 | Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney
Buy used from: $70.98 Simply the finest shorebird paintings in any field guide, and the coverage of Nearctic waders excells that in any NA guide.
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 | Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East by Lars Jonsson
Buy used from: $43.50 Absolutely unique: a field guide by an artist. The waders are breathtaking.
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 | The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley
Buy new: $26.37 / Used from: $15.90 Far better than National Geographic for shorebirds.
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 | National Geographic Field Guide To The Birds Of North America, 4th Edition by National Geographic Society
Buy used from: $0.83 Not as useful as Sibley for this group, but just for fun, check out Limnodromus in each of the 4 editions.
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 | Sibley's Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $4.40 The clear illustrations and discussions of wader plumage and topography will benefit more than just beginning birders.
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 | Stokes Beginner's Guide to Shorebirds by Donald Stokes
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $3.92 Rather to my surprise, I like this little booklet a lot. Without being simplistic, it goes a long ways toward demystifying the waders for new birders or shorebirders.
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 | Shorebirds: An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World by John Marchant
Buy used from: $49.82 Even nearly twenty years after its publication, a stunning and wonderful book. It is worth looking for a copy of the first hardcover edition; the plates in the PUP paperback are noticeably less crisp
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 | The Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes of the World by Paul A. Johnsgard
Buy used from: $8.83 Excellent on behavior and range; identification information is sparse and out-of-date, and there are errors in the photograph captions. Highly recommended nevertheless.
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 | Photographic Guide to the Shorebirds of the World by David Rosair
Buy used from: $2.61 A handy gallery of images, including many rare and little-known species.
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 | Shorebirds of North America: The Photographic Guide by Dennis Paulson
Buy new: $19.77 / Used from: $10.98 Probably the best volume to carry into the field. No maps and little information on behavior, but the identification material is current and surprisingly thorough. A must-have for the serious birder
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 | Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest by Dennis Paulson
Buy used from: $2.77 An excellent resource, and useful far beyond the geographic limits of its title.
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 | A Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them (Peterson Field Guides Series) by Kenn Kaufman
Buy new: $12.92 / Used from: $1.26 Still indispensable as an approach to the most difficult identification problems.
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 | Birding in the American West: A Handbook (Comstock books) by Kevin J. Zimmer
Buy new: $29.95 / Used from: $0.58 A favorite for all birding, and excellent treatments of a number of difficult species.
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| The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification by Alan Harris
Buy used from: $46.90 Outstanding for stint/peep identification, and of use in America and Europe.
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 | The Macmillan Birder's Guide to European and Middle Eastern Birds: Including North Africa by Hadoram Shirihai
Buy it if you can find it! Sand plovers, peep, snipe, and curlews are all difficult ABA-area groups treated with completeness and subtlety here.
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| Eskimo curlew: Numenius borealis (The birds of North America) by Robert E Gill
BNA is now available online for a ridiculously low annual subscription fee.
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 | The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior by David Allen Sibley
Buy used from: $15.87 An excellent orientation to shorebirds as a group; read this, then Kaufman's Lives.
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 | Lives of North American Birds (Peterson Natural History Companions) by Kenn Kaufman
Buy used from: $1.14 Concise and convenient discussions of each species of North American bird; sort of a poor man's BNA. A book to relish.
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| The Wind Birds (The Curious Naturalist) by Peter Matthiessen
Buy used from: $0.01 A bargain, nicely written and informative. Updated with a Foreword by Kevin Zimmer.
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 | Shorebirds: Beautiful Beachcombers by Arthur Morris
Buy new: $19.95 / Used from: $5.98 Some stunning photographs (as expected!); not all are labeled, requiring some flipping between the photo index and the images.
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| Facts on File Field Guide to North Atlantic Shorebirds: A Photographic Guide to the Waders of Western Europe and Eastern North America by Richard J. Chandler
Buy used from: $1.08 A great resource, but probably doomed to obscurity with the publication of Paulson's new guide.
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| Yellowlegs by John Janovy
Buy used from: $0.01 The fictional account of a single Lesser Yellowlegs's life and death--but a book about much more. The cover painting is really wonderful.
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