Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl. This new title by Stacey O'Brien (published in August of 2008) is the story of how O'Biren, a biologist, adopted a young injured barn owl, and kept and cared for the bird for 19 years.

This interesting and entertaining memoir provides insight into the lives of owls as well as the lives of people who work with animals.

The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Eastern and Central North America. This is an expansion on the great idea of combining a book and an audio bird song player. You have probably seen Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song, which came out in 2006.

This new version is a smaller (and less expansive) regional edition, intended for beginning birdwatchers. You will find bird songs for 75 common birds in your area, along with illustrations, range maps, and descriptions like you would find in a more traditional bird guide. There is also a Western North American version available.

Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America. This new field guide was just published in May of 2008. Written by the editor of Birding Magazine, this is an excellent guide for beginning birders. This guide places an emphasis on quality photography, providing at least two photos of each bird.

While this guide has shorter text descriptions than found in some other guides, the abundance of photographs more than makes up for that for those of us who are visually oriented. But, even though the descriptions may be less thorough in the discussion of rarer birds, this guide has everything you could want in a basic guide, including clear, informative descriptions and good range maps.

Plus, the special added bonus that comes with the Smithsonian Field Guide is a CD-ROM with 587 songs and calls for 138 birds species in mp3 format. The mps3 format means you can play them on your computer or load them onto your ipod or other mp3 player to take into the field with you.