Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of North America -- Eastern Region (Smithsonian Handbooks)

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Summary: Bird Identification made easier.....
Review: Did you ever try to decide whether the little wren on the back patio was a Winter Wren, a Carolina Wren, Bewick's Wren, or a House Wren? With this book you can add a few more wrens to your list. You'll also find plenty of Sparrows, Warblers, and members of other bird families. BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA: EASTERN BIRDS contains a comprehensive listing of the birds who spend at least part of their year living east of the Mississippi as well as plenty of western birds of interest--like the House Finch who migrated east. This book is large-more than 700 pages-so it's heavy, but it has a plasicized cover so you can haul it in your backpack if you're strong. Since the Smithsonian developed it, the book is literally jam-packed with information, including: a description with a color photo; call notes; habitat; nesting habits; relative size (the bird is silhouetted against the book); bird look-alikes; and plenty of other useful stuff. Each bird receives a full page of coverage. My only complaint, and it's barely worth mentioning is that the maps appearing with each bird entry are a bit small. In some cases a bird's domain is barely visiable, but partly that's owing to the demise of the domain. You not only will discover where the little guys summer, winter, and breed, you'll discover which birds are threatened with extinction owing to the human caused destruction of their habitats. The book contains a listing of now-extinct birds, each of them profiled as the still living birds have been. The loss of the Carolina Parakeet is the saddest tale. Carolina Parakeets were once prolific. They ranged over most of the Eastern United States. They were so loyal to their flock mates the live birds would fly to the side of the dead and dying birds. As they hovered around their dying mates hunters killed them. (John Muir pointed out ages ago that animals feel sorrow, and all of us who are close to animals know this.) The Carolina Parakeet was destroyed for it's feathers. The Veery is facing a similar fate. Not only is it's habitat being destroyed, the lichen it depends on is disappearing from the trees in the Eastern part of the country and around the Great Lakes owing to air pollution. (Think twice about those polluting smoke stacks and SUVs!!) Talk about a canary in the mine!! Bird-watching is a pleasurable past time I have shared with grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and now share with my children and grandchildren. If we all don't get more serious about preserving the places birds live and breed there won't be any birds to watch. The Smithsonian is dedicated to preserving our heritage. It's Guide will raise your consciousness and help you identify many more birds than you ever thought possible.

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Summary: Something new for the birdwatcher
Review: Here's a fine addition to the serious birdwatcher's library. Well illustrated showing juvenile and sex variations in plumage, maps and range for each species, details about similar types, population, etc. Only drawback for the birder is the heft of the book. This is no in-the-pocket volume but should be taken along on any auto trip as reference.

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Summary: a useful companion guide
Review: I take issue with the Book News review. Every birding guide has strengths and weaknesses. For illustrations, we'll leave that to Sibley. The Alsop book's attribute is its standardized format of song, behavior, breeding, nesting and population summaries, plus similar birds, flight patterns and nest identification, for every species. This comprehensive information makes it a useful companion to other birding guides. The Alsop guide may be too heavy to carry in the field (my trustworthy, dog-eared Peterson's still wins out here), but it doesn't take up too much room in the car trunk.

Rating:
Summary: a useful companion guide
Review: I take issue with the Book News Review. Every birding guide has strengths and weaknesses, and few (if any) can compete with Sibley on illustrations. This book's main attribute is its standardized format that provides song, behavior, breeding, nesting, fight pattern, nest identification and similar birds for every species, plus a sighting checkoff at the bottom of each page. The comprehensive information makes it a useful companion to other guides. As for field portability, my reliable, dog-eared Peterson's still wins out.

Rating:
Summary: a helpful companion birding guide
Review: I take issue with the Book News review. Every birding guide has strengths and weaknesses. For illustrations, we'll leave that to Sibley. The Alsop book's attribute is its standardized format of song, behavior, breeding, nesting and population summaries, plus similar birds, flight patterns and nest identification, for every species. This comprehensive information makes it a useful companion to other birding guides. The Alsop guide may be too heavy to carry in the field (my trustworthy, dog-eared Peterson's still wins out here), but it doesn't take up too much room in the car trunk.