Longtime Bismarck birder Ken Johnson has written another book about one of his favorite subjects.

"Amazing, Incredible Birds" is the retired physician's second book about birds and birding and follows his 2005 softcover book, "85 Years Birding: Adventures and Learning."

Although he has included some chapters from his first book in "Amazing, Incredible Birds," it's "mostly new," he said Friday during an interview.

"Igot inspired seeing all of these interesting things about birds that no one has written about," said Johnson, who has birded most of his life. He was born in 1916.

His passion for birds and birding has taken him to all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces, and he quit adding birds to his his life list when his count reached "more than 660 or 670" bird species.

"The experts kept changing the birds," he said, explaining that too often two species were created from a single species.

And in those pursuits of birds, he has encountered his share of wood ticks in the spring, mosquito bites in the summer, chiggers in the fall and snow and cold in the winter.

His birding travels have taken him to Attu, the western-most island in Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. As the island closest to Siberian, it often can be a haven for Asian birds that are blown off course.

"We stayed in an abandoned Quonset hut," he said.

He has seen noddy terns and sooty terns in a bird sanctuary in the Dry Tortugas after he and his family chartered a boat from Key West, Fla., to make the 140-mile round trip to the national park. His wife, Adele, and family frequently accompanied him on birding trips.

"The ranger was surprised to see us because no one came out," Johnson said. "He took one son and me to a bird sanctuary in his small boat,"

He has driven 82 summer Breeding Bird Surveys, many on routes in Canada that were prepared for him at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md.

"Some roads didn't exist, and one time I had to make up my own route," he said.

He even birded as often as he could serving as a doctor during World War II.

"In the climax of World War II, on Okinawa in combat, I think Isaw one bird," he said.

Johnson poses a list of questions on the inside front cover of "Amazing, Incredible Birds" that he hopes "people will read and have their curiosity piqued."

The latest book weighs in at 360 pages and has more photographs.

"Icould see what the first book needed was more pictures," said Johnson, who also writes a monthly birding column for the Bismarck Tribune.

He also has included tips on how to look at birds.

"A few Idon't think I've ever seen in print," said Johnson, who has "about 40 or 50" books on birds in his library.

The book is available at Barnes & Noble Booksellers and through Saks News, which distributes copies in supermarkets and drug stores throughout the state.

Johnson will have a book signing from noon to 3 p.m. Aug. 11 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on South Seventh Street in Bismarck.

And he already has started working on a third book.

"I'm writing it a chapter at a time," he said. "It will be about more interesting things."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or richard.hinton@;bismarcktribune.com.)