Hansen`s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada, Hansen Keith, Beedy Edward C., Donkin Adam

Identify and learn about over two hundred and fifty birds of the Sierra Nevada. From tiniest hummingbirds to condors with nine-foot wingspans; from lower-elevation wrens to the rasping nutcrackers of the High Sierra; from urban House Sparrows to wild water-loving American Dippers, Hansens Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada showcases artist-naturalist Keith Hansens sixteen-year project to illustrate the birds of the Sierra Nevada. Paired with stunningly detailed portraits is text informed by over a hundred years of the authors collective birding experience--prose that while firmly grounded in expertise will nonetheless delight readers with its whimsy, allusion, and affection. Take the Bufflehead: A diminutive and endearing diving duck, which moves with spirited abandon. Or the scrappy and antagonistic Merlin, holding dominion over winter skies, tormenting eagles, hawks, and vultures alike. The White-tailed Kite is angelic in poise, a streamlined bird of unblemished tailoring; the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher sports a black eye-to-eye brow, imparting a Frida Kahlo-like stare. This book is the field guide companion to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution, also coauthored by Edward C. Beedy and illustrated by Keith Hansen (University of California Press, 2013).