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The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss
Not yet published
Expected 9 Jun 26From the best-selling authors of The Lost Words, a dazzling celebration of endangered birds.
The Book of Birds is a field guide with a difference: It shows readers not just how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris conjure the unique spirit of nearly fifty once-common species: avocet to yellowhammer, kestrel to kingfisher, skylark to nightingale. In lyrical and incantatory essays, Macfarlane describes each bird’s habits and habitats, their patterns of flight and patterns of song, how they hunt or fish or scavenge or gather, how they nest and raise their chicks, the myths that attend them, the threats that shadow them—and how their lives intersect with our own. On every page we encounter Morris’s exhilarating artwork, painted from life in watercolor and gold leaf, and animated with an extraordinary attention to detail. The Book of Birds is a love letter to the thrilling variety and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the rapid depletion of our skies.
The Book of Birds is a field guide with a difference: It shows readers not just how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris conjure the unique spirit of nearly fifty once-common species: avocet to yellowhammer, kestrel to kingfisher, skylark to nightingale. In lyrical and incantatory essays, Macfarlane describes each bird’s habits and habitats, their patterns of flight and patterns of song, how they hunt or fish or scavenge or gather, how they nest and raise their chicks, the myths that attend them, the threats that shadow them—and how their lives intersect with our own. On every page we encounter Morris’s exhilarating artwork, painted from life in watercolor and gold leaf, and animated with an extraordinary attention to detail. The Book of Birds is a love letter to the thrilling variety and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the rapid depletion of our skies.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2026
About the author
Robert Macfarlane
120 books4,711 followersRobert Macfarlane is a British nature writer and literary critic.
Educated at Nottingham High School, Pembroke College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford, he is currently a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge.
Robert Macfarlane is the author of prize-winning and bestselling books about landscape, nature, people and place, including Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination (2003), The Wild Places (2007), The Old Ways (2012), Holloway (2013, with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards), Landmarks (2015), The Lost Words: A Spell Book (with the artist Jackie Morris, 2017) and Underland: A Deep Time Journey (2019). His work has been translated into many languages, won prizes around the world, and his books have been widely adapted for film, television, stage and radio. He has collaborated with artists, film-makers, actors, photographers and musicians, including Hauschka, Willem Dafoe, Karine Polwart and Stanley Donwood. In 2017 he was awarded the EM Forster Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Educated at Nottingham High School, Pembroke College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford, he is currently a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge.
Robert Macfarlane is the author of prize-winning and bestselling books about landscape, nature, people and place, including Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination (2003), The Wild Places (2007), The Old Ways (2012), Holloway (2013, with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards), Landmarks (2015), The Lost Words: A Spell Book (with the artist Jackie Morris, 2017) and Underland: A Deep Time Journey (2019). His work has been translated into many languages, won prizes around the world, and his books have been widely adapted for film, television, stage and radio. He has collaborated with artists, film-makers, actors, photographers and musicians, including Hauschka, Willem Dafoe, Karine Polwart and Stanley Donwood. In 2017 he was awarded the EM Forster Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 11, 2026
If The Lost Words was the size of a processional gospel and The Lost Spells reminded me of a pocket psalter, The Book of Birds has the heft of a study Bible, complete with charts in the back. The sheer yet costly abundance of the project seems to be a tribute of love to the abundance of bird life, an abundance which feels taken for granted as it fades. Macfarlane’s writing is terrific throughout, a prose which is filled with internal rhymes. He said that he tried to match the rhythm of each entry with the bird itself, and that verbal dexterity pays off. This is a book which teaches us to contemplate.
April 18, 2026
For my fellow bird and nature lovers, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris created a beautiful field guide that asks not “what” but “who is that bird?”
It begins:
“There are seven wonders of Bird.”
What follows are 49 bird species, each with a short description and multiple paintings depicting their habits and habitats, how their lives intersect with ours, and how they are threatened my our modern world. Macfarlane poetically provides data, but also shares stories and folklore to help readers not just identify birds but to identify with the birds. His words are as much of a painting as Morris’ actual paintings of birds nesting, in flight, and more (the tawny owl!!).
The Book of Birds is exquisite, written as a love letter to nature. It reminded me of The Language of Trees, injecting a sense of wonder into my day every time I picked it up.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the eARC!
It begins:
“There are seven wonders of Bird.”
What follows are 49 bird species, each with a short description and multiple paintings depicting their habits and habitats, how their lives intersect with ours, and how they are threatened my our modern world. Macfarlane poetically provides data, but also shares stories and folklore to help readers not just identify birds but to identify with the birds. His words are as much of a painting as Morris’ actual paintings of birds nesting, in flight, and more (the tawny owl!!).
The Book of Birds is exquisite, written as a love letter to nature. It reminded me of The Language of Trees, injecting a sense of wonder into my day every time I picked it up.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the eARC!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
The Book of Birds is nothing short of a marvel, part field guide, part poem, part work of art, and wholly a celebration of the fragile, astonishing lives that share our skies.
Robert Macfarlane’s words are wonderful, lyrical, precise, and full of reverence for the natural world. He doesn’t simply describe birds; he invites us into relationship with them, asking not just what they are, but who they are. Each entry feels alive with movement, sound, and story, expanding beyond observation into something more intimate and essential.
But the real magic happens when Jackie Morris’ illustrations join those words on the page. Her artwork is breathtaking, delicate yet vivid, grounded in close attention but infused with a kind of quiet enchantment. Together, text and image create an experience that feels almost sacred, as though you are being asked to slow down, look closer, and remember what wonder feels like.
As a reader in the U.S., I haven’t encountered many of these particular species in real life, but that didn’t diminish the experience, in fact, it deepened it. I welcomed the chance to learn about birds beyond my immediate landscape, to see the shared threads of fragility, resilience, and beauty that connect them all. The book subtly reminds us that conservation is not local, it’s global, and it begins with attention and care.
I was lucky enough to read an ARC, but this is absolutely a book I will be buying and returning to again and again. It’s not just something to read once; it’s something to pore over, to revisit, to treasure. A future classic, and a powerful reminder that we will not save what we do not love.
Thank you to Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Co. for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on June 9, 2026.
Robert Macfarlane’s words are wonderful, lyrical, precise, and full of reverence for the natural world. He doesn’t simply describe birds; he invites us into relationship with them, asking not just what they are, but who they are. Each entry feels alive with movement, sound, and story, expanding beyond observation into something more intimate and essential.
But the real magic happens when Jackie Morris’ illustrations join those words on the page. Her artwork is breathtaking, delicate yet vivid, grounded in close attention but infused with a kind of quiet enchantment. Together, text and image create an experience that feels almost sacred, as though you are being asked to slow down, look closer, and remember what wonder feels like.
As a reader in the U.S., I haven’t encountered many of these particular species in real life, but that didn’t diminish the experience, in fact, it deepened it. I welcomed the chance to learn about birds beyond my immediate landscape, to see the shared threads of fragility, resilience, and beauty that connect them all. The book subtly reminds us that conservation is not local, it’s global, and it begins with attention and care.
I was lucky enough to read an ARC, but this is absolutely a book I will be buying and returning to again and again. It’s not just something to read once; it’s something to pore over, to revisit, to treasure. A future classic, and a powerful reminder that we will not save what we do not love.
Thank you to Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Co. for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on June 9, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
[I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
This is a truly beautiful and poetic book, filled with stunning vivid illustrations. About half of the birds featured are species from the Old World, which I personally loved.
The book is structured around seven chapters, each dedicated to a unique wonder of birds, such as song, flight, migration, and more. These sections are interwoven with poetic pieces about different bird species. As a birdwatcher, I especially appreciated that many of these birds are familiar and can be observed and photographed in real life.
You can really feel how much love and care went into creating this book. I would be very happy to have a physical copy in my library.
This is a truly beautiful and poetic book, filled with stunning vivid illustrations. About half of the birds featured are species from the Old World, which I personally loved.
The book is structured around seven chapters, each dedicated to a unique wonder of birds, such as song, flight, migration, and more. These sections are interwoven with poetic pieces about different bird species. As a birdwatcher, I especially appreciated that many of these birds are familiar and can be observed and photographed in real life.
You can really feel how much love and care went into creating this book. I would be very happy to have a physical copy in my library.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Oh gosh, I completely adored this.
We know from The Lost Words and The Lost Spells that when Robert Macfarlane’s words and Jackie Morris’ illustrations collide… some kind of alchemy happens.
The Book of Birds flies onto the shelves at bookstores very soon (it’ll be front and centre in mine if I have anything to do with it!) and I am so excited for everybody to discover it.
I was lucky enough to attend a special bookseller dinner with Rob and Jackie (thanks Hamish Hamilton) a few months back where I received an early copy of the book, and I have spent the last 3 months slowly meandering my way through it. Much like the rapid arrivals of the spring migrants at the moment, I couldn’t resist rushing through the latter sections over the past few days. Bird after bird, each just as stunning (and as stunningly portrayed) as the last.
Where Words and Spells sit somewhere between children’s writing on nature and poetry on our shelves, this one is pitched as a bird guide. I’ve acquired a few bird guides over the last few years, but none quite as beautiful as this - though the Readers Digest Book of British Birds, which I rescued from a charity shop for 50p, comes a close second.
It covers 49 species of bird that you might see in the UK (some more easily than others) - all of which are in trouble, with declining numbers in our country. Jackie’s unique art sits alongside Rob’s words. Rob might not use a paint brush but he paints such beautiful imagery with his words nonetheless. There is poetry and rhythm in his writing, as with Words and Spells, but here each bird has a slightly longer entry. They vary from bird to bird - they’re funny, heartfelt, full of folklore and of history, full of unashamed adoration for these magical creatures with which we are lucky to share the planet, and a helping of despair at the situation that they all find themselves in, so often through our own actions. The end of the book features ‘bird tables’ full of all sorts of marvellous facts and figures. Wait til you see the eggs. Can I say stunning again?
This is a book made for bird lovers - and a book that will make a bird lover of everybody else.
I am, once again, so incredibly thankful to have had an early copy to treasure, and I can’t wait to share it with readers.
My love of birds has really flourished in the last few years, and so much of that has genuinely been inspired by the work of Rob and of Jackie. I am *fairly* sure that they spent the last 7 years working on this book solely for me, but I hope that the rest of you will enjoy it too.
I cannot wait to see The Book of Birds soar!
We know from The Lost Words and The Lost Spells that when Robert Macfarlane’s words and Jackie Morris’ illustrations collide… some kind of alchemy happens.
The Book of Birds flies onto the shelves at bookstores very soon (it’ll be front and centre in mine if I have anything to do with it!) and I am so excited for everybody to discover it.
I was lucky enough to attend a special bookseller dinner with Rob and Jackie (thanks Hamish Hamilton) a few months back where I received an early copy of the book, and I have spent the last 3 months slowly meandering my way through it. Much like the rapid arrivals of the spring migrants at the moment, I couldn’t resist rushing through the latter sections over the past few days. Bird after bird, each just as stunning (and as stunningly portrayed) as the last.
Where Words and Spells sit somewhere between children’s writing on nature and poetry on our shelves, this one is pitched as a bird guide. I’ve acquired a few bird guides over the last few years, but none quite as beautiful as this - though the Readers Digest Book of British Birds, which I rescued from a charity shop for 50p, comes a close second.
It covers 49 species of bird that you might see in the UK (some more easily than others) - all of which are in trouble, with declining numbers in our country. Jackie’s unique art sits alongside Rob’s words. Rob might not use a paint brush but he paints such beautiful imagery with his words nonetheless. There is poetry and rhythm in his writing, as with Words and Spells, but here each bird has a slightly longer entry. They vary from bird to bird - they’re funny, heartfelt, full of folklore and of history, full of unashamed adoration for these magical creatures with which we are lucky to share the planet, and a helping of despair at the situation that they all find themselves in, so often through our own actions. The end of the book features ‘bird tables’ full of all sorts of marvellous facts and figures. Wait til you see the eggs. Can I say stunning again?
This is a book made for bird lovers - and a book that will make a bird lover of everybody else.
I am, once again, so incredibly thankful to have had an early copy to treasure, and I can’t wait to share it with readers.
My love of birds has really flourished in the last few years, and so much of that has genuinely been inspired by the work of Rob and of Jackie. I am *fairly* sure that they spent the last 7 years working on this book solely for me, but I hope that the rest of you will enjoy it too.
I cannot wait to see The Book of Birds soar!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I don't usually gravitate towards nonfiction, but this cover captured my attention. It's very readable due to the way it is organized. There was a balance of informative text and lovely, detailed illustrations. This would be a good addition to a personal or school library collection.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews