"Birds' Eggs" by Michael Walters, A Great Little Reference Book For The Bird or Wildlife Watcher

 

I won't say that I am a "Bird Watcher" but I have fed birds on my property for years, own several bird related books, and can actually recognize and identify somewhere between 50 and 75 species.  I have owned this little book for about 20 years and received it when I was working in a facility for juvenile in the custody of the state and a charity gave enough copies of the book to the facility that every client and staff received a copy.  I have to admit that I have had few occasions to ever use it when I actually had a bird's nest or egg in sight to actually identify the bird.  But it is a fascinating book which is very dense in content and useful information.  It is published in a field guide size with water resistant pages and cover.  It would stand up to a lot of punishment in the field in the hands of a devoted bird watcher.  It was published in 1994 and sold at that time for $17.95 which was a stiff price for a book in those days 30 years ago.  It brags on the cover that it contains information about "500 bird species from around the world".  

It is well organized and beautifully illustrated with hundreds of photographs.  It has an introduction of about 25 pages which is broken into 8 or 9 short sections.  It is actually capable of turning an amateur into somewhat of an expert on the subject of bird eggs.  The first part of the introduction is labled "How This Book Works" which is a great way to start any reference book, and nowhere near enough reference books do that. Continuing the approach that the author knows he is dealing with probable amateurs, the next part of the introduction is labled, "What is an egg?"  How much more basic can you get?  The body of the book itself is broken into two major sections: "Non-passerines" and "Passerines" which will almost instantly provide many readers with a piece of information they did not have.  Passerine birds are those whose feet are adapted for perching on branches and other objects such as most song birds, raptors, etc.  Non-passerine birds are those arboreal birds such as pigeons, woodpeckers, and hummingbirds.  To be honest, it takes a bit of experience to distinguish instantly what the difference is between the two, but if you like birds and wildlife you will figure it out.   There is also a short glossary and a good index in the book which helps a great deal for the novice user.  

Each page of the book will have information about two or three birds and their eggs, and that information is clearly divided into separate sections on the page. 

These two pages are side by side (pages 94 and 95) and illustrate the varying number of birds and eggs which the book might have on a particular page.  The section for each bird contains a basic description of the bird, multiple photographs of their eggs, a short description of their breeding habits and a basic description of their range.  Yes, the book has information about numerous birds which the average reader will never see without going to a zoo where there will be no visible nests or eggs, or traveling the world with this and a general bird guide book in hand.  But it is an incredibly informative little book and fun to study, settle arguments with, and learn from for the person who believes like me that "there is no such thing as a useless piece of information...there is only information for which you do not currently have a use." 

I admit that the average reader who is not interested in knowing perhaps too much about birds might not be interested in this book.  But you can find it used on most used book websites for less than half of what it originally sold for and it is a fun toy for those days when you don't really want to "read" and just want to toy with an informative book with a lot of photographs.