Birds and Bird Conservation: Teaching Resources
The Brookline Bird Club is committed to promoting education about birds and bird conservation. The following websites, organizations, and books may be useful to K-12 teachers, in Massachusetts and beyond, who want to stimulate their students to learn about birds, preserve birds and their habitats, and, more generally, enjoy and respect the wonders of nature. This list is ever-growing. If you find a resource to add to this list, please let us know. We are committed to including all in birding. Thanks!
Web Sites with Resources and Materials for Teachers
Bird Books for Kids
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Alderfer, Jonathan. National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America. National Geographic Children’s Books, 2013. Ages 10-14. Basic facts, identification tips, and illustrations for 100 species of common North American birds.
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Boring, Mel. Birds, Nests & Eggs. NorthWord Books for Young Readers, Ages 4-Illustrated, with hands-on projects, this book is part of a series designed to help children identity different animal species.
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Burgess, Thornton. The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Forgotten Books paperback reprint, In this classic by a renowned naturalist, originally published in 1919, Peter Rabbit visits various habitats to discover and learn about birds.
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Burnie, David. Bird. DK Eyewitness Book, Ages 9-Bird contains an overview of bird biology, habitats, families, and representative species, along with photographs and a CD featuring songs of 60 species from around the world.
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Choiniere, Joseph and Claire Mowbray Golding. What’s That Bird? Getting to Know the Birds around You, Coast to Coast. Storey Publishing paperback, Ages 9-Aimed at beginning birders, this book profiles 30 common North American species, with reference charts and color photographs and illustrations.
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Evert, Laura and Wayne Lynch. Birds of Prey: Explore the Fascinating Worlds of Eagles, Falcons, Owls, Vultures. NorthWord, An illustrated guide from the Our Wild World Series.
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George, Jean Craighead. Luck. Harper Collins, Ages 4-After being rescued by a young girl from Texas, a Sandhill Crane begins its long migration to Siberia. Illustrated by Wendell Minor. Also recommended by George: Summer of the Falcon, a Harper Trophy paperback, 1979, for ages 9-12.
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George, Lindsay Barrett. In the Woods: Who’s Been Here? Greenwillow Books paperback, Preschool. Two children explore the autumn woods and discover its creatures in this illustrated book for preschoolers.
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Guttman, Burton. Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watchers. Houghton Mifflin, Part of the Peterson Field Guide Series, this workbook contains exercises, quizzes, illustrations, and room for writing and sketching.
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Harrison, George and Kit Harrison. Backyard Bird Watching for Kids. Willow Creek Press, Ages 9-This illustrated book for beginners profiles 20 common backyard birds and offers tips on how to attract them.
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Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. Yearling paperback, Ages 9-In this comic tale (and Newberry Award winner) by detective writer Hiassen, middle-school children battle the system to save Burrowing Owls in Florida.
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Hoose, Phillip. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, Young Adult. An illustrated history of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the American conservation movement.
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Keiser, Francis. The Adventures of Pelican Pete: A Bird Is Born. Sagoponack Books, Ages 4-The first in a series of illustrated stories in rhyme about the life of a pelican and the need to protect its environment.
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Laubach, Christyna, Rene Laubach and Charles Smith. Raptor! A Kid’s Guide to Birds of Prey. Storey Publishing paperback, Ages 9-An illustrated overview of North American raptors, with range maps, a glossary, and extensive resources for further study.
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Malnor, Carol and Sandy Fuller. The Blues Go Extreme Birding. Dawn Publishers, Ages 4-8. In this most recent volume of an illustrated series, 5 bird-crazy bluebirds are about to enter the Bird X-Games.
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McGehee, Claudia. Where Do Birds Live? University of Iowa Press, Ages 4-An illustrated guide to 14 representative habitats and the signature species of each habitat.
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Mowat, Farley. Owls in the Family. McClelland and Stewart paperback, 1970 (School Edition with Study Aids). Two cantankerous owls disrupt a young boy’s pet menagerie in this classic children’s story. Also recommended for teens and adults: Never Cry Wolf, Mowat’s autobiographical story about living with Arctic wolves.
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Norman, Howard. Between Heaven and Earth: Bird Tales from around the World. Harcourt Children’s Books, Ages 9-An illustrated collection of international myths and folk tales.
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Osborne, Elinor. Project Ultraswan. Sandpiper paperback, Ages 9-From the Scientists in the Field Series, the story of the Trumpeter Swan Migration Project, with maps and illustrations.
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Prosek, James. Bird, Butterfly, Eel. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Ages 4-A story of three species migrating from a New England farm, with illustrations, maps, and author’s notes.
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Rossiter, Nan Parson. The Fo’c’sle: Henry Beston’s Outermost House. David Godine, 2012. Ages 8 and up. An illustrated story of Beston’s The Outermost House, classic nature writing about his year alone in a cottage on Cape Cod.
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Thompson, Bill. The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin paperback, Ages 9-A Peterson Field Guide, illustrated by Julie Zickefoose and aimed at beginning birders.
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Williams, Mo. There Is a Bird on your Head! Hyperion Book, Ages 4-A humorous introduction to birds from the Elephant and Piggie series, written and illustrated by a three-time Caldecott Honor winner.
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Wood, Audrey. Birdsong. Sandpiper paperback, Ages 4-An introduction to bird songs and habitats, illustrated by Robert Florczak.
A Selection of Books about Birds
- Attenborough, David. The Life of Birds. Princeton University Press, 1998. An illustrated exploration of birds around the world, from prehistoric times to the present—a companion to the PBS series of the same name. Also available in paperback.
- Cokinos, Christopher. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds. Tarcher paperback reprint, 2009. A history, meditation and cautionary tale about extinct North American bird species—the title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem.
- Dunne, Pete. Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. For the serious birder, a species-by-species (non-illustrated) guide to identification of North American birds through a “holistic method” that considers subjective impressions as well as field marks and behavior.
- Ehrlich, Paul, David Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye. The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Fireside paperback, 1988. A species-by-species reference book with facts about feeding, mating, and nesting behavior and short essays on specialized topics such as mimicry and parasitism.
- Elphick, Jonathan. The Art of Ornithology. Rizzoli International reprint, 2008. A beautifully illustrated history of international bird art—realistic, decorative, and fanciful—throughout the ages.
- Gibson, Graeme. The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany. Bloomsbury, 2005. An international and historical anthology of narratives, poems, and essays about birds and their relationships with humans.
- Hay, John, ed. The Great House of Birds: Classic Writings about Birds. Sierra Club Books, 1996. Edited by a preeminent New England naturalist, an anthology that encompasses natural history, myth, and poetry in an appreciation of birds.
- Heinrich, Bernd. Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. Ecco paperback reprint, 2002. A captivating study of bird intelligence and adaptation—part scientific analysis, part personal narrative.
- Hill, Jen, ed. An Exhilaration of Wings: The Literature of Birdwatching. Penguin paperback, 2001. An anthology of bird observations from both amateur naturalists and famous ornithologists.
- Kaufman, Kenn. Birds of North America (Kaufman Focus Guides). Houghton Mifflin paperback, 2000. A species-by-species field guide, organized by bird family groupings, with digitally enhanced photographs. Also available in Spanish as Guia de Campo Kaufman: a las Aves de Norteamerica. Kaufman is perhaps best known for Kingbird Highway, his often comic personal account of bird-chasing adventures as a 19-year-old on the road.
- Kroodsma, Donald. The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong. Houghton Mifflin paperback, 2007. A personalized scientific study of the uniqueness, function, and evolution of birdsong, accompanied by a CD of bird songs and illustrated “sonograms” that depict songs graphically.
- Krutch, Joseph Wood and Paul Eriksson, eds. A Treasury of Birdlore. Doubleday, 1962. A historical anthology of bird observations from amateur naturalists and the pioneers of ornithology.
- Leahy, Christopher. The Birdwatcher’s Companion to North American Birdlife. Princeton University Press, 2004. Written by Gloucester resident and Mass Audubon field ornithologist Chris Leahy, this comprehensive A-Z reference work ranges from ornithological terminology to b