Birds in the Sierra; trash takes over

Sierra Birds: A Hiker's Guide, written and illustrated by John Muir Laws. Calif. Academy of Sciences and Heyday Books, 64 pages. $9.95

The Day the Trash Came Out to Play, by David M. Beadle, illustrations by Laurie A. Faust, Ezra's Earth Publishing. $16.95

For both the novice and experienced birdwatchers, Sierra Birds: A Hiker's Guide would be a useful resource. The book's organization is user-friendly and its slim, lightweight size makes it easy to tote around in a full day pack or on multi-day backpacking trips.

The book first introduces water birds and raptors (hawks and owls), followed by all other birds based on the predominant color of their plumage: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, and gray/black/white. Pages are correspondingly color-coded at the edges to help the reader flip directly to the section they want. Birds are arranged in order of size under these color-coded groups.

A brief introduction at the beginning of the guide helps the beginner in identification basics like overall size, proportion of body parts in relation to each other (beak, neck, tail, legs, etc.), body shape, posture, behavior, and plumage color and pattern.

Cross-referenced pages in the beginning of the guide refer the experienced birder directly to the section he/she is interested in without thumbing through the color-coded pages. The author's large, full-color illustrations emphasize features that help in identifications. Descriptions are brief and simple, noting the types of habitat the bird is found in and specific behaviors to watch for. Overall, it's a handy addition to enrich your Sierran experience.

Author John Muir Laws is a naturalist, artist, and educator with a master's degree in wildlife biology. He has taught classes on ecology, biology, and illustration at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

'There is a town called Sutton Nash, a wonderful place to stay. Except for one time, not long ago, the day the trash came out to play.'

A carelessly tossed candy wrapper leads to a tidy village becoming windswept with liberated refuse, a big lesson for the boy who didn't put his candy wrapper where it belonged-in the trash can. How can the village recover its formerly clean, untarnished image? David Beale's book of poetic environmental education for children is entertaining for both young and adult audiences. It also teaches individual and group civic responsibility and pride, and in a larger sense, to 'reduce, reuse, recover, and recycle'.

Endorsed by the Keep California Beautiful campaign and the Sierra Club, The Day the Trash Came Out to Play targets pre-school and elementary school age children with colorful illustrations from cover to cover and simple, enjoyable verse.