Customer Reviews

Peterson Field Guide(R) to Eastern Birds: Fourth Edition (Peterson Field Guides)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even when I lived in the city, I liked to feed and watch the birds (mainly sparrows and pigeons). Now that we live up in the woods, we're in bird paradise. Using this Peterson Field Guide for "Eastern Birds" plus a good pair of binoculars for visual identifications, and the "Birding by Ear Eastern/Central" CDs (Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson) I've identified 42 species of birds in just over a month, as a casual observer for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II project.

I have other bird books, but it is Peterson's Field Guide that I use most frequently. Roger Tory Peterson's 'system' "is based on patternistic drawings with arrows that pinpoint the key field marks." You don't have to have the bird in hand in order to make an identification. In addition to 136 full-color plates of Eastern birds (male, female, and immature, or summer and winter plumage if they differ markedly), there are also 390 three-color maps (first introduced in the 1980 edition).

The maps are absolutely essential for an amateur like me. If I've narrowed down a blurry little gray bird to X and Y, and Y never makes it north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I can be pretty certain that the bird is X. Here's an actual example on the utility of the maps: I was trying to distinguish a trilling song that could either belong to the Swamp Sparrow, the Pine Warbler, or the Northern Junco. We do see Juncos at our feeders in the winter, but this is July and according to Peterson's map, the Juncos spend the summer north of here, mostly in Canada. So I've narrowed the trill down to the Swamp Sparrow or the Pine Warbler (actually I'm positive we've got both as I've made tentative visual identifications. It makes sense since we live in the Pine Barrens which is dotted with numerous swamps).

This book begins with a generalized introduction to identifying birds by shape, distinctive features and behavior. Physically, it is tightly bound and just the right size to slip into a backpack. The pages are glossy and 'relatively' waterproof if you wipe them quickly dry. There is even a 'life list' up front where you can check off the birds you have seen.

Don't go birding without it.

The Peterson field Guide to Eastern American Birds turned out to be the best birding book I've ever read. The book was well thought out and had the format that we needed in our suburban environment. The illustrations were concise and made identifying the birds extremely easy. We have a large population of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Mourning Doves, and its great to actually know what in the world we were looking at. It was great!

This is the best of the field guides for the amature birder in my opinion. I purchased a guide that had actual photos of birds in their habitats, thinking it would be the best, but it definately was not as good or as easy to use as the Peterson field guide. If you are looking for a good all around field guide to keep near your binoculars, this one is my pick.

I received this book as a gift and have used it constantly. I keep it on my window sill during the feeding season to identify the visiters to my feeder. The book's size and physical construction are excellent. As someone who is a novice it seems to be very comprehensive on the subject matter.

This is the only bird book you need in Minnesota. This is the 4th used book we have purchased of this edition. We purchased all 4 for other people so hopefully ours will last our lifetime. The product was in as good of shape as described. Thank you.

One of the many things I like about this guide is that a non-birder can learn so much just by reading the table of contents: how to categorize birds, for example, and what "passerine" means. One can learn further with the short "How to Identify Birds" section. I like the color plates and I especially appreciate that the information on each bird faces the color plates. An excellent reference for non-birders.

After all these years this is by far the best bird guidebook out there. The sketches, details compare to no other. Great guide for bird lovers or just curious about a bird you see out your window.

Aside from a bit of a shipping delay due to weather, this used book appears new and arrived in just over a week. The information inside already helped me to identify a few birds I was unfamiliar with. In addition I now know I have a resident Great Horned Owl by comparing the way I would write what I've heard to what was discribed in the text.

Although this particular edition is older, the book was in perfect condition, looked new. Not surprising, the birds don't care what edition they are in, they still look the same. Very helpful book. We moved to a new home and had a surprising number of new species to identify.

This book is a classic, and I was quite pleased with the good condition of the book when it arrived. The shipping was prompt and efficient. I would definitely order from these people again.