This book is a wealth of knowledge for any bird lover and I found it completely fascinating. I haven't truly bird-watched in years but this book is reigniting my fascination for theses beautiful and sometimes complex creatures. I feel the love and anticipation of the author as she shares her daily moments watching birds as they feed and interact with other native birds around them. The daily documentation is impressive and well presented.

This book fills me with happiness as I look at the pictures and makes me nostalgic for years past when I anxiously watched and waited for birds in my own yard, or when I was hiking or taking nature walks. I truly enjoyed reading this book and I feel any bird lover will enjoy it as well. I received this book from NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield Stackpole Books for an honest review.

The drama of the lives of birds told in superb fashion, this is a must read for nature lovers in all forms.

How Birds Behave is an impressive year-long and month by month journal that details the birds, their behaviors, and their peculiarities that the author, Sharon Sorenson, has observed. A majority of these sightings take place in her backyard and on her property in Indiana. She also includes a list of birds she spots as well as the number of birds she observes. The observations she makes are easy to read for those of us who are nowhere near the professional birder Ms Sorenson is.

This is definitely not a book that you will want to read in one or even a couple of sittings. The material, while interesting, is quite dense and it should be read over a period of time. Maybe even just one or two entries a day would work for many readers. The photographs that are included with the journal are stunning and certainly add to the overall enjoyment of the text, although I wish there had been more of them.

While I’m impressed with the author’s knowledge and attention to detail, this is probably a book that will appeal mostly to more serious birders than myself. Furthermore, since it concentrates on birds in the author’s specific area, it may not be as appealing to some readers in other parts of the country.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

When I first started reading this book, I was annoyed with the author's conversational writing style. I quickly changed my mind. Her daily observations of the birds in her yard over a single year are springboards for her to share her wide ranging knowledge about the day's visitors. I quickly became fascinated and raced through the book. Her delight is infectious. I ended the book wanting to learn much more about the visitors to my own yard.
Thanks to NetGalley and Stackpole Books for the early read.

This book is really hard for me to review, I was expecting something I just didn't get. As a birder and backyard bird feeder, I really found nothing to help me advance by backyard bird habitat, but I can say the work she put in this book is priceless.

This lady has spent a lot of time journaling her backyard birds, but not everyone lives in her climate and not everyone has the land that she describes seeing all of the backyard birds she has, so keep this in mind when you are reading.

I really enjoyed reading her day by day bird count and I love the image she would add each day of a bird most people will never see. I can say I would give anything to live where she is, just to be able to see theses vast bird species she sees, but like normal people, I live in an older subdivision which does give me a bit of land to be able to have backyard birds so I consider myself lucky, but a lot of people don’t have what I have. I was looking for something more in this book, like what bird kind of feed she puts out for the birds, what kind of birdhouses or feeders she uses and I never found it but then I did give up reading when I got to August.

I think I would suggest this book to those that love birds but they live in places where there is wall to wall houses. This book would show them what life can be like on a bit of land.

How Birds Behave is a year long diary documented by Sharon Sorenson. Due out 1st Feb 2020 from Rowman & Littlefield on their Stackpole imprint, it's 424 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This charming book is arranged chronologically throughout a year of bird watching and interaction. It's written in a chatty and personal style, peppered with the author's small encounters with the local birds in her garden. The book is also liberally sprinkled with photographs showing the birds in situ and interacting, eating, etc.

This is not an in-depth scientific journal, there is no taxonomy involved, and the author uses the local common names for the species she encounters as well as chatty entries about the weather, local plants and conditions at the time. I found it charming and very interesting, readers looking for education about specific species in a more scientific way will likely be disappointed.

The book does include an extensive cross referenced index with entries about specific species she mentions as well as people and bird behaviors.

I found myself opening up and reading this one when I was sitting by my 'bird TV' window watching 'my' birds at our feeding stations. It's a very warmly, compassionately, and enthusiastically written book by a long time bird watcher.

Four stars.

I was e terribly disappointed in this book. I expected more pictures and more information on different birds. I was disappointed on all levels. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Very disappointing book. When I think of bird books, I think lots of pictures. Not so in this one. There were a few pictures, but nothing spectacular. It was more of a diary of her bird experiences each day, and info about the birds. Not a book for me, but it could be for others. Although, I must say, it did inspire me to try and do what she has done...to record my daily bird/hike experiences, and not that anyone will ever read my journal, I will include a lot of pictures. Final thought: an inspiring book about bird behavior.

This is a great book! So much of bird watching is observational, but it can be hard to know what to look for. Following along with the author for a day by day review of the birds in her yard was meditative, informative, and encouraged the reader to take a few extra moments to truly see the birds in their backyard, or at the park. This book can enrich life long after the book has been read.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How Birds Behave by Sharon Sorenson is an amateur as well as a professional birdwatcher's delight! I took my time reading the passages documenting all the sightings and behaviour pattens. The writing was, in places, almost poetic. It was a balm for my stressed out soul!

This book would make an excellent gift - I know I would be thrilled to receive it! The pictures are vivid, beautiful and awe-inspiring. Nature is so wonderful - and this author has captured it all with her keen eye and knowledgeable descriptions.
Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley, Rowan and Littlefield, and Stackpole Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This lovely book provides 365 days worth of information and musings on the birds that visit the author's yard in Indiana. Through these daily entries, we learn about the behaviour of numerous species of birds and the influence food sources, habitat, weather, climate change, and migration habits have on different birds. Interspersed throughout are interesting facts and quotes about birds as well as beautiful full colour photographs. The author is very knowledgeable and her deep love for birds shines through in the depth of attention she pays to the subject.. Even though I live far from Indiana in Canada, I found there were species our yards had in common and there was much to glean about bird behaviour that could be applied to any area. For example, the importance of planting varied native plants and trees to attract local birds. This book would make a perfect gift for the bird lover in your life!

This book is a wonderful read for bird lovers. Sorenson takes the reader day-by-day through a year as a bird watcher in her yard and at birding locations near her Indiana home. Each day has descriptions of what is going on at her feeders, generally about specific species of birds and their unique lives. Nearly 150 species of birds visit her yard over the course of the year, and she talks at length about their habits, diets and challenges.

Sorenson has been a nature reporter for several decades and it shows. She writes well and clearly loves her subjects. Beautiful color photos fill just about every page with close up shots of hundreds of birds.

The book is divided into chapters by month, with an entry every month of the year. There are sidebars that tell interesting facts about birds.

This would make a great gift for bird watchers, especially in the midwest.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I am by no means an expert birder, but I also enjoy watching my outdoor pets at the feeder. have some of the same birds as Ms. Sorenson, so I'm guessing she much be in a zone similar to mine. I enjoy reading about other's experiences, though some might find it a dull read. I'm thinking this book is going to appeal to the backyard birders. The one's who put out food for the birds (and squirrels and chipmunks) daily and then sit back with a cup of coffee or two, and enjoy watching the antics unfold before their eyes! I've learned quite a bit over the years, doing only this. I never even knew we HAD dark eyed juncos until I saw the strange little bird peeping out from under a bush to nibble at seeds and peanut butter bread tossed by other birds! Good book, Ms. Sorenson! I enjoyed it a bit every afternoon!