Birding Book Reviews

Field Guides

• National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (5th edition)
• The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
• The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
• Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds
• All the Birds of North America: American Bird Conservancy's Field Guide
• National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region
• Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (5th edition)

Paperback; 504 pages; published Nov, 2006

A Book For All Birders

In a recent HOOT newsletter we asked how many bird books do we really need? One of the three books referenced was the 5th edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, aka, NGS. It was acknowledged that just like the first four NGS books, this revision was a fine guide. However, it was implied that if you owned the previous four, the only impelling motivation to purchase was to complete the set.

Well! Jean - all local birders know Jean, she’s the one who can hear the birds and has a lake named after her - has been using and carrying the 5th edition NGS for a while now and vouches for it for both reference at her desk and in the field. Because of the innovations and changes, she says it is like a really new guide compared to the fourth edition.

Despite its faults, Peterson was still our guide of choice so we missed that first NGS edition in 1983. However, a birding cousin of mine introduced us to the 1987 2nd NGS edition. By 1999 the society had issued a major revision publishing the 3rd edition. My opinion is that the 2002 4th edition was a too hurried response to the Sibley guides.

Considering all that is occurring in the field of ornithology, NGS takes the position that field guides are a work in progress, and we certainly agree. Many new plates and figures, up dated range maps, revised text (both identification notes, natural history and distribution), additions and innovations, have placed this book on the advancing edge.

Very useful are the accidentals (71), that is, species confirmed three times in the last two decades, or five times in the last 100 years, a few exotics (like the Orange Bishop) that have shown some degree of being established are shown, and also those North American species which have become extinct in the past 200 years.

Included in the requisite introduction are the usual overview of the book, how to use the guide, and parts-of-the-bird sections. These are accompanied by very well written pieces on scientific names (though no help in pronouncing), subspecies, molt, plumage variation and sequence, and other stuff that long ago would not of appeared in a field guide. These page borders are also decorated with bird illustrations, sidebar-like, worth examining.

As new guides were edited and published over the decades there always remained that initial challenge – indexing. “Damn, where is the Macgillivray’s Warbler in this stupid book?!” The inside flap of this fifth edition lists the bird families and page number. Fully open the flap and here is a bird topology display utilizing the Peterson arrow method to show and name the main feather tracks and field (plumage) marks.

On the back flap there is a “Quick-find Index” listing 150 common birds. For example, “Storm Petrol – 94.” It gets you right to the bird in a hurry, or at least in the vicinity of the ten Storm Petrol’s illustrated. Inside the back flap, as in Sibley, is a map of North and Central America. They point out that these flaps may double as placeholders. My guess is repair would be needed within two years, or sooner, if used in such a manner.

Now, here is Jean’s Favorite innovation – thumb tabs. Or, as the editors show it – “thumbtabs” - our choice. Dictionary like, there are such tabs for seven families of birds. For example, this methodology quickly gets you to the 30-page section on gulls.

The 5th NGS guide is now over 500 pages with dimensions a bit larger than the regional field editions of Sibley and weighs perceptibly more - though it will still fit nicely into the usual Pelican Pouch.

I carry Sibley in the field, however despite having a couple hundred fewer birds, there are too many notes, circles, and taped in handy ID sheets in my 2nd NGS edition, which I carry in the car, rather than having it collect dust on the shelves.

I certainly have no criticism of those that carry older guides. Is that the original Golden Guide you still carry, Lillian? And Aaron, which Peterson do you use for classes now? To me it’s mox nix, for Jean will surely be close by with her prized NGS 5th edition.

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America

by David Allen Sibley
Hardcover; 432 pages; published April 1, 2003

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

by David Allen Sibley
Hardcover; 496 pages; published April 1, 2003

Young David Allen has done it again. In April we gave an informal program reviewing bird books with emphasis on field guides. A month later, here is the next one (or two)! David Allen Sibley has taken his very important and popular The Sibley Guide to Birds, which he said from the beginning was not a field guide, and made it into one (or two) - The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America (and Eastern too).

What do we look for in a field guide worthy of being carried in the field? Size and weight. A quick index. A “how to,” or “basics” introduction section. Specie particulars all on one page. Professional illustrations or photographs. Contrasting and easy to remember range map color codes. Field mark, behavioral and voice narratives. Usable table of contents. All North American species in one volume. Has Sibley made the grade?

Of seven field guides examined, the size are within millimeters of each other. Sibley weighs less than NGS, Peterson, Kaufmann, and Stokes and more than Golden and Audubon. There is a “quick index.” Stokes and Kaufmann have better, quicker indexes to find the species wanted. Included is another useful “how to” section. As in all his books, here too is the Sibley touch to the illustrations. Absolutely in the Peterson class.

Range map treatment, equal to Stokes if not a bit better, is included on the same page as the illustrations, field marks, natural history and voice narratives (a must). In The Sibley Guide to Birds there is very little specie natural history. Here, now being a field guide, he very succinctly includes natural history and field mark narratives. Although not as expanded as in the “Guide,” in the “Field Guide” vocal descriptions are very useable.

As with Peterson and Stokes, there are two volumes – west and east. Given his organizational format and treatment of the each species, which he has continued in these two volumes, this was ordained. Although Stokes and Kaufmann’s organizational approaches differed from the traditional, Sibley stepped out of the box with his vertical, one page per specie format. Illustrating each species in the multiple plumages with seasonal and age variations in a vertical fashion made The Sibley Guide to Birds.

Knopf, the publisher, in promotion says “North America's finest field guides in a new portable format” (emphasis-Ed.). That is correct. Sibley is now portable. Further, with some pluses and minuses, he stacks up well with most, and better than some. They are an important addition to the birder’s field tools. Now I’ll have to use two vest pockets (or strap on two “Pelican Pouches”) – one for the NGS 4th edition and one for Sibley.

Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds

Paperback; 431 pages; published May, 1998

All the Birds of North America: American Bird Conservancy's Field Guide

Serious birders delight in autumn as migrating flocks provide the opportunity to observe the species that aren't normally around to observe. They don weather-proof shoes and layers of clothing, grab binoculars and All the Birds of North America, and head for the marshes before the football fans arise from their pre-game slumbers. With a weather-resistant coating, and an index that includes little boxes for ticking off the species that you see, the American Bird Conservancy's Field Guide has an easy-to-use format of icons (aerialists and shorebirds, fly-catching bills and straight bills) that allows you to zero in on type before dealing with the details that differentiate between Boreal, Carolina, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region

Turtleback; 822 pages; published Feb, 1997