Book Review: Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die, by Chris Santella

Every destination in Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die is home to somebody, but you would probably have to be a multimillionaire to see them all: the book covers prime locations in Ecuador, Greenland, Madagascar, New Guinea, and Trinidad, not to mention Sub-Antarctic islands, Ohio, and New Mexico’s famed Bosque del Apache. It is a beautifully produced book that I will probably keep for the photographs alone—the Helmet Vanga and the Ribbon-tailed Astropia are worth the price of admission by themselves. Anyone can visit at least one place, and you might get lucky; a trip on other business allows me to confirm that “Kazakhstan is one of the best places in the world to see Ibisbills.”