Birds of Cape Cod and the Islands

Customer Reviews:

birds of cape cod and the islands.......2007-03-07

Loved the photos, I have lived on cape cod for many years and have not seen many of the birds Mr. Everett has described, but will keep looking. Also would have liked more indepth description of the various birds. However I highly recommend this book!!

Birds of Massachusetts (Natural History of New England Series)

Average customer rating:

focused record of bird-sightings

Birds of Massachusetts (Natural History of New England Series)
Richard R. Veit , and Wayne R. Petersen
Manufacturer: Massachusetts Audubon Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

focused record of bird-sightings.......1999-06-21

Not a field guide, this is a systematic COMPLETE record of bird-sightings in Massachusetts. It is pretty dry, but has information that can interest even a casual bird-watcher (when were Ethiopian Cattle Egrets first recognized in the U.S.?) Since it shows maps of every breeding pair seen of a given species, it can answer pretty definitively whether you are seeing a Black- Chinned Hummingbird or not.

Birds of Massachusetts Field Guide (Field Guides)

Average customer rating:

Excellant
just enough for non-professional
great Massachusetts backyard bird identifier!
Excellent choice
A good amateur's guide

Birds of Massachusetts Field Guide (Field Guides)
Stan Tekiela
Manufacturer: Adventure Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Massachusetts Birds
National Audubon Society Regional Guide to New England (National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England)
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition (National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America)
Bird Songs

ASIN: 1885061889

Product Description

Learn about and identify birds using Stan Tekiela's state-by-state field guides. The full-page, color photos are incomparable and include insets of winter plumage, color morphs and more. Plus, with the easy-to-use format, you don't need to know a bird's name or classification in order to easily find it in the book. Using this field guide is a real pleasure. It's a great way for anyone to learn about the birds in your state.

Customer Reviews:

Excellant.......2007-07-19

I was at a party where the hostess had this book out because she had so many different birds frequenting her feeders. Great book, great pictures and I love the way they categorized the birds. Yellow, orange, blue, etc. So you didn't have to know the name, but you look at the colors to find the bird you saw.

just enough for non-professional.......2006-12-25

I must agree with all the other four reviews. I enjoy watching birds in nature, (Shore, ponds, Cape Cod and house yard), but I am not professional. I found this book (and series) very helpful; it is organized by color (birds that are mostly blue, green, etc..) so it is very easy to use. Each bird is pictured on the left side page. the right page has a small Massachusetts map in which season and where you can find the bird. It also contains description of male, female, juvenile - Information on nest, migration, etc...., then the author's notes.
I did not have difficulty identifying a bird yet, and the amount of information (each page is 4.5 x 6 inches) is just enough for non-professional bird watcher.

great Massachusetts backyard bird identifier!.......2006-06-17

I picked up this guide a couple of yers ago because I wanted to be able to identify birds in my backyard, in a suburb northwest fo Boston. It is incredible! Since it's only for Massachusetts you don't have to skim through a huge book with birds not from the area. I have learned so much and can now identify many birds that I otherwise could not have. Lost on concise info and facts about each bird per page.

Excellent choice.......2006-02-01

Easy to use even as a novice birder. Love sitting out on the deck and being able to tell what is eating at our bird feeder. Love the book so much i'm going to buy a second one for my parents!

A good amateur's guide.......2005-12-20

As we live a few blocks from Fresh Pond Reservation, my husband and I enjoy some of the best bird watching in the area & needed a simple yet informative guide for amateurs. Birds of Massachusetts is perfect for quick referencing and light enough to keep in one's pocket for daily walks around the pond.

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

Average customer rating:

Wonderful Lines in a Wonderful Book
The Outermost House: A Yeaar of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
Beston is without a doubt the best!
Customers interested in this title may also be interested in ...
Bird-watching the Soul

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
Henry Beston
Manufacturer: Owl Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Cape Cod
The Salt House: A Summer on the Dunes of Cape Cod
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket
An Unfinished Marriage

ASIN: 0805019669

Book Description

NonfictionLarge Print EditionWritten with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty. New York Herald TribuneIn what is considered to be a classic of American nature writing, The Outermost House chronicles a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach. Though Henry Beston had planned to spend only two weeks at the house, he became so entranced by the nature surrounding him that he could not leave. Here we find the migrations of birds, the rhythms of wind, sand and sea, and the changing seasons as Bestons words capture the vividness of nature.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Lines in a Wonderful Book.......2007-09-23

Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my negative reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.
Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.

On The Outermost House: Henry Beston's account of his year on Cape Code in the 1920s is a classic. It's worth reading just for the poetic lines. Here is an example:

"For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world islanded in its stream of stars--pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time."

Highly recommended!

The Outermost House: A Yeaar of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.......2007-01-05

I particularly enjoyed this book as it is set in an area that has a large simularity to where I grew up and I particularly liked the lonliness and bleakness that I identified with.

Beston is without a doubt the best!.......2006-10-03

I wouldn't dream of heading for the Cape without this book--Henry Beston captures the Cape more beautifully than any other author. THE OUTERMOST HOUSE is one of those enchanting books which improves with each rereading.

Customers interested in this title may also be interested in ..........2006-08-04

Since Amazon hasn't provide a link between Outermost House, by Beston, and The Winter Beach, by Charlton Ogburn (ISBN 068809418X), I would like to suggest here that, if you like Outermost House, you will almost certainly enjoy The Winter Beach, as well. From the jacket description: "A naturalist and man of rare wisdom shares with you his journeys along the Atlantic shore."

Bird-watching the Soul.......2005-11-13

There's an H.G. Wells story (in Bloom's anthology for children) called "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes"; the title character is struck by lightning and undergoes a visual hallucination in which he believes he sees a desolate island, or as he puts it, "Dark sea and sunrise! And yet I'm sitting on a sofa in old Boyce's room!...God help me!" I didn't think much of the story at the time I read it, but now, on reading "The Outermost House," I find it a remarkably excellent and relevant critique of American nature writing. Surrounded by friends and family, Davidson's gaze is turned inward-or rather projected far outward-to a pristine setting that becomes a horror to the reader.

I'm surprised I didn't like Beston's book better. The introduction makes comparisons to Whitman, which drives me crazy. There is no triad of selves; in fact, I didn't find the author good company, with his external, concrete eye. The objective details never gain in implicit resonance like those in Hemingway's "Great Two-Hearted River," for example, in which concrete actions assume ritualistic meaning. The book is a quick read, and it's a good thing, because there's only so much I can take of foam, little birds, wind direction, and dunes. (There's something passive about the narrator; I'm trying to remember something Bloom wrote about Robinson Crusoe in this context.) Perhaps it's a matter of temperament; I mean, I'm as introverted as they come, but I was lonely reading this book, and I kept waiting for augmenting meanings; perhaps it appeals to a more concrete, introverted type, a bird-watcher in other words.

The prose is beautiful in places, but it's not exactly Proust on the ocean, either. It's always so curious to me that American writers, to get elemental or visionary, go to nature, while Europeans still get to enjoy culture. I guess we don't have a Bois, like Proust, with which to associate feelings of longing, nor do we have earthy peasants or Duchesses whose very names carry traces of soil. And isn't there something ultimately selfish in the isolated nature-observer? Maybe that's part of the appeal-the freedom from the demands of family and culture-the illusion of primal interconnectedness. In any event, not Whitman! Matthew Arnold, sure! Ironically enough, I felt Arnold's "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" every other paragraph. Ultimately, this is a thoroughly PAGAN book in which the soul-less thrumming of cold insect life is celebrated, the sun is worshipped, and human sacrifice (in the form of deaths and drownings at sea) is required. Have we progressed no farther in the past millennium or so? Cold comfort.

Average customer rating:

My Yellowdogs-The Author-Debra Marlin
Heartwrenching
Best Golden Retriever Book So Far
Too good to read--yet
buy it for anyone who'se lost a golden, now!

Yellowdog
Debra Marlin
Manufacturer: Bulfinch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Yellowpup
Golden Days: Memories of a Golden Retriever
My Rescued Golden: True Stories of Rescued Golden Retrievers and the People Who Love Them
Love of Goldens: The Ultimate Tribute to Golden Retrievers (Petlife Library)
Old Friends: Great Dogs on the Good Life

ASIN: 0821223437

Amazon.com

From life with her golden retrievers, Debra Marlin plucks this reflection on her beloved dogs and her time on Martha's Vineyard. A successful businesswoman, Marlin's first love is photography. In her breathtaking black-and-white photographs, taken over an 11-year period, dogs Sonny, Lake, Breaker, and Tucker frolic for the camera in such settings as Chappaquiddick Island and South Beach. Accompanying the sensitive photographs are Marlin's thoughts about the life and loss of Sonny, her first beloved retriever, as well as the ever-adventurous escapades of the three remaining "moochie-poochies." Charming and undeniably poignant, Marlin's celebration of the human-dog bond through images and verse is one of the best.

Customer Reviews:

My Yellowdogs-The Author-Debra Marlin.......2004-01-03

My name is Debra Marlin. I am the author of "Yellowdog",and "Yellowpup".
Over the years so many have told me of the warm hearted reviews appearing
here on Amazon. Thank you so much. I'm glad that the images and text have
touched the hearts of so many. I just entered the realm of the internet or I would have written this sooner. Keep an eye on Amazon soon. I am about to
publish an extraordinary fine-art horse book and a follow-up to Yellowdog and
Yellowpup. The horse book is every bit as poignant, and mystical as the dog
books and just as beautiful. I spent four years in Carmel Valley, and Paso Robles, CA. shooting it. There is also a beautiful book soon to be released which is of the paintings from Yellowdog. It will be a signed and numbered limited edition. So many thanks to Amazon, for over the years so generously
promoting my books. I'm sure there will be many more. Sincerly Debby Marlin

Heartwrenching.......2002-12-27

After losing my Golden, Cody, after twelve years I have been walking around in a daze. This book helped me sort out my deep feelings of grief and absolute despair. These dogs are spirits in our lives, true soulmates. They are there for us through thick and thin and go far beyond being man's best friend. I could easily associate with Marlin's deep love and deep sense of loss. I wish I could sit with her over a cup of tea and just talk Goldens. A deeply passionate book.

Best Golden Retriever Book So Far.......2001-01-05

This is a pictorial history of the author's love affair with her Golden Retrievers. The "story" is about 30 pages and the pictures about 50 or so. The story will grab you in your gut and hit you right in the heart of how you feel about your current (or former) Golden Retriever. The story about the cover photo is especially moving. For a non "how-to" book, this one is THE BEST!

Too good to read--yet.......2000-02-06

My daughter bought me this book for Christmas two years ago. I haven't been able to read more than a few pages before I have to put it away. It is too moving. I know I will return to it after my 13 year old Golden has gone.

buy it for anyone who'se lost a golden, now!.......1999-12-08

if you or anyone you know has lost a golden, there is no excuse for not buying this book. i have never found anything that could help me so much through the most difficult time in my life.

Book Description

This book is a Who's Who of Cape and Island nature writers. A Guide to Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands explores the behavior and life cycles of the plant and animal species that are common to each, and describes what to look for and where to find it. Written by some of New England's foremost naturalists and scientists, each chapter covers one type of wildlife family and is accompanied by an informative question and answer section. Included are essays by, among others, John Hay on the secrets of nature, Robert Finch on woodlands, Richard LeBlond on wetlands, John Portnoy on ponds, Robert Barlow on the peculiarities of Cape and Islands weather, the late Donald Zinn on the power of the sea, and the late Erma Fisk on birds of the region.

An indispensable handbook for everyone in the family, A Guide to Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands provides a greater understanding of the natural world around us.

Customer Reviews:

An essential guide for Cape explorers.......2002-05-19

O'Brien has captured the essence of the mystery, beauty and natural wonders of Cape Cod. This book is essential for anyone who wishes to find the elusive nest of the Gull Winged Shepherdor or to identify the mating call of the migrating Flavell. O'Brien, a Cape Cod naturalists who has study the flora and fauna of Old Cape Cod since 1937, has given us a precious resource with the "Guide to Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands."

Birding Western Massachusetts: A Habitat Guide to 26 Great Birding Sites from the Berkshires to the Quabbin

Average customer rating:

Birding Western Massachusetts: A Habitat Guide to 26 Great Birding Sites from the Berkshires to the Quabbin
Robert Tougias
Manufacturer: New England Cartographics, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Nature Walks In Central & Western Massachusetts, 2nd
Water Trails of Western Massachusetts: AMC Guide to Paddling Ponds, Lakes and Rivers
Birds of Europe
Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges
Peterson Reference Guides: Gulls of the Americas (Peterson Reference Guides)

ASIN: 1889787086

Book Description

Birding Western Massachusetts features over 26 great birding locations in Western Massachusetts. Every site has been chosen either for diversity and volume of bird life, or for its unique and rare birds. All sites are easily accessible and open to the public year-round. Whether you are an avid birder looking for specific birds, or a casual nature enthusiast with an interest in seeing different kinds of birds, this guide will provide you with everything you need to make every birding experience a success.

Author Robert tougias presents a "habitat" approach to birding, showing how to use the awareness of habitat to find birds. With mountains, meadows, rivers, and reservoirs, a wide variety of habitats exists in western Massachusetts--from sub-alpine conditions to pitch pine scrubland. Within each habitat, a unique set of birds can be found. And what a variety! There are over 100 different birds nesting in western Massachusetts, and as many as 300 different birds are recorded annually through the seasons. Few people realize the ideal situation of such a large variety of birds, together with a large number of easily accessible places in which to view them. It is a winning combination for every birder at every level to enjoy. This guide allows you to seize this opportunity in an easy, userfriendly way.

Birding Western Massachusetts is written in a readable style that motivates the reader and helps ensure a productive birding day afield. It describes precise locations and seasons where rare and abundant species may be found. By carefully selecting the sites, you have the opportunity to see everything from eagles to songbirds to rare owls, shorebirds, and waterfowl. Also revealed are the best sites and times for viewing the numerous southern and northern species that migrate regularly through this region. The challenge of finding and identifying birds is made easier with trail maps, site directions, illustrations (by the author), information on bird identification and birding techniques, as well as the unique Quick Locator Reference, enabling you to quickly find the best sites for any bird. This guide will soon make better birders out of each reader.

Portraits of New England birds,
Average customer rating:
Portraits of New England birds,
Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Manufacturer: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ornithology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008596SE

Birding Cape Cod
Average customer rating:
Birding Cape Cod
Cape Cod Bird Club , and Massachusetts Audubon Society
Manufacturer: On Cape Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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The Shorebird Guide

The Nature of Cape Cod

The Cape Cod Garden

The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls (Book & Audio CD)

ASIN: 0975850229

Return of the Osprey : A Season of Flight and Wonder
Average customer rating:

A 21st-Century-Emerson and his observations

David Gessner Inherits a Tradition From Thoreau

A Beautiful Book!!!

Return of the Osprey : A Season of Flight and Wonder
David Gessner
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Ornithology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond

Awesome Ospreys: Fishing Birds of the World

The Prophet of Dry Hill: Lessons From a Life in Nature

The Fish Hawk: Osprey (Northword Wildlife Series)

Sick of Nature

ASIN: 1565122542

Amazon.com

There was a time, not so long ago, when the osprey, or fish hawk, was a common sight along the New England shore. Taking up residence in tall trees that commanded a wide view of sea and sky, the osprey summered along the Atlantic coast, migrating far south to Brazil when the weather turned cold, returning north to nest year after year. That ancient cycle was cut short when DDT-based pesticides entered the ospreys' food chain and caused a perilous decline in their numbers. In time, thanks to the efforts of writer-conservationist Rachel Carson and the lawyers and scientists of the newly founded Environmental Defense Fund, the use of DDT was banned throughout the United States, but its effect on the ospreys endured long afterward.

David Gessner, an able chronicler of the natural world, here recounts the slow reintroduction of the fish hawk to Cape Cod. He offers learned but lightly spun information on their natural history and behavior, matching what he has read to what he has seen as a close observer of these birds in the wild. (He wryly notes, "Sometimes sitting out on the marsh for hours on end is simply boring"--but entirely necessary.) Gessner's memoir documents the fortunes of a single species and celebrates the virtues of committing to a single place, a commitment that, he writes, "the modern world works against." It's a welcome addition to the natural history of raptors and of New England alike. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

When David Gessner returned to Cape Cod, where he spent summers as a child, he noticed something he had never seen before: hawks with magnificent six-foot wingspans and dark masks.

In Return of the Osprey, Gessner sets himself on a simple quest: to watch these great birds and learn about their astonishing comeback to the Atlantic coast after a twenty-year absence. In the process, he takes us on a journey into the wild and the tame, the beautiful and the fragile.

Over the course of a full nesting season, Gessner immerses himself in the lives of these majestic birds. He observes their remarkable adaptability, their astonishing fish-catching skills, their housekeeping habits, and, when the chicks are born, both their savage and gentle ways of nurturing. For Gessner, spotting an osprey dive for fish at forty miles an hour becomes a lesson in patience and focus, watching the birds build their nests illustrates the vital task of making a home, and following the chicks' attempts to fly show him the value of letting go. He discovers the rewards of slowing down and the discipline of waiting and watching. And he witnesses an extraordinary event: the survival of ten young ospreys, the most his Cape Cod neighborhood has seen in more than half a century.

Return of the Osprey is a story of a remarkable recovery, a celebration of place, and a thoughtful meditation on finding one's way in the world.

Customer Reviews:

A 21st-Century-Emerson and his observations.......2001-09-02

Lyrical and stylish in writing, Gessner is able to create vivid pictures with his words. This gift allows us to be transported to Cape Cod beaches to share with him in his observations on the Osprey's, nature in general, and life, as it can and should be. I am biased however as the town of Dennis where RETURN OF THE OSPREY is set, is no more than 5 miles west of me, and part of my time is spent in similar activities (studying the migration of neotropical birds - specifically warblers). This book has a far broader appeal than for birders or Cape Codder's though. As another reviewer already pointed out, Gessner writes in the best traditions of Thoreau or Emerson. Gessner talks about the life history and behavior of the Osprey, its near extinction and it's recent comeback on the Cape. He does this while exploring the world around him and uses the story of the Osprey as a way of looking at man's role in nature. This is an "experiment in seeing" and to quote Emerson (as he does) "to see is everything".

Ironically it's in trying a bit too hard to be a modern day Emerson where the book falls down a bit. In extending this vision to the personal, Gessner offers us a few too many observations on what the Ospreys and nature means to the inner man. In "exploring the mystery" we could do without him comparing the emotions of watching a diving Osprey with that of his first sexual experience. More scientific observations and less metaphysical ones would have made the book perfect.

David Gessner Inherits a Tradition From Thoreau.......2001-04-14

No coal mine ever had such fiercesome canaries as David Gessner's beloved Ospreys -- the nearly eagle-sized fish hawks making a triumphant comeback around Cape Cod. Gessner makes the reader truly exult in nature as he walks, skinnydips and kayaks through the marshes, backwaters and beaches of Cape Cod observing Ospreys as their numbers recover from near obliteration by the chemical DDT. Only a few writers since Henry David Thoreau have had the depth of writing skill in this genre to share successfully their respectful observations while they take lessons from the natural world. As Gessner learns to observe, he mentors us by his example, and we, in turn, also learn to observe -- even as we are fascinated. Just as an excellent wine writer passes on the tricks and traditions of savoring a fine vintage, then makes us want to rush out and buy a bottle, Gessner teaches us how to "taste" nature, derive meaning from it, and makes us want to take a very long walk in a wild place. He holds these messages together using the Osprey as glue by linking its fate to Humankind's destiny. The regal raptor becomes a hopeful metaphor for civilization, if we will only take a clue from our mistakes and build upon remedies. He also takes the reader on a personal journey, illustrating how one may learn to understand and improve one's self, accept our shortcomings and peculiarities, and those of the people around us. One of the most appealing qualities of his writing morality is the manner in which Gessner introduces the reader to so many other nature writers, environmentalists and colorful local characters. His message makes us want to know more, read more, do more, and he gently provides a roadmap for that journey with a cleverly interwoven book list. He may also be the first nature writer to praise bug bites as a reminder that they are a sure sign you are out where you want to be.

A Beautiful Book!!!.......2001-03-26

Beautifully writen, David Gessner takes you on an incredible journey, where you not only learn about the Osprey, but you also may learn something about yourself. For those of you lucky enough to see these "sea eagles" this book will reconfirm what you may already know. For those of you who do not have Osprey in your area it will open your eyes to new possibilities. Thank you David for sharing a part of your world with us.

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