Customer Reviews

Compact Guide to North Carolina Birds

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This is a very handy little book to have with you in the field during your bird watching times. Extremely high quality binding, water-resistant cover, pages are cut (rounded at top) nicely...all in all, an extremely well made book that is equal to the task of being outdoors with you while bird watching.

The illustrations are drop-dead gorgeous. Not Sibley 'illustratively' so, but for field work, and likely for the intended audience more than adequate. Cross-reference and quick search colors, though busy, is very nice, too.

I have but two quibbles with the book, one minor and one major. The minor one is that the amount of space they use for descriptions and notes on the bird is very, very sparse. I know, again, it's not a Sibley, but I would like at least more than a sentance or two. Small quibble.

What's not a small quibble is the oversight of leaving out the American Goldfinch, completely. This one I simply cannot understand. The authors state early on that they're highlighting some of North Carolina's '...most noteworthy birds..' and living in North Carolina, with five feeders, I think I've seen a ratio of about 50/50 in bird population at my feeders....and that's 50% American Goldfinch and 50% everything else!

I'm impressed with the book, overall. Certainly the quality of it is a nice touch. The lack of putting in the Goldfinch is still a mystery and one I think would give the intended audience an idea that the species isn't prevalent in the Carolinas and that just isn't the case.

Other than that, an excellent book for the beginner or a good addition to a seasoned Carolina birders bookcase.