Book: Birds of Montana

Bird books are like opinions and posterior apertures—everyone, it seems, has one. And sifting through the gaggle of options can be a tedious, untidy process, after which you may want to abandon bird-watching altogether. Not so with Stan Tekiela’s Birds of Montana (Adventure Publications, $15), an austere, easy-to-read guide that fits in a pocket, glove box, pack, wherever. This book is for the casual avian admirer who simply wants to know the name and basic traits of a particular bird. No highfalutin taxonomic derivations; no detailed discussions of migration nuances and subspecies variation. Just a big photo on one side, and a page of information on the other—which, of course, is all that most of us need.