Birds of Northern California (Lone Pine Field Guides) [Paperback]

David Fix (Author), Andy Bezener (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2000

Learn about 320 species of Northern California birds in fascinating detail. Descriptions, illustrations and range maps help you identify birds and understand their habits. A checklist helps you keep a list of your birding accomplishments. Perfect for beginner birders and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Few field guides contain this level of useful information...a welcome addition to any birder's fanny pack. --California Wild magazine

Here is a superb introduction to the regularly occurring birds of Northern California that deserves a place in every birder's library. --Sierra Foothill Audubon Society

This is a beautiful and cleverly designed guide. --San Francisco Chronicle

Here is a superb introduction to the regularly occurring birds of Northern California that deserves a place in every birder's library. --Sierra Foothill Audubon Society

Few field guides contain this level of useful information...a welcome addition to any birder's fanny pack. --California Wild magazine

About the Author

DAVID FIX first learned his birds in the Pacific Northwest. From his sandbox, at age four or five, he recalls hearing Song Sparrows, but it wasn't until his teens that he began looking seriously at birds. Jobs as a timber cruiser and tree planter in the Oregon and Washington Cascades gave him much early experience with forest birds. More recently he has complemented his work in wildlife biology with extensive writing. For 20 years, David has been a subregional editor for the quarterly journal, North American Birds, and he contributes frequent essays, poetry and artwork to the Sandpiper, the newsletter of the Redwood Region Audubon Society. With his partner, Jude Claire Power, and others, David is working to publish the results of a five-year Humboldt County Breeding Bird Atlas project. David and Jude make their home in Bayside, California. ANDY BEZENER is a biologist and the author of nine nature guides for Lone Pine Publishing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Lone Pine Publishing (January 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155105227X
• ISBN-13: 978-1551052274
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Birds & Birdwatching > Excursion Guides
  • #40 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Ornithology

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Best of Its Kind, March 3, 2006

By 

David E. Goldweber (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birds of Northern California (Lone Pine Field Guides) (Paperback)

I am an advanced-amateur birder, and I own four separate bird guides. I live in the Bay Area, and this is by far the guide I use the most. I've owned it for three years, and virtually every bird I've seen has been within its pages. It's very easy to navigate because of its "thumbnails" in the opening pages - you can easily spot your bird there without having to flip through the whole guide.

It's also very well written. It is always eloquent, occasionally humorous, and does a wonderful job of capturing the personality and "feel" of each bird. A problem I have with the overrated Audubon guide, and even sometimes with the fine Sibley and Stokes guides, is that they are too consistently technical. They rarely give unusual background or personality information about the birds. By contrast, this Fix-Bezener guide has something pleasurable to read in every entry.

Some folks might want to supplement this guide with the Stokes Field Guide, Western Region, because it includes photographs. Or perhaps with a Sibley guide if you really want to get into the details. But for 90% of Northern California birders, this single guide will do just fine.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful but limited, March 20, 2006

By 

Cecile M. Derouin (Carlisle, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birds of Northern California (Lone Pine Field Guides) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, the illustrations in this book are of varying quality, with some looking as though they were painted from specimens. Moreover, there are no flight depictions, just static poses. However, the book is useful for focusing your attention on the set of species you need to know in northern California. I recommend using a Sibley identification guide with this book.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book to know who's who, September 3, 2004

By 

J. Yan (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birds of Northern California (Lone Pine Field Guides) (Paperback)

There are many kinds of birds around my workplace - Oracle, in Redwoodshores. I have always been curious what they are. I bought this book and found it very useful. With the help of this book, I've identified several species, including geese, stilts, seagulls, horans, egrets... (you can find the specific name, like Canada Goose, if you read this book.) It's amazed to find that there are so many kinds of birds around Oracle and in the pond in front of it (a.k.a. Lake Larry).

One thing I would like to say about this book is its distribution map (in three colors for summer, winter, and all year round) in North California for each kind of bird. It's very useful because by checking that, you can eliminate some candidates if you are trying to figure out what exact kind of bird you saw.

In the brief description for each bird, the authors managed to squeeze some interesting points in, like Canada Goose is now a community management problem, and cranes bow before they dance to their mates.

If you live in the Bay Area, and want to see water birds, please come to Redwood Shores, go around Oracle green builds (the outer skirt), with this book.