1 comments about Finch Handbook, The (Barron's Pet Handbooks).

1. I'm in the middle of reading this book and so far, it's wonderful. It's an easy read with so many interesting facts about finches. My Star Finches will live happy now!!!!!!!!!

5 comments about Guide to the Senegal Parrot and Its Family.

1. If you are looking for a excellent guide to Senegal parrots, this is the one. I did my research and everything I found gave this book high ratings. After reading it, I know why! I utilized the information to aquire, hand feed and raise two Senegal parrots. The depth of knowledge this author gives can't be measured. I would definately buy from her again.



2. A very informative book on the Senegal parrot. Sometimes the information given seems to be the author's opinion not always fact. But it gives you a lot of information on the breed.



3. exuse me splling.it hard to tipe with just 4 tose..I now 75 year old..never had frend just human master..but now with internet I slowly learn how to buy everything onlin by waching my master. finaly I made my run for freedom..I gorged my master eyes out and then i extrectrecuted him when he went to wash his blood off...then i buy a senegal..them is hot hot birds..finally i going to get some with a reel bird and not no arm after 75 years. this book get me ready for day my lovely senegals arrives. I didnt know senegal likes to lie on back..hehehehe



4. This book gives great insight of not only the personalities, but the care and what to expect if you are wanting a Senegal. This book answered all my questions and more.



5. Excellent source of information. Easy to read.

5 comments about My Parrot, My Friend: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Behavior (Owner's Guides ( Pets )).

1. Parrots - from budgies to Hyacinth Macaws - are nothing like dogs and cats. For one thing, most of them outlive us. When you get a parrot, you get an individual with the smarts of a 5 year old kid who's emotionally stuck at 2. My Parrot, My Friend gives you all the insight you'll need to get started in and maintain a healthy relationship with your fid (feathered kid). In my 40 years as a parrot companion, this is the first book that I found having everything necessary to ensure you have the proper understanding of the committment needed - time, money, patience, more time, humor - to have a healthy, happy parrot.



2. This book is a good read in bringing one's common sense understanding of parrots in general. I was able to formulate a more educated sense when working with my parrots... basically it gives scientific, common sense information.
   
   A must for the home library.



3. This book was recommended by another bird site as the only book you will ever need to understand your bird. I think I was expecting too much. It reads a little like a clinical tome; too many words, too little said. Yet, the monochromatic photos and diagrams, editing errors, and misspelled words cause you to question the credibility.



4. This book is very thourough.
   I recently got it "out of the closet" and it helped my boyfriend understand my two goffins cockatoos much better.
   It's easy to read, entertaining, and full of useful information.
   Well worth the money.



5. Thinking about buying a pet bird? MY PARROT, MY FRIEND by B.M. Doane will not answer all your questions, but it will give you a broad overview of what to expect from various types of parrots. As the owner of ten parrots, I found little of specific interest about my own birds, I must rely on specialty books for that. However, if you know nothing, you will not know which specialty book to buy. For example, are you thinking about a small bird or a large bird? The author discusses generalized personality traits forgenuses of Psittadaceae( parrot family). Did you know that "budgies" (a.k.a. parakeets) and love birds were types of parrots?

   Coloration, characteristics such as an affectionate nature, and length of life differ across parrot genuses. According to Doane, while most Cockatoos like to be handled, most Cockatiels are not interested in human affection. The specially bred colors such as Lutino Cockatiels may not live as long as birds with the natural coloration. Budgies are most susceptible to cancer (all of them are predisposed to it apparently) and thus most budgies have relatively short life spans. The author provides very general information about how birds grow and develop and how you can work with your bird and encourage him to talk. Plenty of black and white photos.

2 comments about Backyard Bird Watching for Kids: How to Attract, Feed, and Provide Homes for Birds.

1. This is by far the best book for children and families on attracting birds to your yard. Chock-full of information that is presented in an appealing manner, this book covers a wide range of material to help children and families get started with backyard bird watching. Some of the more unique sections are a directory of plants providing food for birds, a table showing the types of seeds and food eaten by various bird species. There are lots of good color photos, and a variety of projects for children.



2. This is a neat book. I learned alot about what to feed the birds. I liked the pictures.

3 comments about Domestic Geese.

1. For people that want to know about geese, this is the book to get. It has excellent pictures and the terminolgy used is easy to understand .



2. I own this book and love it! Its the most complete guide to breeds of geese. You cant find a better book on geese anywhere!



3. This is by far the best and most complete book on the goose. It covers all breeds in depth and the deailed info on hatching geese it the best info to be found anywhere. This book is so complete that you do not even need any others.

5 comments about A Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them (Peterson Field Guides(R)).

1. I have quite a few birding books and have been birding for 30+ years. I feel that this book has been a key for improving my skills, more than any of the other books with the exception of the new Sibley guide and perhaps the old out of print "The Western Birdwatcher" by Zimmerman.
   
   Kuaffman's books taught me some key points that I still employ when checking the scaups, dowitchers, gulls and looking for Western Sandpipers among other difficult identifications. His succinct descriptions and comparitive sketches make it much more possible to know how to identify a juvenile Western Sandpiper as opposed to a Semipalmated Sandpiper. I found that I would often go back to this book rather than the other shorebird books I had. Another key section in the book is the coverage of identification tips for the Terns. I had always found it difficult to separate Forster's and Common in the field despite the seemingly easy differences in field guides. This book helped out with good wing pattern comparisons and other marks that were not included in the guides. The pattern drawings of the Terns and Shorebirds alone are worth the cost of the book.
   
   If you are ready to start on Iceland and Thayer's Gull or Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds you can't go wrong by getting Kauffman's Advanced Birding.



2. This is a great book for serious birders. It contains a great amount of important information that is well organized and helpful. This is a technical book that I would not recommend for the beginner, however, I found it practical in its structure and content.

   I strongly recommend this book. I held back from awarding a full five stars because I felt that their illustrations lacked a little "life" although experienced birders will probably not find this to be a problem.




3. I bought this book and the contents are very helpful in identifying birds. The problem is it has the information duplicated from pages 145 to 176, skipping from page 112. I have tried to exchange it with another one, but it had the same problem. I tried to do that for the third time, and now I am waiting for it. I hope it arrives with all the pages and no duplications.



4. This book rocks the house



5. This book is appropriate for anyone who wants to improve his bird identification skills, whether he is already "advanced" or not. Kaufman does an excellent job detailing how to go about identifying birds in many problem groups, such as accipiters, dowitchers, and fall warblers. In some cases the information amounts to helpful hints that will make identification a little easier (did you know that the nail on a Greater Scaup's bill is substantially larger than that on a Lesser Scaup's?). In others, the information is a practical necessity if you ever plan on unraveling the species in question (if you're trying to identify a Thayer's Gull without this or some even more esoteric work, forget it).

   My only quarrel with this book is that Kaufman sometimes places more emphasis on small field marks, and less on overall shape and other amorphous characteristics ("jizz," to the Brits), than I think appropriate. Otherwise, darned close to perfect.

5 comments about Gouldian Finches: Everything About Purchase, Housing, Care, Nutrition, Breeding, and Diseases.

1. Book has very good detailed info for breeding and keeping Gouldian Finches, recommended



2. If you've already studied all of the Gouldian Finch information on the Web, and now you're looking for a resource that will be more comprehensive and authoritative, then this is NOT the book for you. A simple Google search will easily unearth more information, and the Gouldians you will read about on the Web are far more robust than the seemingly suicidal birds described in this little volume. In fairness to the author, I'll add that this book was published in 1991, and much of the information on the Web was probably extrapolated from this author's pioneering work.
   
   A more petty grievance about this book is that the author deserved better editing by his publisher. Someone should have renovated all of the awkward sentences, the possessives without apostrophes, and the outright errors, such as where we're instructed to PALPITATE (instead of PALPATE) a bird's belly.



3. This book is very accessible, has solid information for the beginner or person who just got a bird and needs to quickly know the basics. The photos are lovely, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a good overview of gouldians.



4. If you are serious about raising these beautiful birds, this book is a must. It covers everything I needed to care for my Gouldians. The pictures are also quite nice. The section on genetics is very important for us who want to breed them, which is a lot of fun.



5. I found this book very interesting, and providing helpfull information for the average finch keeper. I have been raising and breeding exclusively gouldians for about 13 years now, so I find the genetics section in this book (though not VERY elaborate) of primordial importance. I also liked the vivid description of the nuptial dance, the sound and chirps etc... as well as the pictures. So, if to say, on a scale of ten, 1 being a very silly book and 10 an extensive genetical analyisis and nutritional guide for expert breeders, I give this book a well-earned 7.

4 comments about Taming and Training Cockatoos.

1. This is a well written book for the beginner Cockatoo owner. It has a lot of information that is important to know. Cockatoos are very different from the Macaws that I already own....which came as a surprise to me. I have not yet purchased a baby Cockatoo.....and after reading this book, I am not sure they are the bird for me. Just like I prefer Mules to horses.....and they are very different from eachother. If you are considering a Cockatoo......this is great reading. Enjoy!



2. This book don't have much on how to train your bird.It only tell you a few starter points if your bird is wild. Mostly has pictures of different type of cockatoos and telling about them, It also has about clipping wings and nails. If you want the basic of two steps in tamining and training this is the book for you. Too me the title don't go with this book !!



3. This book is a big waste of money! Personaly, I'm VERY supprised anyone published it! It doesn't tell you anything but what you already know from common sense, and it is extreamly repetive. It seems like the author didn't have enough things to say so she repeated herself so the book would be longer. Please don't waste your money on it!



4. Although it seemed that the photographer favored the Palm Cockatoo, all of the pictures were excellent. As to the rest of the book, I was very discourraged. There was only a short and very concise section at the end of the book that delt with "Taming and Training Cockatoos."

5 comments about How to Build Everything You Need For Your Birds: From Aviaries . . . To Nestboxes.

1. This is not for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to build a cage for his small parrot in the living room. It is for folks who want to build the equivalent of chicken coops in their back yards. I learned more about parrot toys searching the Inet.



2. I waited a long time to get this book and it was worth every moment. The designs are well thought out and easy for even the mechanically challenged to understand. The author has devised an aviary/cage system that can be increased or decreased at will, by adding or subtracting carefully yet simply designed panels. Each panel fulfills a particular function of the whole to form the basic unit and you can add unlimited units to form your ideal facility. This information is timeless and I am very pleased.



3. This book lays out a good set of plans for starting small and working your way up to as large a breeding operation as you like. I am adept at building small animal pens, and I've been doing so for several decades, on a hobby basis. I was still impressed with the simple brilliance of this book.



4. Potential purchasers of this booklet should be aware that the author is very serious about his birds. What he considers a "quite small" aviary, "for the aviculturist who has only restricted land area for his hobby", measures 11 by 16 feet. A "fairly large" one is 38 by 24 feet, complete with concrete foundation, plumbing, heating, electric lights, and 12 foot ceilings.
   If, like me, you are looking for ideas for a small backyard aviary for a few canaries, you should look elsewhere. This publication contains plans for only 6 aviaries. Four are far too large for the average suburban lot, unless you are willing to knock down your house first, and the other two are so rudimentary that plans are hardly necessary.



5. I needed a means by which to build aviaries for my birds. I have built one out of the book, and it is great. I'm most impressed with the bird "hospital" cage.. It works exactly as described. My first impression when I received the book was not that great. The drawings were clear, directions clear, but I guess on some level I expected something more than what looked like a college study packet from Kinko's. The designs in this book and the subsequent modifications I've made to them to fit my needs have been outstanding. One needs only a modicum of building expertise, a knucklehead can put the designes together. Highly recommended... again, this is coming from someone who has actually built items off the plans in the book. It's not a glitzy book, but doggon functional.

4 comments about The Click That Does The Trick: Trick Training Your Bird The Clicker Way.

1. Excellent book. Very easy to follow instructions on training parrots to do tricks. Well worth the money. Here's hoping I can follow through with my training techniques.



2. This is an excellent book for the beginner to expert parrot owner. It breaks down fun behaviors in to easy to understand steps. A fantastic resource for any parrot owner who is looking to enrich their parrot's life and build a trusting bond with their parrot through training. This is a book that I regularly recommend to my clients.



3. Clicker training all sorts of different animals has become very popular over the last few years. There are several books out on clicker training dogs, but The Click That Does The Trick by Robin Deutsch give instructions and ideas for clicker training birds.
   
   Robin starts off with the basics - understanding your bird, how birds may interpret the training process and how to use the clicker in training.
   
   Robin indicates that the first step is to condition your bird to the clicker. After that you can start training simple tricks. Robin gives several suggestions for tricks and for each one she indicates how easy or complicated it is as well as the size of bird that it will work best for.
   
   When first introducing a new trick, Robin tells us that each small step must be rewarded. She stresses that it is very important that every training session ends on a happy note.
   
   Some of the tricks require props, so Robin then gives instructions on how to make these props.
   
   Time and patience are a requirement whenever you set out to train your bird. If you have the time and patience and want to spend some quality time with your bird, you will find great ideas to help you in this book.



4. The Click That Does The Trick is an easy-to-use guide especially for exotic bird owners looking to train their pets to perform a wide variety of tricks, using a clicker as a training tool. From simple tricks such as extending or flapping wings, to more advanced or prop-related tricks such as playing dead in the owner's hands or ringing a bell, to advanced tricks like riding a scooter or using props to perform imitations of popular sports, The Click That Does The Trick walks the reader through a step-by-step process with explicit instructions and full-color photographs. The Click That Does The Trick emphasizes that exotic birds, from parrots are not fully domesticated animals like modern cats and dogs, and cannot be handled in precisely the same way due to their very strong natural instincts. Training must never force or frighten the bird, should be kept fun, and not all birds are suited to perform all tricks. A final section aids the reader in creating bird-sized props for the more elaborate prop-based tricks. Highly recommended for any bird owner interested in becoming better acquainted with his or her pet through training, and possibly even giving small performances to delight friends and family.