Fifty Birds of Town and City by Bob Hines is a beautiful full-color identification guide published by the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service available for free download. This beautifully illustrated book covers the fifty most common birds in the United States listed alphabetically.
Interestingly, when the book was first published in the early 1900s it was titled “Fifty Birds of Farm and Orchard.” The original was illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. The reissue was retitled to reflect a more urban population and was illustrated by Bob Hines. You’ll find the list of fifty birds varies depending on which edition you are viewing. Part of this is due to an updating in common names.
Fifty Birds of Town and City is an excellent edition to our free nature studies — and it’s free!
Free eBook
- Read online
- Various formats (Kindle, EPUB)
Suggestions
- Well, you knew it was coming…. Create a notebook! This book is an ideal spine for creating a bird notebook with birds common to most areas.
- Use the beautiful illustrations provided by visiting the “Various formats” link above, clicking on the HTML version, and right-clicking on the images to save and print them. Or just print from the PDF.
- How many of the birds listed can your child spot?
- Can he recognize their calls?
Additional Resources
Fifty Favorite Birds Coloring Book
Dover Nature Coloring Book based on Fifty Birds of Town and City by Bob Hines. Great addition!
First Book of Birds {Free eBook}
Wonderful introduction to everything birds.
Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
A great “living book” approach to add for those with time and interest. The Burgess Bird Book for Children is also available as a free download.
Audubon: A Unit Study
All kinds of bird resources including coloring pages, notebooking pages, activities, and more!
Nature Journal Notebooking Sets {Free Download}
Free set of pages to make creating a bird notebook easy.
Bird Facts
Or use this more specific notebooking page from HomeschoolNotebooking.com that includes space to record the name of the bird, information on its habitat, how to recognize the bird, the food it eats, and where it nests. There is a map with a symbol key for recording the bird’s range (year round, summer, and winter) and room for a picture/photo of the bird.
Free Nature Studies: Our Wonderful World
This title goes well with the bird portion of our free nature studies.
- Hunting Birds With Eyes & Camera
General introduction that explains how to study and identify birds and looks at various types of birds and their anatomy. - Bird Guardians
Focuses on owls and other “guardian” birds and the migratory habits of birds. - Landlord to the Birds
How to feed, care for, and shelter birds.
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