Customer Reviews

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The saving grace of this bird book is its portable nature. It is small enough to fit in a back pocket when traversing over hill and dell tracking down that Northern Flicker. The cover is also of durable material to weather the dirt, grass, the weather, or whatever you put it through. Those are the good things.

The detractors are that when compared to other bird books, the format isn't the friendliest. To find all the scoop about a particular bird it is easy to locate the picture, however there is a separate section identifying habitat, range, behavior, etcetera. Then there is a numbering system separate from the page numbers that make all this cross-referencing and flipping back and forth between the pictures and the descriptions somewhat confusing. Another confusing thing about the picture sequencing is that two different views of the same bird aren't always placed together. For instance, on frame number 185 (not the page number mind you) we find the Pied-billed Grebe winter plumage and then a couple pages over oddly enough on frame 195 we find what the Pied-billed Grebe looks like the rest of the year. So now we want to know more about this feathered-floater, we are directed back to the back of the book...pg. 341 (we are back to going by page numbers) to find out that this little guy has earned the local name, "Hell Diver."

So for an easier to use guide to read from the comfort of your living room or from a car's passenger seat, I would point you to the Stokes Guide to Birds. Audubon's book does have some good info and unique details on particular birds that can't be found elsewhere, can be carried into the field with ease, and does include some pretty good pics. The two complement each other nicely, but if I had to choose one...it'd be the Stokes.

I see a new bird in town; I have to hurry and grab the binoculars and my trusty field book. The pages begin to slip out of the book and I fumble to try and retrieve them before the wind scatters them about. In the mean time, the not so patient bird flies away and I'm left disappointed having again missed a choice moment. I examine the loose pages and the worn cover of my trusty field book and decide it's not so trusty anymore. With mixed emotions, I reverently put away the old field book and buy me this new one.

I've yet to find a bird in the new addition that I couldn't identify, including, a few rare instances when we get visitors from the East. A common crackle is not so common in Utah. But this field book told me that from time to time they will cross the great divide to visit their cousins in the West.

If you like birding, you'll love this field guide; it's the best I've seen for a long while.

I have used the older edition of this field guide for years and have always been able to find the bird I am looking for. This newer edition has much improved pictures from the older edition and a slightly better layout. Enough of an improvement that I felt I had to buy the newer edition. Happy bird-watching!

The National Audubon Society has long been respected as, among other things, the publisher of a series of top-notch field guides to the natural world in North America. Their volumes include birds, trees, butterflies, insects and spiders, wildflowers, mammals, rocks and minerals, mushrooms, fish... you name it. Several of the books are specific to geographic regions. This review is of the National Audubon Society FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS - WESTERN EDITION.

This book is compact; it measures 4" x 7-1/2" x 1-1/2" thick, just the right size to fit into your pocket or day-pack if you're inclined to take it on a walk.

It's very thoughtfully and logically organized with four major sections, as follows:

INTRODUCTION
This includes a discussion of both the art and science of birding and the organization of the book. It includes a highly detailed rendering of a "typical" bird with all the anatomical points used in the book identified by their common names.

COLOR KEY
The avian kingdom is broken down into categories (long-legged waders, gull-like birds, owls, pigeon-like birds, hawks, tree-clinging birds, hummingbirds, perching birds, and so on.) Each category is assigned a silhouette. The categories are further broken down into families. So, in the category of hawks, we have ospreys, caracaras, vultures, hawks, falcons, harriers, kites, and eagles. Each family has its own silhouette symbol.

COLOR PLATES
This is a series of color photographs of 676 birds. The photographs are organized by the categories mentioned above. Most of the color plates show adult males, but some distinctive females and juveniles are also shown, along with seasonal changes in plumage. Each photograph identifies the bird by its common name, gives its overall length, and cites the page on which you can find more complete details about it.

Each color plate page has a thumb index with the silhouetted symbol for the birds on that page. The birds are arranged within their families by their predominant color, and the silhouettes are colored accordingly, to make it even easier to find your bird.

SPECIES ACCOUNTS
These are the write-ups cited in the color plates. Each citation gives the pages on which photographs may be found, the common and Latin names for the bird, and brief descriptions of the birds physical appearance. It also includes information on its voice, habitat, nesting habits and eggs, and range. There's even a tiny map of North America with its range shaded in gray.

At the end of this section is information about bird-watching, conservation, a glossary of terms used in the Guide, photographers' credits, and an index in both English and Latin.

What makes this Guide so easy to use is the way the color plates are organized, Without knowing anything at all about birds, I was able to identify a brightly colored bird that was hopping around my garden one day, and it took me less than one minute to do so. All I had to do is flip through the color plates, using the silhouettes, until I found the one of the right shape and color. My bird was on the second page of that section.

I also love the compact size and sturdy leatherette binding. This book will fit easily into a pack or pocket, and will stand up to damp weather.

If you're a life-list birding obsessive, this book might not be enough for you because it doesn't picture every color variation of every bird in every species and family. For that, you probably need Sibley. But for people like me, who enjoy backyard birding and want to know what we're looking at, it can't be beat.

I LOVE this field guide. This field guide is excellent as books by Roger Tory Peterson, who illustrated the birds. It's perfect for any age or any people who's interested in ornithology. This field guide only tells the birds in western regions of North America. This field guide have been helpful to me a lot of times. I've identified birds easily with this guide. Although this book was published a while ago, it looks as new as it was made these days! The photos are in full color. I think it shows all western region birds. Informations of each birds are also well written. So if you're intersted in North American birds, get this guide right now!

I regret that I cannot recommend this book because it contains easily caught errors.

I suppose that misinformation in the text is not so important. Still, on p. 21 the book claims that "Every bird has a scientific name consisting of two Greek or Latin words." The author of this book, Prof. M. Udvardy, was a respected ornithologist who would never make such a mistake, so either it happened in the revision by J. Farrand or is due to an ignorant copy editor.

Much, much worse is the misidentification of photos, which of course is the heart of this field guide. For example, photo #172 purports to be a Pacific Loon in winter plumage, but as any birder worth his/her salt can see, this is clearly a Common Loon. Likewise, photo #175 is labeled Common Loon, and the bird shown is clearly not of this species.

A field guide should be 100% accurate in species identifications and also not promulgate misinformation about scientific nomenclature. With many alternatives on the market, this is a book not to buy.

--Jack P. Hailman (Fellow, American Ornithologists' Union and President, Florida Ornithological Society).

This is an excellent guide to identifying birds. The National Audubon Society is an excellent authority on all things nature, and therefore it is not surprising that the National Audubon Society would publish a helpful guide. The guide helps a birder identify birds by behavior, size, habitat, plumage, call, and location. There are color photographs of many birds to guide the birder. The plates are grouped by family which makes basic identification easy. The book also has a section that describes each bird as well as maps that show the likely locations where birds can be found. The color plates are enjoyable simply to look at, and can help a person prepare for possible sightings. The book is small enough that it can be carried to the field. The cover is also durable so it can withstand wear and tear. Since the boos are divided buy Eastern Region and Western Region, so the book is not very cumbersome.

Compact, well-written, precise, comprehensive, informative, brilliant color plates, tough outer cover - what's not to like? Highly recommended.

As a general all round guide, this book is helpful and has a place in any naturalists library. The color plates are the best of all the bird guides.
The index cross-references the color plates with the descriptions making it pretty staightforward. The cover is a durable leatherette, the binding pretty good (although the color plates will loosen up with use). The Audubon guides are definitely a step up from the Peterson and Stokes guides.

Now for the criticisms. The descriptions are far too brief and vague. An example: for the Cooper's Hawk, the voice description is:

"A rapid series:kek kek kek kek kek". Mmmm . . . Doesn't help much . . .

The summary is also 3 sentences long . . . c'mon, did the editors get tired here or what?

The descriptions throughout are not much more detailed than this, especially the voice descriptions. And trying to print out the phonetics/sound of a birdsong has always seemed pretty futile to me anyway; the most effective way of learning the signature of a bird's song is to listen to a recording.

Except for overhead photos of most of the raptors, there are almost no flying photos of all the other birds. I think this could be a much needed additon to any future editions. Feather identification is a big part of birding.

All in all though, this is the first guide I turn to when I need to know.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

A good book to take with you because of it's size but, to me, the photos of the birds are lacking. Although they do accurately display the bird they are lacking in detail and often, to us, don't show alternate views for better comparison and easier indentification.