Customer Reviews

Raptors of California (California Natural History Guides)

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

 

 

Excellent text and a good read. Error: Camp Pendelton is in San Diego
county, not San Luis Obispo county. Art work is good as far as it goes,
however, Wheeler's book of photos of actual live birds is better for field
work.

This has become my often-referenced book for California raptors, a subject that intrigues me both personally and (hopefully, some day) professionally.

The book is great, offering a section on general raptor biology before the individual species accounts. Both are pretty good. For someone without extensive knowledge on bird biology (as I was, when I first purchased the book) the intro section is very useful. However, now having learned the general information, I wish the species accounts were a little more in depth. I don't know how much information there really is out there concerning California populations of these species, but I always want more!

Additionally, more illustrations would be very useful. Male and female birds, from different angles would have been nice. Immature plumage, from different angles also would have been nice, for each color morph significantly distinct, and for each subspecies. I imagine that to the author/publishers, less illustrations means less work, time, and money. But omissions like that make me give 4 stars to a book that in most ways should have 5.

- A. Metea

This guide has changed my observational powers overnight. I now notice more species than before, and understand what they are doing. For example, the other day I spotted and observed an American Kestrel hunting and I wouldn't even have noticed it before reading this book.