Learn about and identify birds using Stan Tekiela's state-by-state field guides. The full-page, color photos are incomparable and include insets of winter plumage, color morphs and more. Plus, with the easy-to-use format, you don't need to know a bird's name or classification in order to easily find it in the book. Using this field guide is a real pleasure. It's a great way for anyone to learn about the birds in your state.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to Identify Birds and Great for Bird Watching with Kids,
By fishhooksandbobbers "fishhooksandbobbers" (Rocklin, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Birds of California Field Guide (Our Nature Field Guides) (Paperback)
I stumbled on this book when I went to look at another bird field guide. I'm glad I compared guides before making a purchase. Needless to say I purchased this one over the one I intended to buy. There are many reasons why I like this book: It's consise and it's easy to identify birds; this guide contains photographs not drawings; the book is compact. Being true to its title, it contains only birds you'll find in California. You don't have to peruse through hundreds of birds to find the one you're looking for. A bird can be found either by its predominate color or an indexed listing of names. Each decription contains information about the bird's size, decription of male, female and juvenile, nest, eggs, incubation, fledging, migration, food, comparision to similar birds and additional author notes. So far I have been able to identify every bird I have looked up. One of the best features is that the book contains color photographs and not drawings of the birds. I really do think this is why my 5 year old daughter can state with confidence which bird we're watching. For those birds that are sexually dimorphic, the author includes photos of both the male and female. Each is cross reference by color too. There are also inset photos of the juveniles. With the photos you can percisely identify each characteristic of the bird and takes much of the guess work out of identification. The book is 4 3/8" X 6" X 7/8". About half the height of many other field guides and alot thinner making it much more portable. Probably the most important reason to purchase this book is that you'll use it.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good field guide, could use better organization,
This review is from: Birds of California Field Guide (Our Nature Field Guides) (Paperback)
This book is small enough for field work, yet contains a great deal of information. The full-color photographs have insets which show juvenile, seasonal, or sexually dimorphic plumage where appropriate, as well as showing some birds in action shots: a hawk soaring, a willet showing his colors, etc. The species information is concise, readable, and relevant, with color-coded range maps and bulleted information on size, weight, color, food, eggs/incubation/fledging, similar species, and migration information for hundreds of different species, all in a standard one-page per species format. The "Stan's Notes" contain interesting specifics are not included in the bullet points.
My only problem with this book is the organization of the species by color. If the reader sees a very small black and brown bird, for example, they will potentially have to thumb through dozens of black birds and then brown birds, some of them very large, or water birds, or birds of prey, or from a different part of the state. I'd rather not spend my time in the field poring through pages of ducks, owls, doves, and eagles trying to figure out what species of thrush i'm looking at. Also, if a species has enough sexual or seasonal dimorphism in the color of their plumage, it may fall into two or more different color categories. While this field guide does cross-reference these by page number, that makes for even more page turning. This is a very good field guide, but a more granular organization, perhaps by general bird type (songbird, bird or prey, etc.) within geographical area (NorCal, desert, Sierra, etc.) would have made the look-up process more concise. As it is, plan on taking plenty of Post-it bookmarks along with this book.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What's a good bird book to buy?,
By
This review is from: Birds of California Field Guide (Our Nature Field Guides) (Paperback)
I hate to throw cold water on a bird identification or field guide as they are usually called. I know there are several reviewers who have given this book high ratings,but that aside, it is really not a very good field guide.
There are many choices on the shelves in the bookstores when one goes looking for a "bird Book" to buy for themselves or a friend.Generally,the staff is not knowledgeable or of any help. So what to do? First,talk to someone who has experience in birdwatching,or if you are unable to find anyone;check out the reviews on several field guides.They are usually written by people who are knowledgeable and their only interest is to help you make a choice you will be happy with. Two of the most popular,and endorsed highly by all birdwatchers are; The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. I wrote a review on this one on November 9,2006. and, Birds of North America by Kenn Kaufmann. I reviewed this one on November 17,2003. Along with my reviews,you will find others whose reviews are also very good,and informative in helping you to find the weak and strong points on bird field guides. A few points must be made about this "Birds of California,that will show you that it simply doesn't measure up with the better and more popular ones. Particularly the "National Geographic",which is owned by most birders and usually their favorite.And by the way,good or poor,there is very little difference in the cost of the various guides. Back to "Birds of California" --It is pointless in buying a guide of only one area. --This guide doesn't even come close to including all the birds found in the state. I don't know the exact number off hand;but it would be somewhere between 300 and 400 as a guess,much more than the 170 included in this book. Four of us spent two weeks birding around San Francisco ,out on the ocean (Pelagic Trips),and east into and around Yosemite;and found 197 species.Simply put, this book would have been useless .We used the same book we use birding in Ontario,Canada,Arizona,New Mexico,North Carolina,Florida,or anywhere else in North America--Namely;the" National Geographic". --This book presents the birds by color.While some make a case for this,it has never been a popular concept,and quite frankly,I've never come across anyone who would want a guide organized this way. --This book often shows only one plumage.That being the breeding male plumage.Any useful book gives a minimum of male,female,and breeding and non-breeding plumages.This is very important as they are usually all very different.For instance;compare the way Northern Harrier is covered on pages 219 and 311,this is just never done this way in most books. --This book uses photographs exclusively. There are cases made for both photographs and illustrations.However;illustrations have been preferred by nearly all birders because they do a far better job of pointing out the subtle indentifying points.Kauffmann,has been the most successful with photographs but he uses extensive computer enhancing techniques. The photographs in this book are very good;but much more suitable for Calendar bird portraits than Field Guide Identification shots. --There are many localized Field Guides;virtually every State has them.We have them in Ontario,but Birdwatchers simply pass them up. If you get this Field Guide,you will soon lose your enthusiasm for it when you encounter others and see what they are using.So,why not get the right one the first time---my suggestion is "The National Geographic";you'll never regret it!!
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