Hansen's Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada

About this book

Identify and learn about over two hundred and fifty birds of the Sierra Nevada, California. 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, Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada showcases artist-naturalist Keith Hansen’s sixteen-year project to illustrate the birds of the Sierra Nevada.

Paired with stunningly detailed portraits is text informed by decades of 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.

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Biography

Keith Hansen is a professional bird illustrator whose images have been featured in Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution; Discovering Sierra Birds; Birds of Yosemite and the East Slope; and The Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula, among other books.

Edward C. Beedy, who has a PhD in zoology, has authored numerous technical publications and articles about Sierra birds. He is the co-author of Birds of the Sierra Nevada and Discovering Sierra Birds.

Adam Donkin designs apps for major tech companies in Silicon Valley. He is co-founder of Flock LLC., where he creates mobile app experiences that encourage people to fall in love with nature through birding.