Comments on: Eastern Phoebes Through the Years – Pages From Old Bird Guides

By: Amber Coakley

Amber Coakley — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:24:25 +0000

Thanks, Larry. You know, I was using my 1.7 teleconverter that day – there was plenty of light, allowing for wide-open aperture and fast shutter speed. Still, the pics lose something with the teleconverter. I’ve taken it off and am going to spend some time without it to see how the pics turn out. I’ve done this before, but I keep going back and forth.

If you’re like me, once you start looking for the old bird guides, you can’t stop!

By: Amber Coakley

Amber Coakley — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:21:00 +0000

Yes! I love that old book smell. Such treasures. Ontario…Brrr!

By: Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:04:22 +0000

Fantastic shots of the Eastern Phoebe Amber! The second one is tack sharp and I love the mid-chirp capture. The different bird books you share are spectacular! I recently was able to read some of an 1870 edition of an ornithology book (I quoted it in my blog post on the Burrowing Owl) and I was amazed at the great descriptions of birds they gave in that reference. These older books shed light on what people thought of the birds back when folks had more time to really study them. They are a real window into the past and I think I will start looking for them in old book stores myself. They are fascinating.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:10:52 +0000

Fun post! I remember these books, except for Lambert & Pearson. Inevitably there were old, delapidated copies in the various nature houses I worked in over the years. Reading your post, I can even remember the musty smell of them.

We had Eastern Phoebes nesting under the eaves of our cottage in Ontario when I was a wee tot. Loved them.