Summer School for Birders (2026)
- Mecklenburg Audubon
- May 30
- 2 min read
As the temperatures soar, birds and people tend to hunker down in the shade or in our case air conditioning. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying birds. Here are a few books, podcasts and other connections that will keep you entertained during the dogdays of summer. Note: The links will take you to Amazon but these titles can be found on many other platforms and formats such as audiobooks and Kindle.
Books for Adults:
Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds They Make, Becca Rowland
Birding Dictionary, Rosemary Mosco
Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem & the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne, Chris Sweeney
Flight of the Godwit: Tracking Epic Shorebird Migrations, Bruce M. Beeler
Physics of Birds and Birding: The Sounds, Colors, and Movements of Birds, and Our Tools for Watching Them, Michael Hurben
Social Life of Birds: Flocks, Communes and Families, Joan Strassmann
Ten Birds that Changed the World, Stephen Moss
The Feather Wars and Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds, James H. Commons
Books for Kids:
Crowbar: The Smartest Bird in the World, Jean Craighead George
It’s a Bird, Christian Cooper (a comic book in the Represent series)
Plight of the Pelican, Jessica Stremer
The Blue Jays that Grew a Forest, Susan Wrobe
Urban Owls: How Flaco and Friends Made the City Their Home, Christian Cooper
What It’s Like to Be a Bird, Tim Birkhead
Media:
The links here take you to the podcast's website where you may find additional learning resources. You can listen to most of them through their websites. To add them to a podcast you will need to check your favorite podcast service to subscribe to the podcasts.
American Birding Podcast (American Birding Association)
Bird Nerd Book Club (monthly discussion with bird-related authors about their books)
Bring Back Birds (the latest episode has Christian Cooper talking about birds in movies and videos. A very entertaining discussion. The host is form NC State)
Field Guides (More than just birds but great nature podcast)
Life List (Delve into all things birding and birding culture)
Listers (free on Youtube (A somewhat irreverent look at a doing a big year. The photography is great but there is some foul language.)
Science of Birds with Ivan Philipsen. I can say enough positive things about this podcast. It’s great!!
The Real Birding Podcast (Spotify only) (Co-hosted by a local birder and MAS member Will Keller.)
The Warblers Birding Podcast (Birds Canada)
Additional resources/recommendations
Book Reviews from 10,000 Birds (Includes kids books)
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