Customer Reviews

Birder's Journal

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been using the Cornell Lab's "Birder's Diary and Life List" for a couple of years now, but this book has just replaced it. The Nationl Geographic Birder's Journal has more room for notes and I like having the illustrations alongside my notes. It also has the advantage of having ALL of the birds of North America (which the Cornell book does not). The only drawback I found was that there is no quick easy way to see how many birds are on your life list (Cornell's book has pages with numbered, blank lines where you enter the birds as you see them). Over all, though I feel this is an excellent addition to my birding library.

The journal is a useful tool to record information on your bird sightings. The book is divided into 60 chapters by North American bird famalies. The chapter introduction includes a brief description of each bird family and where it can be located.

Each of the 500 birds shown has a half page in the book with a black and white line drawing of the bird, the birds name, common name and a space for date and location of sighting. Another 6 or 7 lines of space is provided for each bird for recording notes on the sighting.

The author encourages readers to use colored pencils to color the markings for each bird seen.

The book is easy to use. The large 7" x 10" pages provide a lot of room to record your observations.

I slowly became interested in birds through some of my travels and wanted to keep some kind of record of what I was seeing. I'm not a member of a formal birding organization which has more defined and focused goals for recording bird sightings. I found this book to be more than I really wanted. I have the NG Field Guide to North American Birds (which I love and have given as gifts to friends), and the Birder's Journal is a black-and-white copy with lines where the description would be in the Field Guide. For simple noting of sightings, the Field Guide itself is sufficient. There is space in the margin beside the bird's description and a checkbox by the name in the index which lets you keep a list as well. However, if you need space to keep copious notes, this book gives that space. I would have liked something more easily transportable with a spiral binding for ease of writing.

As a black and white companion to the National Geographic bird book it is great. This note book gives you room to write and draw on the species of birds. One can use this book as a "life list" and record your sightings, locations, etc., into this. It is amazing to sit down with this book years later and review your past findings. This book goes along exactly with the bird book and I usually keep both with me at all times for recording and identifying.........

Now available in an updated and expanded second edition, Mel Baughman's The Birder's Journal is a consumable volume for the personal use and notations of North American birdwatchers. Though it has very basic information on over 60 North American bird families, the bulk of this thick compendium consists of accurate, detailed black-and-white sketches of over 850 bird species, next to allotted writing space where the birdwatcher can make his or her own notes about when, how, and where that species of bird was successfully observed. The Birder's Journal is a perfect aid to keep track of the all the different feathered friends one has seen, and an excellent gift selection for any North American birdwatcher.

This journal is a gray-scale (black and white) version of the popular and very useful NGS field guide. Nothing new is added except blank lines for brief field notes - which replace the descriptive text adjacent to the colored illustration as found in the field guide. Most - but not all - of the birds currently listed by the AOU are represented.

However, as a "fully illustrated" journal in which to record one's first sightings, it functions only marginally better than the check-boxes in a field guide index - again, by providing something more than a margin in which to record notes.

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Also compare the Audubon Society's entry into the field. This pretty journal, in the style of a diary, would serve quite appropriately as a gift for a young woman or teenage girl just beginning the birding experience. Very few of the 1000+ birds in the AOU Checklist for our region are represented, however.

Each of these journals serves the purpose of providing space for keeping track of the birds one has identified in the field, but each will appeal to a select audience. The NGS Birder's Journal doesn't go beyond the basic requirement of providing space.

Life-List Illustrated and the Audubon Journal bring a desirable esthetic element to the process.

I have used this book for years. It has become my life list. As I see the birds, I color in the line drawings and fill in the details of the sighting. I highly recommend this journal

This was the best gift I've given my retired father in years. Not only is he a bird watcher, he has discovered that he's quiet the artist, as well. I recommend it for any amature or professional bird watcher.