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Nevada

The books are arranged by publication date with the most recent at the top of the page.

USA

USA bird books

Nevada's Changing Wildlife Habitat: An Ecological History

George E. Gruell with Sherman Swanson

2013

"For millennia the ecology of the Great Basin has evolved because of climate change and the impacts of human presence. Nevada's Changing Wildlife Habitat is the first book to explain the transformations in the plants and animals of this region over time and how they came about. Using data gleaned from archaeological and anthropological studies, numerous historical documents, repeat photography, and several natural sciences, the authors examine changes in vegetation and their impact on wildlife species and the general health of the environment. They also outline the choices that current users and managers of rangelands face in being good stewards of this harsh but fragile environment and its wildlife."

Western Birds: Backyard Guide

Bill Thompson III

2013

"Inside, you'll find profiles of the 55 most common birds in the West, complete with large color photos, gender-specific physical descriptions, nesting and feeding information, bird call particulars, and interesting stories about each species. Thompson also introduces the reader to the basics of bird watching: essential gear, bird-friendly food and plantings, housing tips, and observational techniques. This guide covers Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and western Texas."

Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada

Ted Floyd, Chris S. Elphick, Graham Chisholm, Kevin Mack, Robert G. Elston, Elisabeth M. Ammon, John D. Boone

2007

"The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada" documents the results of a statewide survey of breeding birds undertaken between 1997 and 2000. The book presents 275 species of birds that breed in the state, with a description of each bird; an analysis of its breeding distribution in Nevada; a discussion of its conservation status; a line drawing by artist Ray Nelson; a map illustrating its distribution throughout the state; and summary statistics on its breeding status, habitat distribution and abundance. The atlas, a project of the Great Basin Bird Observatory, has as its major objective the quantification of the diversity and grandeur of Nevada's bird life. It also addresses questions about the management and conservation of bird populations in the state, range limits, the impact of bird population changes, and the future prospects of various species, given current and projected patterns of land use."

Important Bird Areas of Nevada

D.E. McIvor

2007

"Nevada's Important Bird Areas Program is part of a worldwide effort to identify and recognize the best remaining habitats for birds. Birds are an excellent barometer of the health of our natural world. Through constructive and collaborative partnerships, the Lahontan Audubon Society, the National Audubon Society, and BirdLife International are working with state and local partners to preserve and enhance bird habitats while meeting the needs of the landowner. This book formalizes the selection of Nevada's Important Bird Areas and introduces these landscapes to birders, citizen-scientists, land managers, and land owners. The book contains detailed descriptions of each site, information about why sites were selected, and suggestions for ways to help protect their value for birds. For avid bird watchers the book also contains information to guide visitors to those areas that welcome birders. And for all who care about the future of Nevada's birds, this is an essential reference."

Ecological Communities and Processes in a Mojave Desert Ecosystem: Rock Valley, Nevada

Philip W. Rundel and Arthur C. Gibson

2005

"Deserts provide a harsh and inhospitable environment for plants and animals, and the ecosystem is correspondingly fragile and prone to disruption by a variety of external factors. The Mojave Desert is a winter-rainfall desert, experiencing drought in the summer months, and occasional rain during the cooler winter months. For many years, it has attracted the attention of ecologists and conservation biologists concerned to maintain the unique status of this region. This book provides a broad overview of plant and animal ecology in the Mojave Desert, presented with a focus on data from Rock Valley, Nevada. The data from many major research projects is synthesized into a description of community structure and dynamics in desert ecosystems."

Birding the Southwestern National Parks

Roland H. Wauer

2004

"In this book, veteran parks interpreter Ro Wauer introduces the pleasures of birding in the national parks of the American Southwest. From California to Texas, from hugely popular destinations such as Arizona's Grand Canyon to the mostly undiscovered shores of Amistad National Recreation Area, Wauer visits seventeen sites and gives us his advice on what birds to expect to see and where and how to find them. Written by a birder for birders, this book introduces readers to some of the best birding north of the Mexican border, as well as some of the most impressive scenery anywhere. Wauer takes readers on a personal tour, pointing out where to go to see a vast array of each park's bird life: Le Conte's Thrashers in Death Valley, Clark's and Western Grebes at Lake Mead, Phainopeplas at Organ Pipe Cactus, Lucy's Warblers at Saguaro, Peregrine Falcons in Grand Canyon, Cave Swallows at Carlsbad Caverns, Magnificent Hummingbirds at Guadalupe Mountains, and Colima Warblers in Big Bend. Birding the Southwestern National Parks is written for anyone visiting, planning to visit, or dreaming of visiting the Southwestern national parks."

Birds of the Lahontan Valley: A Guide to Nevada's Wetland Oasis

Graham Chisholm and Larry A. Neel

2001

"Deep in the arid vastness of the harsh Great Basin desert, in one of the warmest and driest basins in northern Nevada, lies a wetland oasis that is home to more than 290 species of resident and migratory birds. The Lahontan Valley wetlands, including Stillwater Marsh and Carson Lake, contain the remnants of a vast Pleistocene lake that once covered much of western and northern Nevada. Today, having shrunk to fewer than 100,000 acres and precariously vulnerable to the vagaries of the Great Basin's scanty rainfall and to competing demands for water from neighboring agriculturists and northern Nevada's booming urban development, the Lahontan Valley wetlands persist as one of the most important birding sites on the Pacific Flyway. Birds of the Lahonton Valley is a major contribution to the study of natural history in the Great Basin. Authors Graham Chisholm and Larry A. Neel provide a comprehensive discussion of the geologic history of the area; the intricate relationships among climate, soil, vegetation, and local fauna; and the impact of humankind, from the ancient Paiute people to the farmers and ranchers of today. The book's greatest significance, however, lies in its detailed account of the bird species sighted in the Lahontan Valley, a listing that will be invaluable to scientists and casual birders alike. Enhanced by 60 line drawings by ornithological artist Mimi Hoppe Wolf, four maps, and directions to bird-viewing sites, Birds of the Lahontan Valley is an essential resource for birders, naturalists, conservationists, and anyone interested in the outdoors."

Birds of the Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California and Southern Nevada

John H. Rappole

2001

"This handbook provides information on identification, habit preferences, voice, seasonal occurrence, and abundance of over 450 species of birds found in the American Southwest. Each species description is accompanied by a distribution map and a photograph to aid identification."

Watchable Birds of the Great Basinn

David Lukas

1999

"Watchable Birds of the Great Basin offers wildlife enthusiasts, families, and birders fascinating facts about nesting behavior, birdsongs, foods, and flight characteristics of 80 of the most fun-to-watch species in Nevada and parts of Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and California."

The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin

Stephen Trimble

Second edition

1999

"In a lavishly illustrated large format, "The Sagebrush Ocean" summarizes a vast amount of information in a text of synthesis and celebration. Trimble mixes accounts of personal experiences with clear explanations of the natural history, while his photographs capture some of the most spectacular scenery of the American west. The Great Basin desert - an ocean of sagebrush - sweeps from the Sierra to the Rockies, from the Snake River Plain to the Mojave Desert. Trimble's focus is biogeographical: what lives where, and why. He introduces concepts of desert ecology and discusses living communities of animals and plants that band Great Basin mountains - from the exhilarating emptiness of dry lake-beds to alpine regions at the summits of the 13,000 ft Basin ranges."

Field Guide to the Southwestern States: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah

Peter Alden, Peter Friederici

Taylor Trade Publishing

1999

"Filled with concise descriptions and stunning photographs, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States belongs in the home of every resident of the Southwest and in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor. This compact volume contains: an easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more; a complete overview of the southwestern region's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns, and the night sky; and an extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, mountains, forests, and wildlife sanctuaries, with detailed descriptions and visitor information for 50 sites and notes on dozens of others."

The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America: The Far West: California and Nevada

Dwight Holing

1996

"The Far West includes some of the country's most rugged and beautiful land and wildlife, from the national parks to private reserves. The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America brings it all to life for you with 160+ full-color photographs of the region's diverse wildlife and scenery."

Nevada Wildlife Viewing Guide

Jeanne L. Clark

1993

A guide to wildlife viewing sites.

The Birds of Nevada

J.R. Alcorn

1988

"The birds of Nevada is the culmination of a lifetime of work by J.R. Alcorn. With a knowledge of Nevada birds and field abilities that are unsurpassed. Alcorn has spent nearly 60 years gathering information for this book. Extensive records, comprised of published literature, over 10,000 pages of the author's personal field notes and the notes and comments of wildlife enthusiasts throughout Nevada, reveal a history of 456 species of birds in Nevada. Each species is addressed separately and its worldwide distribution and status in Nevada discussed briefly. A "Records Occurrence" section for each bird details sightings throughout the state and specific information on nesting, food and behavior is included for many species."

Birds of the Great Basin: A Natural History

Fred A. Ryser Jr

1986

"Birds have always been of keen interest to man, since their beauty, song and fascinating behaviour are conspicuously displayed and can be viewed and heard by even the most casual observer. This book, the result of over thirty years of research, is the most comprehensive ever published on the diverse bird life of the Great Basin. In a concise and readable style, Fred Ryser discusses the life histories, physiology, behaviour, ecology and distribution of nearly four hundred species, including information on navigation, flight, territorial behaviour, courtship, nesting, hunting, and the mystery and high pageantry of the great migrations that pass through the Great Basin each year. The book is illustrated with beautiful drawings, maps, charts, and more than sixty colour plates. Destined to become a standard reference work in American ornithology, "Birds of the Great Basin" is an important acquisition for anyone interested in western birds."

Birds of the Charleston Mountains, Nevada

A. J. Van Rossem

Cooper Ornithological Society

1936

From the introduction:

"The Death Valley Expedition of 1891 entered the Charleston Mountains at several points. C. Hart Merriam, the leader of that expedition, noted numerous species of birds from low altitudes at the south end and east side of the range, and Edward W. Nelson and Theodore S. Palmer collected a few specimens at about 8000 feet altitude in Trout Canon on the west slope. However, save for the birds and mammals collected by these men, the higher parts of the mountains appear to have escaped the attention of naturalists until 1923. In that year, and in 1925, Edmund C. Jaeger made botanical studies there. Later, this author published a list of 40 species of birds as observed by him in June, 1926. William H. Burt, assisted by Harry H. Sheldon and Thomas Dawson, made collections of mammals in this region in 1928, 1929 and 1930 and brought back with them a few birds collected incidentally. The last indicated specimens proved to be so interesting that the present writer took as much time as could be spared from his routine duties, and himself made more or less extended field trips into the Charleston region. He spent two weeks in the field in September, 1930, one week in February, 1931, three weeks in October, 1931, the months of July and August, 1932, and one week in November, 1932. It is the material and observations assembled during this total of fifteen weeks that form the chief basis of this report, though supplementary data from the Death Valley report (Merriam, Nelson, Palmer, Bailey), from Burt, and from Jaeger are acknowledged in appropriate places."

The Birds of Nevada

Jean M. Linsdale

Cooper Ornithological Society

1936

From the introduction:

"States furnish convenient, even if not natural, units for the study of occurrence of birds in North America. Such studies are useful from several points of view. Every person with a serious interest in birds desires more complete information on the distribution of the species. Progress in analysis of many broad problems in avian biology awaits more thorough accounts of the birds of some of the states. Satisfactory solutions of even the simplest questions which confront administrators of wildlife resources depend upon an adequate knowledge of the fauna of the country. The Great Basin remains one of the last large areas in the country the avifauna of which is little known. Records assembled in the present report are calculated to fill this gap in our knowledge of distribution of western birds in so far as field work up to the present in the state of Nevada gives basis for it. Nevada ranks sixth in size among the states, but its avifauna has been studied probably least of all. It is remarkable that this large area has been without resident bird students for so long."

The Death Valley Expeditions, Part II: A Biological Survey Of Parts Of California, Nevada, Arizona, And Utah

1. Report on Birds, A. K. Fisher

2. Report on Reptiles and Batrachians, Leonhard Stejneger

3. Report on Fishes, Charles H. Gilbert

4. Report on Insects, C. V. Riley

5. Report on Mollusks, R. E. C. Stearns

6. Report on Desert Trees and Shrubs, C. Hart Merriam

7. Report on Desert Cactuses and Yuccas, C. Hart Merriam

8. List of Localities, T. S. Palmer

Division Of ornithology And Mammology

US Department Of The Interior

1893

Includes 151 page section on birds.