Customer Reviews

Birds of Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A Field Guide

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Birds of Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a convenient, full-color field guide that lends itself to easy use by amateur birdwatchers and professional researchers alike. Birds of Shenandoah National Park features a brief entry for each of 336 avian species sighted in the area of Blue Ridge in North Carolina and Virginia, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Each entry consists of the species' common name, its scientific name, its approximate size, a verbal description of its appearance and characteristic habits, and a brief summary of where it can be found during what seasons of the year; yet by far the most valuable identifier are the illustrations, almost all of which are in full color. An index, a checklist, and a brief supplementary section of birds that are not common in the area round out this elegantly useful guide.

This is a Peterson's/Sibley's-style field guide that has been stripped of birds not likely to be found in the Shenandoah, Blue Ridge, Great Smoky Mountain area. As an identification guide, it's not very reliable. The illustrations are only a very rough guide to the appearance of the birds being described and many of them are in black and white. Probably the most useful feature of the book is the single-sentence description included for each species of season and general area (very general) that the species is likely to be seen in.