Last week I read about artist Walter Kitundu's San Francisco International Airport installation, "Bay Area Bird Encounters." This work combines music, art, and natural history in an interactive mural with accompanying xylophone benches, and I do wish that I could visit it. Reading about it reminded me of Abby Glassenberg's Handmade Crafternoon appearance last month, and how inspiring birds in art can be. I'm happy that it's reminded me to share the list of inspiring books I selected for browsing at Abby's event.

I've organized the titles below (each title links to its record in the catalog so you can find out more about it). My favorite books in this list were those by artists Eric Fitch Daglish and Hanneline Visnes. But I also appreciated finding out more about the art of bird carving and about the lives of urban pigeons. I hope that these works fuel your own avian creativity. And if you've seen Kitundu's interactive mural, please tell us about it in the comments!

Birds in Art:

• The larger birds / by Eric Fitch Daglish.
• The smaller birds / by Eric Fitch Daglish.
• John Scheeler, bird carver / Roger Schroeder.
• Birds : the paintings of Terance James Bond.
• Big book of bird illustrations / selected and arranged by Maggie Kate.
• Bird on a wire : the life and art of Guy Taplin / Ian Collins ; location photography: Andrew Montgomery ; art photography: Robert Cotton.
• Afterwards, in the blank wood / Hanneline Visnes.
• Birds of the Chesapeake Bay / paintings by John W. Taylor with natural histories and journal notes by the artist.
• Birds in wood and paint : American miniature bird carvings and their carvers, 1900-1970 / Joseph H. Ellis.
• Songbird carving/ Rosalyn Leach Daisey ; illustrated by Sina Patricia Kurman.
• The birds of America / John James Audubon. With a foreword and descriptive captions by William Vogt.
• Bird portraits / Ernest Seton-Thompson, with descriptive text, by Ralph Hoffmann.
• From marsh to mountain : the art of Harry Curieux Adamson / by Diane K. Inman ; with an introduction by David A. Maass.

Birds and animals:

• Birds in the street; the city pigeon book, by Winifred and Cecil Lubell.
• Feathers, plain and fancy. Written and illustrated by Hilda Simon.
• Animal X-rays, a skeleton key to comparative anatomy. By Brenda Putnam.
• State birds / illustrations by Arthur Singer and Alan Singer ; text by Virginia Buckley.
• The Medieval book of birds : Hugh of Fouilloy's Aviarium / edition, translation and commentary by Willene B. Clark.
• The giant golden book of birds; an introduction to familiar and interesting birds of the world / Robert Porter Allen. Designed and illustrated by Arthur Singer. Consultant: Oliver L. Austin, Jr.

Making stuffed animals and toys:

• Toys To Sew by Charlotte L. Davis and Jessie Robinson.
• The care and feeding of stuffed animals / by Glen Knape ; photographs by Jeanne Hamilton.