Customer Reviews

Birds of Minnesota (Field Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not sure why one one reviewer wants to say zero stars. This guide book states its goal in the introduction. It aims to help you identify birds you see in the field. It outright says that it does not cover all birds seen in Minnesota, just the most common ones. I have worn my copy out. I think its a fantastic book. It provides solid basic information and good pictures. The negative reviewer complains the photos are too good? Well, in a way I can see that, but the text has hints on identification and how to differentiate between the bird in question and birds that are easily misidentified with it.

A good solid introduction to local birds. I like this book a lot.

Just getting into bird-watching? Know a youngster who is getting interested? Stan Tekiela (pronouced like the Mexican tequila) makes it easy, and he does it so practically by color-coding the identifications! "What is that yellow bird?" Look in the section devoted to yellow birds. Red? Look in the Red section.

Pictures are sharp and clear, and his brief discussions enlightening.

Strongly recommended; a great gift.

I think that both Molly and the author are both at fault for the bad review. The title is misleading if you were expecting this to be a thorough field guide of all birds in Minnesota. A quick page through (hard to do on-line) in the bookstore would have avoided this problem.

I strongly disagree that this is a bad book for the beginner. In case Molly has forgotten, the biggest problem when starting out is finding the bird you see in the book. This book presents the birds in a way that you can actually find them - I realize this is a novel idea but it really works when starting out. Just my opinion.

The order that most advanced bird books display is what will turn off the novice birder. This book solves that by ordering by color (and then size). The color pictures are good and the descriptions are top-notch. The checklist at the back of the book is also good because it is attainable in the average year (unlike the Peterson guide which has the Passenger Pigeon on its checklist). I would recommend this as a first MN bird book, then move onto the Peterson, Sibley, Stokes, or Kaufman guides.

When I visited my mother in July, she had this book sitting near the patio doors that opened to the backyard. It was the easist field guide that I have ever used. Categorizing the birds by color is what made it so easy. Even a novice like me could pick up the book and begin identifying the birds in the backyard right away. The thing that disappointed me the most is that Stan Tekiela doesn't have a similar one for Washington State, where I live.

I love this book. So does my 6 year old, who uses it more than I. The photographs are very clear, and males and females are both pictured. Categorizing by color helps to quickly find the picture of the bird that just flew by. The info listed (nest type, eggs, incubation and fledgling periods, preferred food, etc.) is concise and interesting, as are Stan's Notes. We've found every bird that frequents our feeders and nesting boxes in this book, as well as those in the nature preserve area near us. Our book has a permanent home with the binoculars by the picture window; it's not on the bookshelf!

Tekila's book was our first introduction to bird-watching five years ago, and provided a painless, rewarding way for beginners to get their feet wet on this wonderful hobby. My pre-teen children rapidly began to successfully ID the birds in our yard and at our feeders, and success breeds the desire to continue! This book contains the 100 or so most commonly-seen birds in MN, and if you get serious about this you'll want a more complete guide too (I recommend Sibley). We have given this as a gift to many friends and family, esp. nice as a theme gift with a feeder and seed! When we went to Florida we bought his FL volume and IDed 50 species in 10 days time. I need to buy a new one as we have worn ours out, and my daughters pointed out recently that some photos have been improved in the newer versions.

Excellent book, very useful and helpful. Use everyday, while watching the different birds that vist our bird feeder.

Just getting into bird-watching? Know a youngster who is getting interested? Stan Tekiela (pronouced like the Mexican tequila) makes it easy, and he does it so practically by color-coding the identifications! "What is that yellow bird?" Look in the section devoted to yellow birds. Red? Look in the Red section.

Pictures are sharp and clear, and his brief discussions enlightening.

Strongly recommended; a great gift.

This is a terrible field guide. It certainly doesn't include all the birds of Minnesota. The photographs are beautiful, but how often do you see a bird in perfect light? A better choice for the beginning birder would be The Golden Book of North American Birds. This field guide doesn't deserve one star.