New Book: Birds of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska

I just noticed that Buteo Books is advertising the sale of Birds of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, by Daniel D. Gibson and G. Vernon Byrd. This is “Series in Ornithology Number 1,” the first volume of a new monograph series that is being jointly published jointly by the Nuttall Ornithological Club and the American Ornithologists’ Union.

I had the distinct honor of being asked to serve as one of the peer-review editors for this volume, and was not hesitant in offering the following words of praise on the dust-jacket:

This book is destined to become the seminal treatise on the avifauna of this transition zone between Asia and North America. It will serve as an invaluable reference for anyone with an interest in the birds that reside on or pass through these windswept islands and surrounding waters, including birders, biogeographers, and conservation biologists . . .

The Aleutian Islands have become a mecca for North American birders seeking out the endemic avifauna of the Aleutians, but especially the rare Asian migrants that appear with notable regularity on these remote islands during spring and fall migrations. If you have any interest at all in the birdlife of the Aleutians, you will want to have this treatise on your bookshelf.