What do you think?
Rate this book
Birds of Ontario
This illustrated field guide helps readers identify, understand and appreciate the birds of Ontario. It contains full-colour illustrations and detailed descriptions of 318 species, with each account including information *Size * Status * Habitat * Nesting * Feeding * Voice * Similar species cross-referenced * Best sites for viewing * Range maps showing seasonal occurrences of the bird and migration routes. * Colour-coded header bars and a quick reference guide make finding information fast and easy. Also includes a glossary of terms and a birder's checklist. Technical review by Ross James, former Curator of Ornithology at the Royal Ontario Museum.
376 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 14, 2019
9/10
It occurred to me today, as I was running for this book for the nth time this month, that I'd never given Andy Bezener a proper "shout out" for such a fantastic field guide on Ontario birds.
This winter, more than most winters, I spent a lot of time bird watching from my kitchen window; watching the birds squabble, and peck and bicker and flap at each other, over the black oil bird seed that ostensibly is put out for them in the seasonal feeder (but in reality is just bribe "money" for me to catch their beauty, more closely on the wing.)
Without Andy's bird "poetry" there is so much I might have missed -- as this morning, for instance, not believing my eyes that we'd finally attracted a pileated woodpecker, in all his glory. (While these woodpeckers were a common sight of my childhood, where I live now they are rather more scarce ... to the point where I couldn't believe my eyes, and so had to double check with Andy!)
I've seen them all this winter: the red-headed, and the red bellied, and the yellow-bellied sapsucker and the downy one, and the hairy one ... each one distinguishable to me now because of Andy. Climate change has wreaked such havoc in our world that the birds are the true harbingers of our demise and our survival: showing up, out of season where they should never be, and amazing us by their resiliency.
And without Andy, I would have missed, over the course of the seasons, the American Wigeon and the Black Bellied Plover ... such names, evocative of poetry itself, and brings to me every time, out of all reason or explanation how:
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
A field guide that is able to evoke Hopkins is surely worthy of most honourable mention, at the very least.
It leaves me with the hope that the (barn) swallows may someday return to, if not Capistrano, ... at least to us, in the numbers they once did.
And if you think that Andy has not a bit of Hopkins's touch, consider his description of the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet,
The loud, rolling song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a familiar tune that echoes through Ontario's boreal forest in May and June. At that time of the year, the forest emerges from its long winter sleep, and the sound of cold wind blowing through conifer boughs is replaced by the joyful sound of of singing birds."
It occurred to me today, as I was running for this book for the nth time this month, that I'd never given Andy Bezener a proper "shout out" for such a fantastic field guide on Ontario birds.
This winter, more than most winters, I spent a lot of time bird watching from my kitchen window; watching the birds squabble, and peck and bicker and flap at each other, over the black oil bird seed that ostensibly is put out for them in the seasonal feeder (but in reality is just bribe "money" for me to catch their beauty, more closely on the wing.)
Without Andy's bird "poetry" there is so much I might have missed -- as this morning, for instance, not believing my eyes that we'd finally attracted a pileated woodpecker, in all his glory. (While these woodpeckers were a common sight of my childhood, where I live now they are rather more scarce ... to the point where I couldn't believe my eyes, and so had to double check with Andy!)
I've seen them all this winter: the red-headed, and the red bellied, and the yellow-bellied sapsucker and the downy one, and the hairy one ... each one distinguishable to me now because of Andy. Climate change has wreaked such havoc in our world that the birds are the true harbingers of our demise and our survival: showing up, out of season where they should never be, and amazing us by their resiliency.
And without Andy, I would have missed, over the course of the seasons, the American Wigeon and the Black Bellied Plover ... such names, evocative of poetry itself, and brings to me every time, out of all reason or explanation how:
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
A field guide that is able to evoke Hopkins is surely worthy of most honourable mention, at the very least.
It leaves me with the hope that the (barn) swallows may someday return to, if not Capistrano, ... at least to us, in the numbers they once did.
And if you think that Andy has not a bit of Hopkins's touch, consider his description of the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet,
The loud, rolling song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a familiar tune that echoes through Ontario's boreal forest in May and June. At that time of the year, the forest emerges from its long winter sleep, and the sound of cold wind blowing through conifer boughs is replaced by the joyful sound of of singing birds."
March 8, 2021
Birding has suddenly gone from fringe hobby to cliché. Do you have the Merlin App on your phone? Are you registered on eBird? What warblers have you spotted during the spring migration? You need a good bird book for the backyard. Birds of Ontario isn’t exactly a global resource but you gotta bird where you gotta bird right now. We like using the technique from my wife's grandmother: Keep a good pen in the book at all times. (Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint is my fave.) Then write down the date and location of the bird you saw right beside the picture. Turn that bird book into a weathered bird journal that adds character to your shelves.
June 25, 2025
As a person who thirsts for wisdom, to understand the world around them, this is a great resource; it's basically a bird bible (for Ontario, local).
The different species are grouped together in "chapters" based on similarities of size, behaviour, habitat, etc. Dictionary definitions are humourously descriptive and strikingly entertaining with cool, neat little facts you might not ever have cared to know, like "When flocks of White-rumps and other sandpipers take to the air, they often defecate in unison. This nervous evacuation might benefit the birds by reducing their weight for takeoff.". I'm thinking, "it's gotta be a cultural thing". It's fun flipping open to random pages looking for the weirdest picture or description you can find. I mean, the author really calls a Dunling, a "droopy-billed shorebird", lmao.
Retiring as a bathroom reader until I have the time (and resources) to spend on #birding. I'll still write in my #birdjournal to record names as they come.
The different species are grouped together in "chapters" based on similarities of size, behaviour, habitat, etc. Dictionary definitions are humourously descriptive and strikingly entertaining with cool, neat little facts you might not ever have cared to know, like "When flocks of White-rumps and other sandpipers take to the air, they often defecate in unison. This nervous evacuation might benefit the birds by reducing their weight for takeoff.". I'm thinking, "it's gotta be a cultural thing". It's fun flipping open to random pages looking for the weirdest picture or description you can find. I mean, the author really calls a Dunling, a "droopy-billed shorebird", lmao.
Retiring as a bathroom reader until I have the time (and resources) to spend on #birding. I'll still write in my #birdjournal to record names as they come.
May 29, 2022
Excellent reference guide I’ve been using for years and just realized it needed a review on goodreads. Thanks to this book, I am someone who is more of a bird “authority” and recognize new birds each spring due to the changing migration patterns from climate change.
August 7, 2023
I cannot stress how good this guide is. The pictures are stunning and the details cover every quick bit of info you need to know about a species. I’m obsessed! I’ve been calling it my bird book because it covers Ontario birds so well!
February 5, 2022
Very high quality printing, and very thorough read
April 11, 2013
Liked this book , but not as thorough as as my A field Guide to Birds east of the Rockies Roger tory Peterson 4th edition.. nothing compares! but still a nice book
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews