The best books about birds capture the majestic beauty, spunky personality, elusive sophistication, and deep intelligence that our avian wonders possess. Books about birds for adults explore the world of our feathered friends, and the books included here in this list represent a range of species and subjects related to all things bird.
Note that this is a post about birds, not birding. The books featured in this roundup of the best bird books concentrate on birds themselves instead of birding guides, although there are plenty of books about birding.
If you love reading the best nonfiction books about birds, you might also be interested in our article on the best books about animals for adults…
Check it out here:
And now for an epic list of the best books about birds!
Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg
We kick off this list of the best books about birds with Alex & Me. This book tells the fascinating story of psychologist Irene M. Pepperberg’s thirty-year relationship with Alex, an African Grey Parrot who displayed a remarkable cognition and capacity for conversation. Throughout their years together, Alex proved scientists who doubted avian intelligence wrong; Alex showed he understood arithmetic while also displaying excellent communication skills and mastery of concepts like more, fewer, bigger, stronger, and more. This upbeat book about a treasured friendship is one birders won’t want to miss.
How to read it: Purchase Alex & Me on Amazon
The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird by Jack E. Davis
Maybe it’s because my hometown football team is the Eagles, but I have always been fascinated by these majestic birds. In The Bald Eagle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jack E. Davis reveals the hidden lives of bald eagles, known affectionately as “America’s bird,” situating these creatures in their social and cultural history. Davis explores the human-eagle relationship that has been at times strained. This is one of the top books about birds for adults and among the best books about birds of prey.
How to read it: Purchase The Bald Eagle on Amazon
The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner
The best books about birds don’t get much better than The Beak of the Finch, which won a Pulitzer Prize and is still in print today decades after its first publication. This engrossing book tells the story of a modern evolution happening before our eyes. In his book, Jonathan Weiner profiles two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, who are proving Darwin wrong about the finch he studied in the Galapagos Islands. It turns out that, contrary to Darwin’s conclusions, the finch is still evolving, defying natural selection and proving to be a hardy survivor. It’s no surprise, then, that this influential book with its groundbreaking revelations is still in print today.
How to read it: Purchase The Beak of the Finch on Amazon
The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany by Graeme Gibson
If you’re looking for a handsome book about birds to dip into and out of, The Bedside Book of Birds is a great read. In this revelatory book, the alchemy of avian creatures is on full display, with a sampling of the cultural history of birds drawing on mythology, philosophy, literature, and art. The Bedside Book of Birds is a must-have gift for birders or anyone who appreciates birds.
How to read it: Purchase The Bedside Book of Birds on Amazon
Bird, Exploring the Winged World by Phaeton Press
If you want to take in the beauty of birds, this book is for you. In Bird, Exploring the Winged World, you’ll find an assortment of stunning bird photography alongside visual contributions from advertising, illustration, and art. With plenty to linger over, this book is a testament to the beauty of birds. Both a striking coffee table book and a sweeping cultural study of birds, this volume is worthy of its subject.
How to read it: Purchase Bird, Exploring the Winged World on Amazon
The Bird: The Great Age of Avian Illustration by Philip Kennedy
In The Bird: The Great Age of Avian Illustration, Philip Kennedy highlights the extraordinary age of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ornithological illustration, which happened alongside great leaps forward in our study of nature. Reproducing some of that artwork, Kennedy’s book is organized around categories of birds, such as shorebirds and birds of prey. Famous avian illustrators like John James Audubon, Edward Lear, and Elizabeth Gould are profiled as their legacies are lifted out of the past and into their rightful place in history.
How to read it: Purchase The Bird: The Great Age of Avian Illustration on Amazon
Birds and Us: A 12,000-Year History from Cave Art to Conservation by Tim Birkhead
Definitely one of the best books about birds, Tim Birkhead’s Birds and Us is a deep dive into the relationship between humans and birds. This intriguing book traces the 12,000-year history of birds and humans co-existing alongside each other. It’s a relationship that is, to say the least, complicated and often fraught. But across time, humans have felt an instinctive connection to our avian friends, a bond that shows up in art, literature, philosophy, and music, among other realms, from the cave men to today’s competitive birders. The result is an anthropological and cultural chronicle of bird-human relations that any avian admirer will want to read.
How to read it: Purchase Birds and Us on Amazon
Birding Without Borders by Noah Strycker
In 2015, Noah Strycker embarked on an impossibly epic journey to be the first person to see half the world’s bird population in one year. Among birders, there is the concept of “The Big Year,” a personal challenge that birders undertake to identify as many birds as possible within a certain geographical area over the course of a year. Strycker’s quest was a Big Year on crack. And, in the end, Strycker traveled to forty-one countries, visited all seven continents, and saw 6,042 birds, easily the biggest year on record for birders. In Birding Without Borders, Strycker gives us an in-depth look at what that experience was like, including sleep deprivation, travel snafus, biblical floods, birding among war zones, and more. If you’ve ever thought about undertaking your own Big Year, this book will provide all the inspiration you’ll ever need.
How to read it: Purchase Birding Without Borders on Amazon
Birds of the Photo Ark by Noah Strycker and Joel Sartore
National Geographic‘s Birds of the Photo Ark collects Joel Sartore’s magnificent photographs of birds with textual commentary from Noah Stryker (who wrote Birding Without Borders highlighted above). Hundreds of species of birds are captured in stunning photography in this beautiful book, which belongs on the coffee table of any serious bird enthusiast.
How to read it: Purchase Birds of the Photo Ark on Amazon
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman
The best books about birds educate and enlighten, and that’s exactly what you get from Jennifer Ackerman’s The Bird Way. In this captivating book, Ackerman blends in personal observation with scientific breakthroughs that have expanded our human knowledge of avian intelligence, social behavior, parenting tactics, dynamics of play, and more. Featuring a range of birds from across the world, The Bird Way braids science and story in a highly readable account that’s one of the best books about birds for adults.
How to read it: Purchase The Bird Way on Amazon
Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans by John Marzluff and Tony Angelle
In Gifts of the Crow, John Marzluff and Tony Angelle highlight the exquisite intelligence of birds. In one of the best book about birds, this read gives you all you need to know about the psychology behind bird behavior and intellect. This book focuses especially on corvid birds, including ravens, jays, and the humble crow, a ubiquitous bird whose brain is capable of incredible feats that rival human cognition.
How to read it: Purchase Gifts of the Crow on Amazon
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
This memoir intertwines Macdonald’s grief after the loss of her father with her efforts to become a falconry master. In particular, Macdonald writes of trying to tame the famed goshawk, a creature of wild and wonder. Macdonald’s book was widely praised after it was published, and it had the distinct honor of being one of the top 10 books of the year in The New York Times Book Review. This one easily sits on any list of the best books about birds of prey.
How to read it: Purchase H is for Hawk on Amazon
The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature’s Most Elusive Birds by Leigh Calvez
My niece loves owls, and who doesn’t? These creatures definitely are wondrous winged beauties, as elusive and mercurial as it gets. And in The Hidden Lives of Owls, Leigh Calvez sheds light on these nocturnal birds. To read this book is to experience naturalist Calvez’s efforts to track eleven different species of owls across forests deep and dark.
How to read it: Purchase The Hidden Lives of Owls on Amazon
The Hummingbird’s Gift by Sy Montgomery
In The Hummingbird’s Gift, naturalist Sy Montgomery turns the spotlight on the winged sprites we know as hummingbirds. Montgomery welcomes birders to study the intensely beautiful species of hummingbirds in a book that’s part narrative of Montgomery’s encounter with these incredible creatures and part deep dive into the happenings of the hummingbird.
How to read it: Purchase The Hummingbird’s Gift on Amazon
Loon Lessons: Uncommon Encounters with the Great Northern Diver by James D Park
Loons are one of the most underrated species of birds, but they finally get their day in the sun with James D. Park’s Loon Lessons: Uncommon Encounters with the Great Northern Diver. This intriguing book is about all things loon. You’ll discover the unique gifts of this special waterbird and learn about the fascinating behavior that distinguish loons from other birds. If you’re looking for the best books about birds for adults, try this one.
How to read it: Purchase Loon Lessons on Amazon
A Most Remarkable Creature: The hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg
When you think of books about birds of prey, you think of eagles, falcons, and hawks, but rarely do we hear about the incredibly intelligent caracaras. Darwin was fascinated by the caracaras during his study of the Falklands Islands and left with more questions than answers. in A Most Remarkable Creature, Jonathan Meiburg picks up the hunt to find out more about these social, extraordinarily intellectual birds. Meiburg stalks and studies the caracaras to better understand this oft-overlooked species. Reading this book is your ticket on that journey.
How to read it: Purchase A Most Remarkable Creature on Amazon
Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght
This exceptionally interesting book takes you inside the world’s largest owl, the elusive Blakiston’s fish owl, which makes its home in remote Russian forests. And that’s exactly where Jonathan C. Slaght stalks and studies these magisterial creatures, the largest owl in the world with a wingspan of six feet and a height of more than two feet. The Blakiston’s fish owl is also endangered, and Owls of the Eastern Ice is as much about saving these reclusive birds as a study of them. You’ll come away knowing more than even the most devoted birder and leaving with a greater recognition for mother nature’s most mysterious avian species.
How to read it: Purchase Owls of the Eastern Ice on Amazon
The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird by Tom Michell
As the assistant manager at an elite boarding school, Tom Michell moved to Argentina in 1975 and unwittingly became the guardian of a penguin he rescued from oil from an ocean spill. Naming the penguin Juan Salvador (“John Saved”), Michell moves the penguin into his dorm room. Juan turns into a mascot for the school, a confidant to staff, a swimming coach, and a co-host of parties. In The Penguin Lessons, Tom Michell distills the wisdom that Juan taught him into lessons we can all stand to learn. For anyone who loves penguins and friendship stories, this upbeat story is one of the best books about birds.
How to read it: Purchase The Penguin Lessons on Amazon
The Peregrine by J. A. Baker
Before H Is for Hawk, included above in this list of the essential books about birds for adults, there was J. A. Baker’s landmark study The Peregrine (1967). In this classic story, one of the best books about birds of prey, Baker followed a pair of peregrine falcons across rural England. The Peregrine is Baker’s love song to two birds who captivated him with their alternate beauty and ferocity in a story you won’t want to end.
How to read it: Purchase The Peregrine on Amazon
A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching by Rosemary Mosco
Having lived in both Philadelphia and New York City, I have a fondness for pigeons, the bird species that goes hand in hand with urban environment. But it wasn’t until I found Rosemary Mosco’s A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching that I gained a full appreciation for these kings of urban wildlife. Mosco’s book is a friendly and approachable guide to, well, pigeon watching. You’ll come away with a better understanding and greater affection for these friendly, agreeable, and—as anyone who’s ever tried to eat a pretzel down town—assertive avian friends.
How to read it: Purchase A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching on Amazon
Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird That Sleeps in the Sky by Sarah Gibson
One of the most remarkable avian creatures, the swift lives a wondrous life of being in almost constant motion. While in flight, swifts mate, drink, and eat. They can also navigate in storms and cross thousands of miles around the world. And now we finally have a book worthy of this bird, Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird That Sleeps in the Sky. Easily one of the best books about birds, Sarah Gibson’s study of the swift reveals this amazing bird’s fascinating behavior, nimble skills, and astonishing life.
How to read it: Purchase Swifts and Us on Amazon
To See Every Bird on Earth by Dan Koeppel
In Dan Koeppel’s To See Every Bird on Earth, the author details the obsession his father, Richard, had with trying to see as many birds as possible. Over 25 years, Richard eventually went on to record sightings of more than 7,000 birds, a feat achieved by no more than ten people on earth. In this book, Dan relates what it was like to live with a parent who dealt with addiction—a birding addiction, but an addiction nonetheless. The result is a touching, candid memoir about family and feathers.
How to read it: Purchase To See Every Bird on Earth on Amazon
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien
This touching “love story” is easily one of the best books about birds. Wesley the barn owl was just a baby bird with a broken wing when biologist Stacey O’Brien adopted him. Over the course of nineteen years, Wesley and O’Brien developed a close bond, with O’Brien footing the bill on Wesley’s mouse-only diet (a lifetime appetite for 28,000 mice) and discovering the wonder of Wesley. A sweet and sincere story that any birder will enjoy, O’Brien’s book will put a smile on your face.
How to read it: Purchase Wesley the Owl on Amazon
What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a bird? That exact question is what legendary birder David Allen Sibley tackles in this book, appropriately named What It’s Like to Be a Bird. Sibley gives readers a comprehensive tour through bird behavior, covering everything from flying to singing. You’ll finish the book with a greater understanding of how birds live, eat, nest, and think.
How to read it: Purchase What It’s Like to Be a Bird on Amazon
A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul
We round out this post about the best books about birds with a big topic in birds: migration. Avian migration has never failed to astonish me, and it’s precisely that phenomenon that Scott Weidensaul seeks to investigate in A World on the Wing. This book captures the journey that migratory birds take each year. You’ll discover a new appreciation for the epic quests that birds undertake.
