Customer Reviews

National Geographic Field Guide to Birds: Texas

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is published by the organization which also produces the NA Bird field guide considered "best" by most avid birders, the National Geographic Field Guide (Geo guide for short). However it is absolutely NOTHING like said field guide! It is very small (6 inches by 4 inches) and consists entirely of full page color photographs on the left page, and brief descriptive text with a Texas-only range map on the right page. At the bottom of the text page are even more brief notes, usually about another similar bird, and often accompanied by a tiny painting of that bird (which appears to be taken directly from the Geo Guide).

The photographs are quite good, and really are the only saving grace of the entire book. They appear to be chosen for their artistic value more so than to illustrate field marks, however. The selection of species is extremely superficial - for example, the only species of oriole shown is Bullock's Oriole, despite the fact that in west Texas Scott's Oriole is routinely found, and for birders in the lower Rio Grande valley the target species is likely to be Altamira Oriole (not pictured), or, if coverage was as exceptional as I had hoped an NGS bird publication would be, even Audubon's or Black-vented Oriole - and one also wonders why Orchard Oriole, found throughout the state, is left out!

The book description here on Amazon is "generous" in its pronouncements. The "guidance on where to look for key birds" consists of a one-page, incredibly simplistic commentary on birding in Texas ("The Texas coast is well-known as a place for migrant birds to rest and feed on their way northward." "Other regions of the state include the High Plains where Lesser Prairie-Chickens still strut . . .") Turn the page and the most specific location data provided is a map of the entire state with numerous parks and refuges depicted. But it is left entirely up to you to figure out how to navigate to Anahuac NWR to look for those migrants (where's High Island?), and, since Lesser Prairie-Chicken isn't even included in the main text, how are you supposed to know that Muleshoe NWR might be a place to try to see them?

My greatest hope for this book was that it would give additional insight into the Texas specialities of ABA area birding, but even here it is basically incomplete. Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Common Paraque, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher, Great Kiskadee, Black-capped Vireo, Green Jay, Colima and Golden-cheeked Warbler, and Olive Sparrow are all here, but missing are a few regular species which make Texas birding so unique, such as Groove-billed Ani and White-collared Seedeater. Since only in south Texas can a Muscovy Duck be counted (as opposed to being labelled an escapee from you local park's pond), why not show a wild Muscovy instead of another photo of a wild Mallard? And what about every birder's favorite dump denizen, the Tamaulipas Crow?

Overall this book is not recommended, at any level of birding, for any use other than its collection of photographs. For a beginner in the field (or even in the backyard) it doesn't provide the necessary comparison images to differentiate even the most obvious field marks so as to allow identification. For the intermediate birder trying to locate target species in Texas, the guidance (or essential lack thereof) to places where the birds can be found is woeful. And for advanced birders - well, they really don't need something this small in size or detail.

Be aware that there are several other titles in this series, for other states, and I suspect that this review's basic criticisms hold for all of them. As for me, I'll hold on until November when the Fifth Edition of the REAL Geo Guide comes out!

Don't be fooled by the title to think that this book is a complete guide to the birds of Texas. It has the majority of common birds but some of the most common (like mourning doves) are relegated to a small corner on a page. The information given is nice but the incompleteness makes it frustrating to use as a real field guide.

This is a good little book for quick reference. It is not as good as the larger National Geographic Field Guides for birds for identifying a bird for the first time, since the information and illustrations provided are much less complete.

Left a lot of state birds out, and had those that were there in a strange order.

This book was just what I was looking for. It has great pictures, description of the female and territory map. It has been no end of value and has helped me identify all the birds that have come into my yard so far.

Wonderful book. Great size and beautiful pictures. Very well organized and easy to find what you are looking for fast.