#8: Sibley for the casual birdwatcher: Sibley's Backyard Birds Poster

#9: The most local, accurate folding-guide: Laws Pocket Guide to Bay Area Birds

#10: Two new photo guides just for California

#11: Sibley enters the backyard folding guide arena: Sibley's Backyard Birds of Northern California

Natural History

Everything else

#1: A selection from William Leon Dawson's 1923 Birds of California, Dawson's Avian Kingdom

#2: Bernd Heinrich's engaging explanations of bird love and reproductive behavior, The Nesting Season 

#3: Bay Nature magazine, the best periodical for local bird lovers

#4: Two books on California trees from the independent Cachuma Press

#5: Sibley's compact introduction to birdwatching skills, Birding Basics

#6: David Lukas' new field guide companion, Bay Area Birds.

#7: The now classic, but digitally revived Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas

#8: A new compact guide to local wildflowers

#9: Our self-published guide to Bay Area trees