All the Birds of North America [Paperback]

 

 

Create your own review

This book is a very useable field guide for beginning birders. The book is organized to help you identify birds as quickly as possible. First, you decide whether you are looking at a water bird or a land bird; the first part of the book covers water birds, and the second part land birds. If you're looking at a land bird, you next decide whether you've got a large bird or a small one. The section on large birds has small silhouettes of the birds' shapes in the margin, while the section on small birds shows the birds' beaks. By flipping through these small drawings in the margins, you can easily narrow down the bird you are looking at to a few pages. Then you look at the numerous color illustrations, the range maps, the short descriptions, and the song patterns to help you determine the identity of your bird. For further information, each chapter starts with a short article that describes the morphology and behavior of the group of birds that are covered in the chapter. Scientific names are included for each bird, and rare or endangered birds are highlighted.

As a rank beginner bird watcher, I found the book extremely easy to use and informative. The color illustrations, because they are idealizations, were much more accurate and easier to use than the color photographs that appear in some other field guides. The descriptions of each bird are rather short, leaving me hungry for more details, but this book is a great place to start.

This is the best bird guide I have ever used. It helps my family to identify birds by key features. My sons now look at birds and tell me their beak shape, what they most likely eat, the color of the legs and their relative size, all from regularly using this book. It gives pictorial examples of birds one might confuse with one another. Also useful are the estimates of particular bird population in each geographic area, with terms such as "abundant," "populous," "numerous," and "numerous but declining." I appreciate the brief, not preachy, explanations given for why certain populations of birds are declining.

I use this birding book all the time. It basically stays outside all year round so it's available when I quickly want to look up a bird. I love it's plastic cover which keeps it from becoming a soggy mess.

I have never had trouble finding birds in this book. The drawings are detailed and make identification quick and easy. The little write-up on each bird is just enough to give some detail.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice drawings but not so well organized
I really appreciated the drawings: precise, nice. The birds are drawn in their environment, that original and nice. Read more

Published on Jan 10 2002 by rthevy

5.0 out of 5 stars Depth and clarity
I've birded for more than 40 years, and I've used all the guides. This may seem heretical, but I have too much trouble with ambiguous identifications when carrying the... Read more

Published on Jun 24 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Beginning and Experienced Birders
The organization of birds in this book, listed by behavior and appearance, rather than taxonomy, allows even beginning birders to identify birds quickly. Read more

Published on April 30 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy second bird guide to take into the field
With so many birding field guides available these days, birders suffer from a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to selecting which volume(s) to take into the field... Read more

Published on April 2 2001 by Douglas A. Greenberg

5.0 out of 5 stars Birding Field Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Birders
This field guide finally solves the most serious problem for birders...what is the species I am watching? Read more

Published on Mar 11 2001 by Roger Van Ghent

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost all the birds
I noticed that this guide does not include the Arizona Woodpecker (a not particularly rare species) and wonder whether other species might also be missing. Read more

Published on Dec 19 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaks ground in organization and display of information
The standard guide for birds by Roger Tory Peterson is being challenged by this comprehensive collection from the American Bird Conservancy. Read more

Published on Sep 3 2000 by Author Bill Peschel

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good field guide.
I have been a birdwatcher for many years and have several field guides on bird identification. Some of them, I never take out in the field, though. Read more

Published on July 20 2000 by sauerkraut

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Info, maybe iffy in the field
Since my old copy of Golden's "Birds of North America" was the unfortunate victim of a flood (many of the pages got hopelessly stuck together), I decided to buy a new... Read more

Published on July 12 2000 by Neal P. Austin

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding for actual field use.
I have been interested in birding for about ten years, and own several other bird guides, and have examined closely several more. Read more

Published on July 6 1999

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!