DO HUMMINGBIRDS HUM?

Rutgers University Press published a book titled "Do Hummingbirds Hum?; Fascinating Answers to Questions about Hummingbirds" in March 2010. This is a question and answer book written by George West and Carol Butler for the general public that answers the many questions we receive when banding hummingbirds. There are eight color pages and many black and white photos and images in the text. Retail Price is $21.95.

To view the publisher's catalog information about the book, go to: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/do_hummingbirds_hum.html

To order a copy of this book at a discount:
Longleaf Services, Inc.,
P. O. Box 8895
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-8895

Toll Free Phone: 800-848-6224
E-mail: customerservice@longleafservices.org

If you are a retailer, you can order copies of the book for resale from the same number as above. Their FAX number is 800-272-6817. The book's code number is: 9780813547381.

You can order the book at Amazon.com for about $15 or find it in a local natural history book store (I hope!). We will be selling it on the Friends of Madera Canyon web site so you can check there probably in June 2011. (www.friendsofmaderacanyon.org)

The book is the last in a series of four books on pollinators. The other three are about butterflies (Do Butterflies Bite?), bats (Do Bats Drink Blood?) and bees (Why Do Bees Buzz?). Each book has an expert in the field as primary author. Carol A. Butler, an author and psychoanalyst living in New York originated the series. She is also a docent at the American Museum of Natural History.

Here are a couple of unsolicited comments about the book:

"Just what the literature needed for lay-readers and citizen-scientists alike! Chapters 2-6 and 9 are my favorites. Your sidebars throughout are interesting and easy to understand. The illustrations and charts provide excellent support. I didn't simply learn a lot, but also acquired a valuable reference book disguised in consumer clothing. You and Carol Butler certainly are the Rosetta stones that general readers need to digest the information you included in it." -- Tom Kaminski, naturalist and award-winning producer of the widely-acclaimed "Hooked on Hummingbirds" and "Hummingbirds! Beauty and the Beast" DVDs.

"It's great for the layman and its references are more than ample to allow a student of the subject to go more deeply into it. In reading "Do Hummingbirds Hum", I couldn't help but marvel at yet
another scientific discipline that I was dimly aware of. Thanks to your book I am less "dimly aware" now. Thanks for the enlightenment. By the way, I liked your array of photographs and illustrations of a bird that is "...elegant in form and brilliant in color." Georges-Louis Leclerc put it exactly right." - William DeFotis, Professor, University of Illinois Chicago.

A BIRDER'S GUIDE TO ALASKA

The second edition of "A Birder's Guide to Alaska" was published in 2008 and contains 660 pages of maps and information to plan your birding trip to Alaska - when to go, how to get there, what areas to visit, what to take, and what birds you could see at each location depending on season. Over 60 locations are covered, including the state's entire road system, the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek, BC throught the Yukon to Alaska, the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system from British Columbia to Alaska, and out to the Aleutian Islands. Each chapter includes maps and mile-by-mile information on where to find birds, local logistics, and references. Detailed local knowledge is presented by 54 expert birders who have visited and birded these sites many times. The status of more than 500 species of birds in Alaska - and dozens of field-identifiable subspecies - is treated in the Annotated List. Regional distribution and your probability of seeing species are covered in a Checklist chart. The retail cost of the guide is $32.95 and is available through the American Birding Association at www.abasales.com and at Audubon and other natural history book and gift stores, and through Amazon.

BIRDS OF THE WYNN NATURE CENTER, HOMER, ALASKA

The Wynn Nature Center is a natural area on the top of the bluff above Homer, Alaska owned and operated by The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies whose main focus is coastal marine environmental education. The Wynn Nature Center is a 140-acre tract of Lutz Spruce (hybrid of White and Sitka Spruce) forest, a smaller forest of Black Cottonwood, with open meadows and shrub thickets of Alder and Willow, and a tributary of Bridge Creek. This habitat, with its natural diversity supports high wildlife use, including a variety of birds and many mammals, especially moose. The Birds of the Wynn Nature Center was originally compiled in 1997 but was revised and updated in 2008. The 73-page booklet contains descriptions and black-and-white sketches of the 68 species of birds that have been documented at the Center, along with notes on nesting, migration, food preferences, and other information about each species. The book is available from the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, P.O. Box 2225, Homer, AK 99603 and sells for $6.00 plus postage

BIRD TRADITIONS OF THE LIME VILLAGE AREA DENA'INA
Upper Stony River Ethno-Ornithology

This book presents the cultural traditions of how a population of Alaska Native peoples relate to birds. Calling on her many years of work with local peoples, Priscilla Russell exhibits a special gift to discover the details of how the Stony River Dena'ina (Athabascan Indians) think about birds, how they harvest them, and how they use various parts of birds in their daily lives. West applies modern ornithological science to the way the Dena'ina classify and name the birds in their area. All 127 species that occur in the Stony River area are desribed, illustrated, and most have Native names. The 208-page book published in 2003 is available from the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 756730, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6730.