Books by Dominic Couzens

The Backyard Birdwatcher's Bible: Birds, Behaviors, Habitats, Identification, Art & Other Home Crafts

by Paul Sterry, Christopher Perrins, Sonya Patel Ellis, Dominic Couzens

An informative and eye-catching full-color reference book for backyard bird enthusiasts, The Backyard Birdwatcher’s Bible is beautiful enough to be a coffee table book and practical enough to be a guide for both beginner and expert birders alike.

An elegant aesthetic is paired with practical tips on identifying, attracting, and caring for backyard birds, as well as crafting bird-friendly gardens and birdhouses. Photographs include images of both males and females, and maps explain the range of the species.

Packed with information and beautiful full-color photography and art, bird experts and artists Paul Sterry, Christopher Perrins, Sonya Patel Ellis, and Dominic Couzens flock together to offer a cornucopia of information: Species profiles: how to identify species, their habitats, their diets, and their status. Birdwatching for beginners: expert information about the life cycle of a bird, from hatchling to adult. Information about birdsongs, details about territories and nests and eggs, and much more, including essential practical advice for birdwatchers in the field. Creating a bird-friendly backyard: information on birdfeeders, breeding shelters, and flowers and shrubbery to plant in order to entice the winged visitors to visit and stay. A lively lesson on birds in art: beautiful and educational, with classic and modern art, and photographs. From Audubon to Taiichiro Yoshida, who creates delicate metal work to create bird images, the art is inspiring. This is the perfect gift for any birder, and one that birders will buy for themselves and refer to again and again.

100 Birds to See Before You Die

by Dominic Couzens, David Chandler

What is the fastest-growing outdoor activity in the U.S.? Snowboarding? Mountain biking? No. It’s bird watching! There are currently 51.3 million dedicated birders in the U.S. with their binoculars focused on the skies. Sure to appeal to this growing flock, 100 Birds to See Before You Die is the ultimate birdwatcher’s book.
• Selected by two world-renowned birding authors, the top 100 birds include avian species that are endangered, exceptional common species, and others that have achieved legendary status.
• You won’t need binoculars to spot the huge and powerful, endangered Philippine Eagle or the brightly plumed Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. Each of the 100 featured species is captured in remarkable full-color photographs in their natural habitat.
• This fascinating book combines hard-working detail with more unusual facts and mythological anecdotes, making it much more than a typical bird watching book.
• Detailed entries describe the natural history of each bird, including size, distribution, habitat, classification, population and conservation status.

100 Birds to See in Your Lifetime: The Ultimate Wish-List for Birders Everywhere

by Dominic Couzens, David Chandler

Painstakingly researched, passionately written, and beautifully illustrated, this is the definitive birding guide.

With stunningly photographed entries, 100 Birds to See in Your Lifetime offers a treasure trove of information on the world’s most unusual, obscure, beautiful, and sought-after species. Each entry describes the natural history and significance of the featured species, with summaries that include: Size (and Wingspan, where applicable); Distribution; Habitat; Classification; Population & Conservation status; and the reason for inclusion. With the contents fiercely debated by two renowned birding authors, this wish list includes endangered species; birds with exceptional plumage or behavior; and still others that already have a legendary status, such as the dancing Redcrowned Crane and the spectacular Gyr Falcon.

Songs of Love and War The Dark Heart of Bird Behaviour

by Dominic Couzens

The dawn chorus: a single voice cutting through the darkness heralds a breaking wave of sound at the very beginning of the day. It is an iconic natural phenomenon with many familiar performers, yet it is a mysterious event for which there is no complete explanation.

A mass of starlings gathers at the end of the midwinter day. As the sun sets, wave upon wave of bodies rolls in and embarks upon another of nature's great attempts to show off. The murmuration is another much-admired spectacle, but again its purpose is obscure and defies our understanding.

From dawn until dusk, birds do things that are surprising and mystifying. Songs of Love and War delves into bird behavior and uncovers its purpose and meaning.

More than just an inside look at bird behavior, this book also represents a personal journey of discovery. What starts as a desire to learn more about the birds encountered on a regular father-and-son walk through the woods leads to a realization that a bird's life is very far from the idyllic scene that can often be glimpsed by the casual birdwatcher. Actually a bird's life is often unusual and surprising, but above all it is brief and much darker than you might think.

A Year of Tropical Birdsong

by Dominic Couzens

Fascinating stories of the birds and birdsongs from the Tropics for every week of the year. With QR codes linking to birdsong to listen to.

A beautiful collection of 52 stories exploring one of nature’s wonders: tropical birds. Bird expert and writer Dominic Couzens explores not only their songs but also their amazing feats and colorful displays. With stunning illustrations from award-winning Madeleine Floyd and QR codes with links to birdsong audio files, readers can immerse themselves in a tropical wonderland.

The stories cover the humming of the hummingbirds, jewel-like toucans, the mating cries of the cock-of-the-rock bird of paradise, duet songs of sunbirds, the fascinating glossy starling oxpeckers who sit on the backs of elephants, and the gorgeous songs of hornbills. The latest research and information about these bright lights of the bird world is captured here by one of the most respected but accessible writers on birds. The stories and sounds in A Year of Tropical Birdsong will appeal to any fan of birds or nature.