Books and Research
Talking Book Libraries
Congress established the Talking Book Program in 1931 to provide free library services to people with disabilities.
https://www.klas.com/klas-and-you/talking-book-libraries
https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/mainpage
Olivia's birds: saving the Gulf DB75436
Bouler, Olivia. Reading time: 25 minutes.
Read by Faith Potts. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Eleven-year-old author, who sold her bird paintings to raise money for the Audubon Society's Gulf Coast oil spill recovery efforts, offers a guide to backyard and endangered fowl. Covers fierce and weird and wacky birds. Includes tips on saving birds and the environment. For grades 3-6. 2011.
Download Olivia's birds: saving the Gulf
Places to explore: a guide to Mass Audubon's wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers, and museums. DBC11598
Massachusetts Audubon Society. Reading time: 3 hours, 2 minutes.
Read by Dave Cook. A production of Perkins Library, Perkins School for the Blind.
Nature and the Environment
Starting in Greater Boston and then branching out to sports north, south and west, this is a detailed guide to all the facilities and resources of Mass Audubon.
Download Places to explore: a guide to Mass Audubon's wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers, and museums.
The Sibley guide to bird life & behavior / DB54492
Sibley, David; Elphick, Chris; Dunning, John B; National Audubon Society. Reading time: 35 hours, 57 minutes.
Read by Robert Blumenfeld. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Presents a basic overview of bird biology: evolution, behavior, habitats, and how the body works. Then bird experts and ornithologists discuss eighty specific bird families of North America, covering taxonomy, foraging and breeding patterns, and conservation status. Sponsored by the National Audubon Society. 2001.
Download The Sibley guide to bird life & behavior /
Birding without borders: an obsession, a quest, and the biggest year in the world DB89467
Strycker, Noah K. Reading time: 27 hours, 9 minutes.
Read by Gary Telles. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
The author of The Thing with Feathers (DB 85163) chronicles the year he traveled around the globe to see as many bird species as he could. Describes his start in Antarctica and his visits to all the continents, local connections he made with each stop, and the more than six thousand species that he spotted. 2017.
Download Birding without borders: an obsession, a quest, and the biggest year in the world
Sibley's birding basics DB85752
Sibley, David. Reading time: 5 hours, 45 minutes.
Read by Joe Wilson. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
Artist specializing in birds provides instruction on the hobby of birding. Discusses identification techniques, how to handle misidentification of birds, morphological features of different species, and birdcalls. Includes a short discussion on the ethics of birding and information regarding conservation efforts. 2002.
Download Sibley's birding basics
Neighbors to the birds: a history of birdwatching in America DB29428
Gibbons, Felton; Strom, Deborah. Reading time: 10 hours, 46 minutes.
Read by Jon Beryl. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
Includes summary descriptions of various movements in birding and studies of early leaders: William Bartram, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, John Burroughs, and John Muir.
Download Neighbors to the birds: a history of birdwatching in America
The thing with feathers: the surprising lives of birds and what they reveal about being human DB85163
Strycker, Noah K. Reading time: 8 hours, 45 minutes.
Read by Michael Russotto. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
The associate editor of Birding magazine details behaviors found in birds to highlight and explore similar behaviors in human beings. Uses individual species to examine particular behaviors such as pigeons and homing, starlings and flocking, parrots and dancing, chickens and pecking order, magpies and self-awareness, and more. 2014
Download The thing with feathers: the surprising lives of birds and what they reveal about being human
A world of watchers DB25343
Kastner, Joseph. Reading time: 11 hours, 24 minutes.
Read by Gary Tipton. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
Traces the history of bird watching, the "most scientific of sports or the most sporting of sciences," from early, exclusive, all-male birding clubs to the wide membership of the late-twentieth-century Audubon Society. Until the advent of field guides and inexpensive binoculars, bird watchers killed the objects of their interest. Many of birding history's colorful, eccentric personalities are profiled.
Download A world of watchers
Birding around the world: a guide to observing birds everywhere you travel DB27972
Lotz, Aileen R. Reading time: 11 hours, 28 minutes.
Read by Mary O'Neal. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
This guidebook for bird-watching is intended to stimulate "early birders" and encourage travelers to enjoy the sport. Part one offers hints to successful birding, part two provides a geographically arranged introduction to common and uncommon birds likely to be encountered, and the final part presents a list of basic books and other aids designed to further one's interest in world birding.
Download Birding around the world: a guide to observing birds everywhere you travel
Backyard birding secrets / BRC01254 - Volume: 3
Nowak, Jeff.
A production of Horizons for the Blind.
Animals and Wildlife
These tips--from bird lovers across the country--guarantee more feathered friends in your backyard.
Download Backyard birding secrets / - Volume: 3
The feather quest: a North American birder's year DB38534
Dunne, Pete. Reading time: 12 hours, 32 minutes.
Read by Peter Johnson. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
This book chronicles a year spent birding. The author and his wife embarked on their adventure before dawn on New Year's Day, crossing North America and joining the Christmas Bird Count twelve months hence. Dunne keeps an eye on more than birds; he observes humans and the world at large. Brief foreword contributed by Roger Tory Peterson.
Download The feather quest: a North American birder's year
Feather brained: my bumbling quest to become a birder and find a rare bird on my own DBC11164
Tarte, Bob. Reading time: 7 hours, 28 minutes.
Read by Tracey Dolinar. A production of Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons Braille and Talking Book Library.
Biography
Nature and the Environment
Bob Tarte offers readers a droll look at the pleasures and pitfalls of birding, introduces a colorful cast of fellow birders from across the US, and travels to some of the premier birding sites in the Midwest. This funny, heartfelt memoir will appeal to birders of all skill levels as well as to anyone who knows and loves a birder. A 2017 Michigan Notable Book. 2016.
Download Feather brained: my bumbling quest to become a birder and find a rare bird on my own
Birdwatching: a guide for beginners DB23709
Lentz, Joan Easton; Young, Judith. Reading time: 5 hours, 27 minutes.
Read by Kerry Dukin. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
All aspects of birdwatching are discussed in this primer, including equipment and clothing as well as birding techniques, methods, and ethics. Intended primarily for neophyte birders who want to learn correct procedures.
Download Birdwatching: a guide for beginners
Bird's-eye view DB52907
Freedman, J. F. Reading time: 14 hours, 38 minutes.
Read by Jim Zeiger. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Mystery and Detective Stories
Political Fiction
Disgraced professor Fritz Tullis photographs a murder while birdwatching on his family's Maryland estate. With the help of his mother, Mary, ornithologist Maureen O'Hara, and Baltimore cop Marcus DeWilde, Tullis investigates and discovers that a prominent politician is involved. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2001.
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A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals DB29485
Elliott, Lang. Reading time: 2 hours, 12 minutes.
Read by Lang Elliot. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Hobbies and Crafts
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
An auditory guide to the sounds made by birds and other wildlife. Following an introduction to a variety of natural sounds, including a full mixed chorus of woodland birds, Lang conducts different field trips to acquaint us with various habitats of the sound-makers. With practice, the listener will be able to identify singers from the eastern United States and Canada.
Download A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals
Birding for the curious: the easiest way for anyone to explore the incredible world of birds DB85750
Swick, Nate. Reading time: 4 hours, 4 minutes.
Read by Joe Wilson. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Animals and Wildlife
Nature and the Environment
Introductory guide to the hobby of birding. Discusses reasons to take up the endeavor, which field guides are best, engaging with the birding community, developing a bird-friendly environment in your own backyard, and contributing to the scientific community. 2015.