Customer Reviews

Birds of Texas: A Field Guide (W. L. Moody, Jr., Natural History)

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

 

 

Great for easy identification of birds. Contains some beautiful pictures and helpful information on habitats. Paperback edition is convenient for birding walks and drives. Really fueled my interest in birdwatching.

This is useless as a field guide. Too big to be carried comfortably during a field walk. To bunch all photos at the end and to have just scores of descriptions in the front, with area ranges is not helpful for a quick guide in the field. Look elsewhere for better materials.

Rappole and Blacklock's book is a very poor choice for a book covering Texas birds. The range maps are generally inaccurate and horrible for many species. The descriptive part of the text is fine for what it is, but Texas and range sections are full of misinformation. There are many very nice photos in the back of the book, but with only one per species it makes the book useless as a field guide. Many species are depicted in plumages that are rarely seen in Texas (e.g. (Oldsquaw in breeding plumage). There are a number of birds included in the book that have never been documented in the state (e.g. Bristle-thighed Curlew, Great Knot, Blue Ground-Dove, Smooth-billed Ani). There are also a few mis-identified photographs (e.g. Double-crested Cormorant, Couch's Kingbird). There are other better choices that cover Texas (although most of those books cover all of North America).

This guide has some nifty features (shows hawk silhouettes and under-markings), but suffers from small photos. It's handy to have around the house and helpful when teamed with a second guide. That way you have two chances to see the markings and identify a bird. Some photos have leaves or branches obscuring the bird's markings.
The placement of the photos in a separate section from the descriptions makes using the book a bit awkward. It causes the birder to flip back and forth a lot.
The description includes a range map, habitat, voice, markings and similar birds.

This might be a useful reference to keep at the house, but I find it cumbersome to use as a field guide. The information about the birds is in the front of the book. The pictures are in the back. That means a lot of flipping back and forth. Definitely not something you want to be doing when you've just spotted a bird you need help identifying. And a few of the photographs are of such poor quality that they're not helpful. I don't have a favorite Texas-specific field guide (yet), but I've grown to love Sibley's field guides. Sibley has the bird info and the illustrations on the same page. And there are multiple illustrations for each bird (in-flight, male, female, juvenile, etc). Birds of Texas only has one photograph for each bird, and sometimes the individual you're trying to identify won't look anything like the photograph. Plus, it seems to be easier to _illustrate_ the bird's features and markings than to photograph them. It took me a while to believe this, but it's true. (Although the digitally-enhanced photographs in Kaufman's guide are wonderful, and may be preferred by some.) Birds of Texas isn't a bad book, I just don't think it's a good field guide.

This book was given to me as a gift. Ihave loaned it to several friends to take with them on their travels and all have said what an exceptional book this was. The photos were great and the descriptions right on the mark. I would highly recommend this book to all those that seek the perfect guide.

Lots of bad being said about this book, but of all the books we have here at the house, this book is the one we turn to over and over. We've had this book for at least 12 years and it has helped us identify lots of birds in our backyard.

I can't speak for the use as a field guide as we only use it at home. I suspect the other reviewers are correct about it being a bit too big and possibly even organized poorly for fast in the field reference.

I came over here to order another copy as ours is showing signs of it's age with several loose pages and the laminate is peeling on the outside cover. I was really hoping that the book had been updated - surely some of the data like ranges etc has changed since this book was first published in 1994.

We have used this book for 1 year and constantly complain about the pictures, maps, drawings, descriptions of bird calls, etc. We use it at home daily and have found it inadequate. I do not recommend this book for a serious bird watcher.

I like the size of the book, has good quality color plates nicely cross referenced to accounts of species. Useful as field guide