Birds Life Size: Up Close and Personal with 47 Bird Species

Written by Chris Earley

Firefly Books

978-0-2281-0487-2

112 pp.

Ages 9–12

Releases September 15, 2025

 

While many people got into birding during the pandemic, watching birds and studying their behaviours has long been a pastime of anyone who has a window or who steps outside. Regardless of whether we're enjoying urban or rural landscapes, wooded areas or open fields, there are birds that pepper our skies, our feeders, our balconies and allow us to glimpse their worlds from afar. This time, though, Chris Earley, a University of Guelph biologist and educator, brings us a little closer to seeing 47 different species of birds.

From Birds Life Size: Up Close and Personal with 47 Bird Species, written by Chris Earley

For each of these species, Chris Earley provides key info like the scientific name, size, habitat, diet, and location as well as migration movement. Several images are included but always one that is a life-size representation of the whole bird or a part of the bird for larger species. There is definitely a ton of information in info boxes, text and photographs but those photos that are deemed life size are perhaps the most compelling. Whether it's the head of a Trumpeter Swan, a portion of the American White Pelican's beak—the longest of North American birds—or the tiny body (13 cm) of the Elf Owl, the life-size depictions are the most fascinating.

From Birds Life Size: Up Close and Personal with 47 Bird Species, written by Chris Earley

In addition to the many profiles of birds, Chris Earley also includes information about how birds are classified, how they are measured, how they are studied, and even how to get into birding. 

From Birds Life Size: Up Close and Personal with 47 Bird Species, written by Chris Earley

The 47 species presented in Birds Life Size are all North American with the majority found in Canada. So, for any STEM lessons dealing with life cycles, adaptation, habitats and such in a Canadian school—and for any in American schools as well—Birds Life Size offers a visually-stunning and thorough presentation. It has the content to make it a comprehensive resource but also the visuals to captivate and perhaps even attract young readers, and their families, to launch their own birding pursuits.