Favorite Bird Books for Children

A beautiful and simple tale of a young girl who goes “owling” with her father one night in winter. Owl stories always seem to contain a bit of magic and this one does not disappoint. Owl Moon is easily one of my favorite children’s books, not just favorite bird book.

Follow Mr. and Mrs. Mallard as they figure out how best to care for their 8 ducklings in the bustling city of Boston. A fun tale containing the best kind of human-animal friendships. The simple line illustrations are perfection.

A charming story about Babushka, who wants to enter an egg-decorating contest (in traditional Ukrainian style), and an injured goose she cares for named Rechenka, who plays her own part in the contest.

A classic tale about some gullible bird friends (Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurky) that get outsmarted by a Fox. Paul Galdone is a favorite for these types of classic tales — see also The Little Red Hen.

The author of Owl Moon wrote On Bird Hill, On Duck Pond, and On Gull Beach for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Each of these three books does a wonderful job exploring birds in their natural habitats through a child’s viewpoint.

A playful book that introduces a variety of birds and includes counting along with a look-and-find element that is perfect for young preschoolers!

Nicola Davies has a talent for combining narrative with facts & information. Kids can follow this sweet story of a girl who keeps track of her neighborhood ducks but also learn about Mallards along the way.

You might be surprised I’m including and Elephant & Piggie book in my list, but I love how simple and funny this is and it still manages to introduce even the youngest readers to the lifecycle of birds (though, it happens MUCH quicker in this book, obviously).

A lyrical story follows children as they listen to the calls of a variety of birds they encounter.

A charming story of a young girl participating in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Readers follow Ava as she learns the logistics and helps keep track of the bird count (readers can follow along the tally in a sidebar–a brilliant added detail!). A wonderful story that brings charm into citizen science, and will invite children to hone their own observation skills and take a closer look at the birds around them.

A gorgeously illustrated lyrical story of a starling murmuration. Counting up from 1 to 10 and more, the murmuration builds. This is so much more than a simple counting book and will invite a wide range of ages from around 0 to 8 to enjoy this simple wonder of nature.

A fantastic book for learning the very beginnings of bird identification! The little girl in the story goes birding with her father and learns how to be more attune to different sizes, shapes, colors, and markings of birds.

An absurdly cute story of three baby owls as they discuss where their mother went one night (to hunt for food for them, of course).

A sparse text (mostly wordless) picture book depicting a lovely friendship between bird and man. A book that feels like it needs hours to sink in after you read it — and I hardly can get through it without crying!

A fun way to introduce the variety of nesting birds through a rhyming story and inviting illustrations. A nice variety of birds are represented. There is also included on each page a bit of extra facts to go back and learn about.

This is a simple tale of a bird building a nest — great for the youngest readers. Cute and fun with illustrations that are not meant to be realistic.

Another Nicola Davies (see Just Ducks! above) — the wonder of owls is represented so nicely through story, but the book also includes true facts to glean.

A lovely story that takes us through the lives of Barn Owls that live in a 100+ old barn and repeat the same rituals for their livelihood that their ancestors di.

True to any Arnold Lobel story, these stories of Owl at Home are utterly charming and hilarious. What a fun friend to have through story!

An imaginative little girl spends her day with a variety of birds, pretending to be like them and their unique characteristics. The illustrations are vivid and Ivy is certainly a fun girl to spend some time with.

Lali find a random feather in a field and sets out to find out where it came from and to bring it home. She asks a wide variety of birds if the feather is theirs. I love this book, set in an Indian village, because it shows kindness and treasuring the present.

Learn real information about birds through story. Thornton Burgess is just the best — on any “living book” must-read list for sure.

For all the kids who have dreamed about flying. The line illustrations are wonderful enough to earn a Caldecott honor, but the story told through prose is equally notable.

A lovely introduction to birds for kids. Provides general information about birds in a fun way and dives deeper in to a range of bird species throughout the world. I think there could be more here, but overall this is fun and engaging! The kids love all of Yuval Zommer’s “Big Book” books.

This is a gorgeous and engaging educational read that features highlights of birds as well as their nests and eggs. I love the format of this book and how the information is presented in such an interesting way.

I love all the Crinkleroot books but this one is my favorite. It’s just a really fun way to present a learning topic to children–by following a trusted guide (a gnome named Crinkleroot who was born in a tree and raised by bees)

A fantastic resource for bird lovers! The amount of information presented on a given bird species is fun and inviting to read.

This book has a lot of content — stories, poems, quotes, real facts about specific birds, information to learn about birds as a whole. A great reference to have around. It also uses real photos!

About the simplest book version of what a bird is out there. The illustrations are lovely and I think this is so great for the youngest readers. Cathryn Sill has a whole series of “About” books for the natural world worthy of checking out as well!

A fun introduction to birds! I love the diversity of birds represented and this is a fun an engaging read.

An A to Z book that includes charming and amusing illustrations. Great for preschoolers learning their alphabet!

A lovely account of the life of Audubon and his contribution to the world of ornithology.

Love the illustrations and the way the story is presented here on the citizen science practice of bird counts!

Louis Fuertes was an ornithologist inspired by Audubon to paint his own artwork based on birds. The illustrations in this book are stunning, realistic, and engaging. The text is all written in prose. It’s a beautiful book that pays a nice tribute.

This book is just a must-have for any young naturalist’s library. The illustrations are just beautiful and the poetic language is engaging. Along the journey, real facts are included to learn more.

Similar to above — just a super engaging way to explore the beauty and wonder of eggs!

Explores a wide variety of materials and function of bird nests. There is a decent amount of text here so A Nest Is Noisy would be better for younger readers. One thing I absolutely love about this book is the map provided at the back showing where all the birds represented in this book live.

Another beautiful introduction to a wide variety of bird nests! The style here is a bit more playful than A Nest Is Noisy.

This book is out of print but an excellent read! The narrative  (in prose) takes you through a range of nest types and even include a detailed nest identification guide in the back of the book! The guide specifies which birds are featured in the story and gives more detail about the nests and location.

A reference guide that’s not meant to be thorough — only 15 birds are represented. That said, this is such a great reference for kids if you are learning about any of the species in here.

I love this book so much! The diversity of beak adaptations are well-represented and detailed.

A simpler version of Beaks! by Sneed B. Collard III — just less text overall but still does an excellent job covering the subject matter. It’s out of print and hard to come by!

Simple text and illustrations — a fun introduction to the diversity of bird feet! Contains a nice summary table in the back of the book.

Similar format to Beaks! — lots of great detail provided on the topic. Note that other animals with wings are represented.

This is a fantastic book on feathers! The illustrations are wonderful and I think all the information is presented in a meaningful way. New vocabulary terms are well defined. A nice variety of bird species are represented.

House Wren, American Goldfinch, Red-Winged Blackbird, Killdeer, House Finch, Great Horned Owl, Blue Jay, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove

Red Crossbill, Hermit Thrush, Black-Capped Chickadee, Common Loon, Red-Eyed Vireo, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Purple Finch, Barred Owl, Wild Turkey, Downy Woodpecker

Bird sounds are presented by habitat — Rainforest, Mountains, Desert, Prairie, Woods, Ice, Wetlands, City, Ocean, Bush

Love the diversity represented here — so many birds to learn about!

Loons, Grebes, Mergansers, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Canada Geese, Gulls, Herons

Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Owls, Vultures, Herons, Egrets, Pelicans, Loons, Cormorants, Gannets

A few life-size fold-out pages are includes. Excellent life-like illustrations!

For narratives about owls: Owl Moon, Owl Babies, White Owl, Barn Owl, The Barn Owls

For narratives about owls: Owl Moon, Owl Babies, White Owl, Barn Owl, The Barn Owls

For narratives about ducks: Make Way For Ducklings, On Duck Pond, Just Ducks!

Grosbeaks, Buntings, Gray catbird, Hummingbirds, Orioles, Tanagers, Wren, Swallows, Eastern Phoebe, Bluebirds

Tips on attracting birds to your yard.

Chickadees and Titmice, Cardinal, Blackbirds, Carolina Wren, Thrushes, Sparrows and Juncos, Rufous-sided Towhee, Jays, Crows, and Magpies, Finches