Hummingbirds: A Life-size Guide to Every Species

by Michael Fogden, Marianne Taylor, Sheri L. Williamson

Hummingbirds have always held popular appeal, with their visual brilliance, extraordinary flight dexterity, jewel-like color, and remarkably small size. This is the first book to profile all 338 known species, from the Saw-billed Hermit to the Scintillant Hummingbird. Every bird is shown life-size in glorious full-color photographs. Every species profile includes a flight map and key statistics, as well as information about behavior, plumage, and habitat. This authoritative guide has been annotated by the world's leading experts on hummingbirds and features a foreword by renowned birding author Pete Dunne.

Genres: Nonfiction, Birds, Nature, Reference, Natural History, Animals, Field Guides

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it comes to small birds, there’s nothing more beautiful than a hummingbird. Several hundred species abound that vary in size, colour, “special accessory”, and all are found exclusively in the Americas. My favourite is the Costa’s hummingbird—found in the deserts of Southwestern U.S. and Northwestern Mexico. If you’ve never seen footage of this little beauty “doing his thing” do yourself a favour and Google Costa’s hummingbird mating display. I swear, it’ll leave you with your mouth hanging open. It’s like nothing you’ve ever witnessed. Incredible. Unforgettable. Out-of-this-world amazing.

But the book… the information in this book—the text and the maps—is pretty “dry”, although you’ll find some interesting bits about these captivating birds, like where they summer and winter, their migration routes, what they eat, and how you can attract them to your garden. The photos may have been quite beautiful, but it was really quite difficult to tell—reading, as I was, on an eReader. After all these years, why can’t someone make an eReader that displays images properly!?!🤨😣

Overall, the book isn’t bad, but you’d be wise to read the print version. And if it’s just the gorgeous photos you’re interested in, I’d suggest you use the internet. It’s the best resource for plentiful, beautiful photos.

3 “Tiny-iridescent-fairy” stars ⭐⭐⭐

[༺Kiki༻ · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is broad in scope, covering all 338 know hummingbird species, there is little depth. The section for each bird contains a photo, a basic range map, and a short description with distribution, habitat, size and status information. The text is very brief, it would not be suitable for identification (although I doubt it intended to be).

The ebook could have been a visual delight. I was expecting high-resolution, zoomable photos, like a digital coffee table book. Sadly, the images are small and lack sharpness. They appear to be scanned from the printed book. They look quite poor on my 1st generation iPad, I can't imagine viewing them on a Retina display. The range maps are small, but serviceable.

The table of contents is a real disappointment. It should have been better implemented. The 'Hummingbird Directory' section isn't divided into individual species with links to each. If you want to view a specific bird, you have to search for it instead. Not very user friendly.

I am impressed by the scope of the book, and perhaps it is more enjoyable in printed format. The ebook looks slapped together and lacks polish.

[T. Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

Who knew there are so many hummingbirds in our world?! I enjoyed this book, learned a lot. Peaked my interest to learn more about all my bird neighbors. I cherish the ruby throated hummers that visit each summer. I planted honeysuckle vines for them. One of the male hummers sits nearby as I eat supper out on my deck each night. Amazing creatures!

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars- Very basic,I wish there would have been more detail.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is hard to rate as it is more a field guide for reference than something you’d read straight through. For what it is however, it’s interesting, informative, and has gorgeous drawings.

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book with fantastic photos of each hummingbird. I keep it outside in my garden and it is so much fun to be able to identify the many types of hummingbirds that come into the yard.

[Annika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lush, detailed illustrations. We have one hummingbird in our region so it was pretty exciting to see so many others are out there.the meat of the book regarding humming bird life is the detailed ."introduction ". I think browsing through this weighty book could be addictive

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic but great info on Hummingbirds. Easy read of course but interesting.

[Joshua Doty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. Really good primer on the life and behavior of my favorite birds. Beautiful to look at.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great guide about hummingbirds. You can look for which species are in your state or area. It also describes when best to expect them throughout the year. I learned there are 13 native to California and 4 of which are frequenters to San Diego county.

Fascinating complete guide. A hobby I might start.

[Ricky Kimsey]

Hummingbird Enthusiasts

This book is perfect for hummingbird enthusiasts. It has the name of each species along with an illustration, information where they live and whether or not they are endangered or not.

[Becky Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book so much! It has beautiful pictures of hummingbirds and great useful information on hummingbirds not only found in North America but all over the world. A very beautiful good book that I highly recommend to any hummingbird lover!

[Crystal Swafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has an educational and factual intro plus a comprehensive list of many hummingbird species with stunning photography. I can’t wait until spring when I can start trying to identify species and gender of my beautiful visitors!

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainly just flipped through the pictures. The text was too scientific for my interest.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Allyria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flipped through every page of this gorgeous book.

[Cosmic Galaxian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving it 4.0 only for it provided me some visual delight. Otherwise, a very simple as well as a boring book.

[Dollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was 390 pages of absolute delight! I “ouuuued” and “ahhhhhed” all the way through it. There are life-size, color photos of 90% of the world’s hummingbird species. Besides photos, information includes what they eat, breeding behaviors, what their nest looks like, how long the eggs incubate (there are usually two) and how long before the babies get their feathers. There are also maps showing exactly where these little gems can be found. It was full of information and I seriously enjoyed every single page. Plus, an added bonus – titles of additional books about hummingbirds! I am sitting here watching a little female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at the feeder outside my living room window as I write this. This particular tiny, little girl is very aggressive (yes, we do recognize the different visitors) and she will sit on the feeder all day and chase other birds away. We got her a little hummingbird swing and hung it outside my kitchen window and on rainy days she’ll sit there for hours to be sure no others visit the feeder a foot away! The RTH is very aggressive and I’ve even had one bully me away from my patch of crocosmia (which I planted just for them. They love my red bee-balm, too). She very definitely let me know she wanted me to back off. There’s not a whole lot I love more than watching these little birds. Unfortunately for me, the only species in Maine is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, although there have been sightings of a couple of other species. Also, unfortunately for me, most of the gorgeous, exotic species are in South America, where I will NEVER go (and not just because I recently watched The Green Inferno – a movie I won’t soon forget!). I’ll have to do a search and see if there are any sanctuaries here in the US. If there are, I will eventually make my way to one (or two or three).