These books are for the birds
Nearly every week a reader will mention to me that he or she
would like to know what those birds are flitting around the back
yard, but that it’s just too hard to puzzle it out with a field
guide.
There’s probably one or two of them collecting dust on a
bookshelf in your home and that’s probably because after a try or
two, the book just didn’t seem very user-friendly.
These books are for the birds
Nearly every week a reader will mention to me that he or she would like to know what those birds are flitting around the back yard, but that it’s just too hard to puzzle it out with a field guide.
There’s probably one or two of them collecting dust on a bookshelf in your home and that’s probably because after a try or two, the book just didn’t seem very user-friendly.
Making the most of one is really not a mystery, and it’s much more satisfying to solve a “what’s that?” mystery yourself than to be told. Once self-identified, a bird is seldom forgotten.
There’s no secret to using a field guide well. All of the better ones offer a short course in how to get the most from them in their first pages.
The most important thing is finding one that works for you. Most people gravitate toward a popular book, bound in a bright red flexible plastic cover and filled with colorful photographs on glossy paper. The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region is the book and it’s very nearly useless.
First, it doesn’t include all birds found in the western U.S. Second, it’s organized by birds’ shape and color. Organizing a field guide by color is like organizing a phone book based on the height of those listed.
The fact is that birds vary in color depending on the season or the individual bird. For example, some of the most common birds in our garden are house finches. The females sport breasts streaked in brown pinstripes, and the males are dipped in red – usually. Occasionally one shows up with breast feathers that match the color of a school bus.
Good field guides are organized taxonomically, with birds grouped by characteristics. We all recognize ducks without a second thought. Ditto hummingbirds or wading birds. So that’s a good place to start.
What follows is a subjective list of the best of the flock of field guides available.
Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Houghton Mifflin. This volume was published this year, and it captures very nearly everything to look for in a field guide. First, the birds are rendered in beautiful paintings, not photos. Wild birds may not willingly pose for the perfect diagnostic photo, but a drawing can highlight exactly what to look for. The guide makes that even easier by including arrows pointing to exactly the features that should be noted in each bird. The text is clear and maps depicting typical range are included with text. The book has a fast, easy-to-use index and page margins are color coded to make going to the right section a snap. On the down side, the volume demands a very large pocket to accompany one in the field.
The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, National Geographic. For many years, this was my favorite. It fits – barely – into the back pocket of a pair of jeans. It covers all of North America, and it features accurate drawings, authoritative text and great range maps. It’s probably the best choice for a first guidebook, and I say “first” because if you really get hooked, you will collect lots and lots of field guides.
The Sibley Guide to Birds, National Audubon Society. As wrong as Audubon got it with its own field guide, the decision to publish David Allen Sibley’s epic opus gets nearly everything right. The only reason not to own this field guide is its $35 retail price and it’s larger than life format that makes it cumbersome to carry around on a hike. It’s worth keeping in the car. The paintings – some 30,000, all rendered by Sibley – and accompanying text sort out the most difficult mysteries. Turn to the section on hummingbirds and clever diagrams demonstrate courtship flights of different species. Red-tail hawks are notoriously variable. They range from nearly black to very pale. So Sibley devotes two full pages of his book to that single species. His devotion to task is so great that his own Web site offers updates and minor corrections regularly.
Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America, Focus Guides. Kenn Kaufman’s compact volume takes a different approach. It relies on photos, but Kaufman has altered each of them using Photoshop to represent a bird most typical of the species. Text and maps are great, organization superb and it’s small enough to drop in a pocket and go nearly unnoticed until it’s needed. Kaufman himself is one of America’s leading authorities on all things avian, and “Kingbird Highway,” his memoir of a cross-country birding adventure launched soon after he dropped out of high school is some of the best adventure writing I’ve ever encountered.
