Birds of Point Reyes

by Keith Hansen

Overview

A richly illustrated guide celebrates California’s coastal birds and the wonders of witnessing them.

"A compact treasury of natural history knowledge." —Burr Heneman, former executive director of Point Reyes Bird Observatory

"A meditation on beauty and survival." —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club

A birding paradise, Point Reyes National Seashore boasts a breathtaking coastline that attracts an array of winged beauties and their flightless fanciers year-round. Both a waystation for feathered vagrants and home to a wealth of native species, this coastal sanctuary is teeming with avian life, and in Birds of Point Reyes expert birder and ornithological illustrator Keith Hansen celebrates this airborne abundance. From the sparrows and cormorants to the hawks and ravens to the wild wanderers who sweep through in vast seasonal migrations, Hansen introduces readers to the wildlife that soar and swirl overhead through over 25 awe-filled portraits of Point Reyes’s birds. Both experienced birdwatchers and less-than-expert birders will delight in Hansen’s reflections, brought vividly to life by full-color artworks that reward the reader’s sustained attention and help to identify the many-splendored species of the region. With this guide Hansen invites readers to imagine the world’s fastest hunt through the eyes of a cliff-dwelling peregrine, to appreciate the evolutionary complexity of the shorebird beaks prodding the sands of Drakes Bay, and to attune to the serenade of birdsong. Grab your binoculars and get ready to see these birds like never before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597146036
Publisher:	Heyday
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	1,035,830
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Keith Hansen illustrated and coauthored Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada (Heyday, 2021), a field guide companion to Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution. He is a professional bird illustrator whose images have been featured in Discovering Sierra Birds; Birds of Yosemite and the East Slope; and Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula, among other books.

Table of Contents

Introduction

• Vantage Point Reyes
• A Quick Look Around
• The Clock and the Calendar—Timing’s Everything!
• Going from Point A to Point B, but Ending Up at Sea
• Before You Go—Respect
• Power Tools
• Be Prepared, Helpful, and Trustworthy
• Locating Birds
• Getting a Look
• Identifying a Bird

Species

• Northern Harrier
• Sparrows of Point Reyes
• Turkey Vulture
• Black and Say’s Phoebes
• Surf Scoter
• Common Raven
• Ring-billed Gull
• Point Reyes Spring Seabird Migration
• Black Oystercatcher
• Pigeon Guillemot
• Snowy Plover
• Double-crested, Brandt’s, and Pelagic Cormorants
• Peregrine Falcon
• Common Murre
• Barn Swallow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• The Boyds of Summer
• Western Gull
• Townsend’s Warbler
• Northern Parula
• Tricolored Blackbird
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Western Bluebird and Yellow-rumped Warbler
• American Kestrel
• Shorebirds of Point Reyes
• Great Horned Owl
• Rock Wren

Bird Group Species List

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"Pairing beautiful illustrations with nuanced observations, Hansen brings California’s coastal birds to life." —Alta Journal

"An essential guide to better understanding our avian neighbors with beautiful and detailed illustrations. The book is delightfully specific, offering insights into the stories of the many birds that migrate through or reside in West Marin." —Point Reyes Light

"Magnificently illustrated and narrated in Hansen's poetic and often playful voice, this jewel of a book enables us to experience nature as miraculous. Each essay deserves to be reread often as a meditation on beauty and survival." —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club

"Keith gets the Point! He distills decades of appreciation of Point Reyes into a compact treasury of natural history knowledge. Marrying his art with a lifetime of acute observation, Keith offers more than a guide to identification—you really understand how each of these birds lives. And it’s all done in his sparkling and entertaining style." —Burr Heneman, former executive director of Point Reyes Bird Observatory

"The breathtaking illustrations and exuberant species accounts in this book arise from Keith's lifetime of boundless enchantment and keen observation. His eye for nuance and beauty brings each species to life on the page. Most important of all, his celebration of this unique peninsula’s wondrous birdlife teaches us to stay open to the world with our eyes, ears, and mind.” —Jules G. Evens, author of Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula

"Keith Hansen's lovely book perfectly pairs informative, entertaining, and insightful species accounts with beautiful illustrations. A necessity for anyone visiting the Point Reyes region!" —Sophie Webb, coauthor of Field Guide to Marine Mammals of the Pacific Coast

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2023

Illustrator and lifelong birder Hansen (Hansen's Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada) loves Point Reyes, located just north of San Francisco, and the creatures (especially avian) in it. In this book, he gifts fledgling birders or visitors to the area with a brief survey of some of the common bird species (and one rare one). The book's design is simple but lovely, and the text is thoroughly readable. This book could be carried along on a hike but is perhaps better used as a pre- or post-outing reference. The introduction discusses the area's topography and offers tips for neophyte birders. Twenty-seven species are treated in detail, along with four group accounts. Hansen's descriptions are informative and delightful. He also has some fun by sharing memorable monikers (the turkey vulture is "our friendly funeral director"). In one instance, he imagines what a peckish peregrine falcon might be thinking as it grabs a green-winged teal to-go meal. There's also information about the birds' life history and pointers for identification. Hansen's full-page images are exquisite; ample white space makes feather colors pop, and birds in motion fly off the page. VERDICT Wonderfully fills a niche for NorCal nature travel and ornithological art.—Robert Eagan

Library Journal