Customer Reviews

Florida's Birds: A Handbook and Reference

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

 

 

Living on the water in Florida has its ups and downs. Not just the waves, or the pesky 'lil noseeum bugs. But, glorious birds! This reference guide is handy and entertaining.

"Florida's Birds--A Handbook and Reference" is a product of many years of preperation. Covering over 325 species which are identified and discussed with information on distinguishing marks, habitat, seasons, and even distinctive calls.

The cross referencing and colorful pictures add to the wonder of spotting a Double Crested Cormorant to the deafening wail of the Black Crowned Night Heron.

A good edition for your reference collections.

Thank you for your interest & comments--CDS

This is a great book for all birders, but especially for those of us in Florida.The photography is wonderful and the information on the birds, their habitats, and breeding areas is very thorough.I recommend it highly!

This field guide handy bird book to have around the house, but not so great in the field. The color illustrations offer limited variations for seasonal plumage and the color is very inaccurate. Most importantly the information and illustrations are in separate sections of the book making identification cumbersome. I recommend sticking to Sibley's or the National Geographic field guide.

This is a great reference book for anyone who is interested just in birds that can be found in Florida. The drawings have enough detail that most birders from beginner to advanced intermediate should find them useful. I used this book for the first few years of birding and found it to be of great value. Many people may attempt to compare this to Sibley's Guides but I would have to say that each has its advantages. Sibley's often has too much detail and does not show just the birds that you may see in one specific area. This book show only Florida birds and groups them in a logic fashion that allows for fast reference. If you are in Florida bird watching (I strongly suggest it!) then you should find this book useful. This is not a replacement for the Sibley Guide but more of a quick reference book that can be used as the primary source. Go to Sibley's Guides for fine details when in doubt but unless you know exactly where to find each bird, this guide will be less frustrating.

Excellent color depictions, good cross referencing to information pages vs. habitat and picture pages. It is exactly as represented - a good reference guide.

Florida residents and visitors, curious about that strange looking bird along the roadside, or in that cypress tree, can find no better reference book than "Florida's Birds." For 20 years, I've kept it, with a pair of binoculars, on a stand beside the windows overlooking a little lake bordering our yard. The pictures are spot on, the descriptions informative. I love the pages about the exotics, and how some species arrived from other lands. You don't need to be a birding afficiando to enjoy watching, and this book helps you understand your feathered neighbors.

We recently moved to a new area and some of the birds were new to us. We enjoy checking this book when we see a bird we are not sure what it is.

I bought this for my husband, who uses it all the time. Whenever we have a new bird come to the yard he gets the book out to see what it is. It is very helpful.

Identifies the major habitats in Florida such as sand pine scrub, mesic hammocks, salt marshes, etc. Features include about 50 pages with color artwork showing the birds (grouped by type). The adjacent page gives a brief description plus notes on preferred habitat, then refers the reader to another page for more detail on the bird.
Pluses: charts the months the bird is in Florida and also the breeding season, makes an effort to explain key differences in similar looking birds, the index is set up with little boxes so it can be used as a checklist also.
Minuses: pictures somewhat small and at times overcrowded (ducks), it's a nuisance to flip back and forth from the pictures to the detailed write ups.

I've looked at many books on Floridas' birds; This is the only book you need to get a solid grip on the birds of Florida Period!