There are times that we at the Canadian Bookshelf miss the non-bookish zeitgeist boat, and so it was only quite recently that we discovered the very funny "Put a Bird on It" sketch from the television series Portlandia. The sketch is clearly onto something, however, and it's not just handbags and lampshades that have been receiving the Put a Bird Treatment lately. Many recent Canadian books have been similarly bedecked, including the usual suspects (avian guides), but also poetry books, memoirs and novels. Bird books, it turns out, aren't so rare after all, but we think they're kind of lovely.

Check out the Complete Canadian Bookshelf Put a Bird on It Books List, with some of our favourite birdish picks featured below:

The Bedside Book of Birds by Graeme Gibson

The Crow's Vow by Susan Briscoe

One Bird's Choice by Iain Reid

Bird Eat Bird by Katrina Best

The Sleeping Life by Kerry Ryan

A Peepshow with Views of the Interior by Aislinn Hunter

Zingy by Paola Opal

On Rare Birds by Anita Albus

Little Bird by Don Coles

Are there any bird books we missed? Tweet us your favourites at @cdnbookself #putabirdonit.