Birder's Guide to Northern California

Rating:
Summary: Birder's Guide to Northern California
Review: Don't waste your time or money on this book. The information was to generalized and did not include specifics. I have never experienced a book with such vague and poor directions to birding sites. Too bad that there is not an ABA guide to birding Northern California.

Rating:
Summary: Northern California birding trip frustration
Review: I'm afraid I'll have to agree with what's been said about this book. I took a trip earlier this month to Northern California and my friend and I found this book only mildly useful. It does provide general information, however for anything more than that, another book is needed. Seasonal variation is ignored in some site descriptions and detailed directions to sites that require them are absent. There are no bar-charts to tell when a species is common, rare or even present, only a very general checklist in the back. Northern California is a large area to cover with a birding guide, so I can see why this book may be thin on detail. I think a much better bet would be to try John Kemper's "Birding Northern California". We saw this at the Pt. Reyes visitor's center near the end of our trip and certainly regretted not having it the whole time. Until an ABA/Lane guide comes out for this region, I think Kemper's is the best there is. Good birding!

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: This book needs work. It is not going to be a lot of help in planning a birding trip. It is too generalized.