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Summary: Fantastic book for everyone, but especially for beginners
Review: I have found this to be just about the easiest to use bird book ever. The clear drawings make identification easy...no confusing photos with distracting backgrounds to wade through...just find your bird and go. The maps are a great help, it is organized very efficiently. My copy is probably 20 years old...I've tried others, but go back to this every time for its ease of use. Others may have more pizazz on the surface, but trust me, this is all you really need!
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Summary: Easily my Favorite Birding Book
Review: I have quite a few birding books, and run several webpages on birds, and this one is the one that goes with me everywhere, and sits by my window when I'm home. It's fantastic! The drawings with arrows make it VERY clear exactly which bird you're looking at. The maps in the back help clarify where birds live, if you have a question about a bird that looks similar but is defined by its range.The calls listed are very helpful - if you only get a glimpse of something, often you can help narrow down your options by listening to it and seeing which birds match the song pattern. Everything about the book is enormously easy to use. I in fact write right in the book when I've seen a given bird and any additional notes about it - the book is that important to me! One book no birder should be without.
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Summary: the best I looked at
Review: I looked at nine or ten bird books over the weekend before finally deciding on this one. I like it's compact size, durable cover and it's very complete index. The most important reason for my decision, however, is the fact that it shows pictures of both male and female birds where the female bird's plummage and head differ from that of the male. None of the other books I checked showed female birds or only showed them in very rare instances. I also like this book because it shows most birds in both standing or swimming positions and also in flight. There are also occasional drawings of chicks. The text that accompanies the pictures is necessarily brief but covers: Latin and common names, description, food, range, migratory pattern, habitat, voice and similar species. Also included is a "Systematic Checklist" so you can keep a "life list" of all the birds you've seen. There is a guide to identifying birds by visual categories (swimmers, birds of prey, waders, perching birds, etc), size, tail and wing patterns. The last part of the book contains maps illustrating each bird's range which makes it easy to compare the habitat of, for example, an Olive-Sided Flycatcher with an Acadian Flycatcher. Obviously this is a guidebook and not the type of book you sit down and read through, but I have found myself reading the entries for the often amusing "voice" sections. Here's the one for the Chestnut-Sided Warbler: "Song, similar to Yellow Warbler's; 'see see see see Miss Beech'er' or 'pleased pleased pleased to meet'cha;' penultimate note accented, last note dropping." Hey, someone who knows what "penultimate" really means!
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Summary: Good Book not New
Review: I ordered this book since it was labeled as being "Completely New". However, on receipt, I found that it was exactly the same "Fourth Edition" I have had for around 20 years. This is a VERY good and helpful book for identifing birds. I recommend it to new birders.
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Summary: Among the best for identification
Review: I use both Peterson and Audubon guides for identifying wildlife, and I find that while they are both quite good, Petersons are better for rapid identification of something that just went buy in a flash. Peterson guides are much better at pointing out the key differences that distinguish one species from another, making it a better aid for rapid identification. This book is as good as any other in the Peterson series, which is to say that it is very good.
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Summary: A classic field guide.
Review: I've got several field guides dealing with the identification of birds. This one from Roger Tory Peterson is the best and most impressive. I first got a copy of it many years ago when I was very young. I've always taken it with me whenever I go birdwatching. I have that much confidence in it. Peterson's drawings are excellent, clear, and in full color. The field guide includes all of the birds of eastern and central North America. This includes accidentals, exotics, and escapes. The field guide also includes roadside and flight silhouettes. These silhouettes really do help in the identification of many species of birds. The book also has a systematic checklist that you can use to mark off the birds that you've seen. Range maps are included, too. All the vital information needed to identify birds in the field is here. Information such as habitat, voice, and length. The range maps have a section of their own in the back of the book. Peterson's method of identifying birds by conspicuous field marks (The "Peterson System") is great. This system has always been a real help. Arrows point to various parts of the bird that most readily help to identify it. There's also a section in the front of the guide that explains how to identify birds. This section is very informative. I've used this field guide for many years. I have other field guides that stay on the shelf whenever I go birdwatching. This guide from Roger Tory Peterson isn't one of those. This is the best field guide on the market. I recommend it.
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Summary: A great guide to identification...
Review: If you are looking for a field guide with easy to understand text, great tips, and stunning drawings all categorized in an easy to navigate interface, then this book is for you!
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Summary: wonderful book
Review: My mother-in-law stated this book by Roger Tory Peterson is a great guide for birds. She has another book by Mr. Peterson and that is why she bought this one.
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Summary: The first and the best
Review: Peterson first published his revolutionary field guide in 1925, and ever since it has been the trusty companion of amateur and advanced birder alike. The popularity of his field guide was based on the system that he devised whereby he included coloured plates of each bird, and noted key identifying features of each bird, thus allowing the birder to make quick and confident identifications. The system is not fool-proof, of course, as some species closely resemble one another, but oversall, the tricks one learns from the Peterson field guide provides an excellent foundation for the aspiring birder. A number of other guides have come along, but I still find this one more than suitable, and therefore the one that I continue to rely on.
Rating: 
Summary: not the best guide, but not bad
Review: Peterson's guide was my first as a child, so I don't want to bad mouth it, but it is not the best. Since then I have used just about every other guide available. Peterson's seems to have fallen behind in several areas. The illustrations are not as good as those in the National Geographic guide. The accidental and exoctic species are listed seperatly at the end of the book, and not all of the birds listed are shown!!! Im not sure if this is a mistake or not. Accidentals are also shown seperately, not alongside similar species or birds with similar appearance. This makes it somewhat confusing to identify some birds. Very little information is given about them, and usually there is nothing more than a head shot. I wouldn't use it as a primary reference, but it does make a good companion to other guides, especially ones with photographs rather than watercolors.
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