Rating: 
Summary: Easy to use, compact to carry in the field.
Review: This field guide contains most of the wild birds found in the eastern United States. The photos are very good and the descriptions make identification of birds a cinch. Compact size fits well in glove box or on the window sill next to the feeder.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Field Guide for Birders
Review: This is an excellent guide to identifying birds. The National Audubon Society is an excellent authority on all things nature, and therefore it is not surprising that the National Audubon Society would publish a helpful guide. The guide helps a birder identify birds by behavior, size, habitat, plumage, call, and location. There are color photographs of many birds to guide the birder. The plates are grouped by family which makes basic identification easy. The book also has a section that describes each bird as well as maps that show the likely locations where birds can be found. The color plates are enjoyable simply to look at, and can help a person prepare for possible sightings. The book is small enough that it can be carried to the field. The cover is also durable so it can withstand wear and tear. Since the boos are divided buy Eastern Region and Western Region, so the book is not very cumbersome.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the Peterson Bird Guides
Review: This National Audubon Society field guide to birds has lots and lots of nice, but small, photos of birds. That's nice. This guide also includes most of the birds of the region. Those are the plusses of this book. There are, however, a number of minuses that come along with this book. First of all, no photograph-based field guide can show the important characteristics needed to identify most birds as clearly as a good illustration can. Next, the only info that accompanies each photograph is the common name of the bird, along with its gender, average size, and a reference to a page number to a section in the back of the book that provides all of the descriptive narrative information for each species. That info includes each bird's physical description, voice (call), habitat, nesting info, and geographic range (with a map by the info -- that's nice). The part that's frustrating for me is that I have to spend time flipping back and forth between the photo section at the front of the book and the info section at the back of the book in order to get the info I'm looking for! While I'm in the field birding, that's a hassle! I therefore much prefer the illustrated format that has pictures and descriptive info of the Peterson Guides to the Audubon guides. Still, the Audubon guides are useful, though I use mine primarily as a secondary source, and it usually stays inside when I go out -- Peterson is my guide of choice. I am, by the way, a novice birder myself, and find that the Peterson Guides help me to ID birds faster and with fewer errors than the Audubon guides do. 5 points for photos, but 3 points for ease of use, for 4 points overall. Good luck,and happy spotting! Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the Peterson Bird Guides
Review: This National Audubon Society field guide to birds has lots and lots of nice, but small, photos of birds. That's nice. This guide also includes most of the birds of the region. Those are the plusses of this book. There are, however, a number of minuses that come along with this book. First of all, no photograph-based field guide can show the important characteristics needed to identify most birds as clearly as a good illustration can. Next, the only info that accompanies each photograph is the common name of the bird, along with its gender, average size, and a reference to a page number to a section in the back of the book that provides all of the descriptive narrative information for each species. That info includes each bird's physical description, voice (call), habitat, nesting info, and geographic range (with a map by the info -- that's nice). The part that's frustrating for me is that I have to spend time flipping back and forth between the photo section at the front of the book and the info section at the back of the book in order to get the info I'm looking for! While I'm in the field birding, that's a hassle! I therefore much prefer the illustrated format that has pictures and descriptive info of the Peterson Guides to the Audubon guides. Still, the Audubon guides are useful, though I use mine primarily as a secondary source, and it usually stays inside when I go out -- Peterson is my guide of choice. I am, by the way, a novice birder myself, and find that the Peterson Guides help me to ID birds faster and with fewer errors than the Audubon guides do. 5 points for photos, but 3 points for ease of use, for 4 points overall. Good luck,and happy spotting! Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN
Rating:
Summary: Very handy reference book for the casual bird-watcher
Review: While I don't consider myself to be a "birder," I do enjoy watching the birds which come to visit my yard, and I like to be able to identify them. I've found this book to be very handy in helping me to name the birds I see both in my yard and during my 40-minute daily commute. The first part of the book contains clear, full-color pictures of each species, helpfully organized by both types of birds (eg, tree perching, upright land, etc.) and color, making it quick and easy to find the bird you are looking for. The second half of the book offers useful narrative information which is both detailed and concise. My one complaint about this book is that for most birds, there is only one photograph, making it hard to distinguish between male versus female, immature versus mature, etc. Overall, however, this book has greatly enhanced my pleasure in backyard bird-watching.
Rating: 
Summary: Has some impressive qualities.
Review: While I think that this field guide has some impressive aspects, there's an aspect of it that I don't like: the field guide's organization. My favorite bird identification guides are the ones I feel confident enough with to take out into the field. Unfortunately, I don't use this one when I go birdwatching. The reason is that the photographs and text don't share the same page. That aspect tends to make this field guide not very user friendly. Photographs and text should always be on the same page. It's too much of a hassle and distracting having to flip to the back of the guide in order to check out written information on a particular species of bird while out in the field. The book's organization is its only flaw. Some people may not be bothered by the organization aspect, though. That aside, this guide does have some facets that are impressive. I find the color photographs to be very good, clear, and crisp. This guide consists of 646 photographs that are organized visually and covers 508 eastern species of birds. The birds are grouped by color and shape. The text information is informative and thorough. The text deals with description, voice, habitat, nesting, and range. This guide not only has the range explained through text, but also range maps are included. There's general information given on each species of bird, too. The guide has a glossary, a section on birdwatching, a list of accidental species, conservation status of eastern birds, an informative introduction, a section on how to use the guide, and a page that points out the parts of a bird. This field guide is also pocket-sized. Eventhough I don't use this guide out in the field, I still use it as a reference tool when at home. If it wasn't for the organization of the book, I would consider it to be a very good field guide. I actually give this field guide 3.5 stars. It has some impressive aspects.
Rating:
Summary: Has some impressive qualities.
Review: While I think that this field guide has some impressive aspects, there's an aspect of it that I don't like: the field guide's organization. My favorite bird identification guides are the ones I feel confident enough with to take out into the field. Unfortunately, I don't use this one when I go birdwatching. The reason is that the photographs and text don't share the same page. That aspect tends to make this field guide not very user friendly. Photographs and text should always be on the same page. It's too much of a hassle and distracting having to flip to the back of the guide in order to check out written information on a particular species of bird while out in the field. The book's organization is its only flaw. Some people may not be bothered by the organization aspect, though. That aside, this guide does have some facets that are impressive. I find the color photographs to be very good, clear, and crisp. This guide consists of 646 photographs that are organized visually and covers 508 eastern species of birds. The birds are grouped by color and shape. The text information is informative and thorough. The text deals with description, voice, habitat, nesting, and range. This guide not only has the range explained through text, but also range maps are included. There's general information given on each species of bird, too. The guide has a glossary, a section on birdwatching, a list of accidental species, conservation status of eastern birds, an informative introduction, a section on how to use the guide, and a page that points out the parts of a bird. This field guide is also pocket-sized. Eventhough I don't use this guide out in the field, I still use it as a reference tool when at home. If it wasn't for the organization of the book, I would consider it to be a very good field guide. I actually give this field guide 3.5 stars. It has some impressive aspects.
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