You can't fully understand a place until you know the natives, and that includes the ones with feathers, suggests Oliver James in this guide to the birds of his native Berkeley. Along with a brief tutorial on getting started in birding, James provides striking, hyper-realistic illustrations of 25 species, including the Anna's hummingbird, the red-breasted nuthatch, black phoebe, the snowy egret, the burrowing owl, and the bufflehead. Each entry contains an informative, often witty text on how the bird has managed to adapt to Berkeley, plus information on the bird's specifications and song, and tips on identifying them.