Birds of Arizona and New Mexico is a comprehensive field guide to commonly found birds in the region, including local favorites and rare curiosities. This full-color guide includes precise descriptions of voices, behaviors, and habitats and details the top birding sites across the American Southwest. Authors Melissa Fratello and Steven Prager speak to and for a new generation of birders, offering a unique perspective and approach to birding that prioritizes accessibility and inclusion. They also cover the region's unique issues, such as birding on tribal land, and birding along the Southern Border.
* Covers Arizona, New Mexico, and their border regions
* Describes and illustrates nearly 400 bird species
* Over 800 spectacular photographs of relevant plumages and birds in flight
* Individual range maps, showing seasonal and migratory patterns
* Easy to use for beginners and experts alike
Author Biography:
Melissa Fratello is an ardent southwest explorer, nature photographer, and illustrator. She has worked to advance a more equitable and approachable birding community through her efforts to establish Feminist Bird Club chapters in Tucson, Arizona and Buffalo, New York, and for the establishment of urban bird habitats through native plant restoration as Executive Director of Buffalo Audubon Society, where she kick-started the construction of an island in the Niagara River designated as habitat for breeding common terns. She has authored and contributed to publications for Buffalo Audubon, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the International Dark Sky Association, and as a communications professional, has put her writing prowess to work raising more than 8 million dollars for conservation efforts. A Certified Arizona Master Naturalist and President-Elect of Pima County Master Naturalists, she spends her time hiking through the far reaches of the Sky Island region supporting community science efforts, surveying for sparrow-sized elf owls, listening for the dog-like bark of elegant trogons, releasing broods of endangered masked bobwhites, and delighting in the biodiversity of the Sonoran desert.
​Steven Prager is a field biologist, science communicator, conservation advocate, and lifelong Arizonan. As a biologist and educator with Audubon Southwest, he has worked to engage people in conservation through storytelling, photography, community science, environmental advocacy, and hands-on habitat improvement projects. He has trained and organized volunteers in annual efforts to survey the federally threatened Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, engaged craft breweries in water advocacy through the Western Rivers Brewers' Council, and lead community bird walks for new and expert birders alike. He believes that the future of birds and other wildlife depends on broad participation in conservation, and that this cannot be achieved without addressing historic and ongoing environmental injustices and ensuring equitable access to healthy outdoor spaces. Steven has put in countless hours in the field and his community for the benefit of birds and their habitats. If he fails to identify a passing bird, it's because he got distracted by a snake.
