Customer Reviews

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of North America -- Eastern Region (Smithsonian Handbooks)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I take issue with the Book News Review. Every birding guide has strengths and weaknesses, and few (if any) can compete with Sibley on illustrations. This book's main attribute is its standardized format that provides song, behavior, breeding, nesting, fight pattern, nest identification and similar birds for every species, plus a sighting checkoff at the bottom of each page. The comprehensive information makes it a useful companion to other guides. As for field portability, my reliable, dog-eared Peterson's still wins out.

There have been over 800 species of birds identified in North America.This includes all those that breed there or have ever been proven to have visited,even very rarely.This book limits itself to eastern NA(east of the 100th meridan,roughly the Mississippi)and north of Mexico plus ajacent islands and seas within 200 miles of the coast.All birds have been documented by the American Ornithologists' Union.It covers 696 species.There is a similar book for Western North America.Obviously many birds will be in each book because of overlapping.The species are in taxonomic order as is the norm for most bird books.
The birds are covered one per page.There is a large color photograph,a written description,song description,behavior details,breeding information,nesting details,as well as length,wingspan,flight pattern,nest identification ,scientific family and species names.plumage,habitat,migrationweight,range maps,scale sihouettes, information to show differences with similar species.The book also has a 37 page introduction on how to use the book and what birding is all about.
This book will serve many purposes;but mainly as a use at home resource.It is much too heavy to tote around while birding,but certainly packed with much mote material.An excellent book to have 'on the shelf'for a serious or otherwise interest in birds.
For someone starting and wanting a bird book to take with them in the field ,go with; Peterson,Kaufman,Golden,American Bird Conservancy's field Guide,National Geographic,Sibley's or such.

Did you ever try to decide whether the little wren on the back patio was a Winter Wren, a Carolina Wren, Bewick's Wren, or a House Wren? With this book you can add a few more wrens to your list. You'll also find plenty of Sparrows, Warblers, and members of other bird families. BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA: EASTERN BIRDS contains a comprehensive listing of the birds who spend at least part of their year living east of the Mississippi as well as plenty of western birds of interest--like the House Finch who migrated east. This book is large-more than 700 pages-so it's heavy, but it has a plasicized cover so you can haul it in your backpack if you're strong. Since the Smithsonian developed it, the book is literally jam-packed with information, including: a description with a color photo; call notes; habitat; nesting habits; relative size (the bird is silhouetted against the book); bird look-alikes; and plenty of other useful stuff. Each bird receives a full page of coverage. My only complaint, and it's barely worth mentioning is that the maps appearing with each bird entry are a bit small. In some cases a bird's domain is barely visiable, but partly that's owing to the demise of the domain. You not only will discover where the little guys summer, winter, and breed, you'll discover which birds are threatened with extinction owing to the human caused destruction of their habitats. The book contains a listing of now-extinct birds, each of them profiled as the still living birds have been. The loss of the Carolina Parakeet is the saddest tale. Carolina Parakeets were once prolific. They ranged over most of the Eastern United States. They were so loyal to their flock mates the live birds would fly to the side of the dead and dying birds. As they hovered around their dying mates hunters killed them. (John Muir pointed out ages ago that animals feel sorrow, and all of us who are close to animals know this.) The Carolina Parakeet was destroyed for it's feathers. The Veery is facing a similar fate. Not only is it's habitat being destroyed, the lichen it depends on is disappearing from the trees in the Eastern part of the country and around the Great Lakes owing to air pollution. (Think twice about those polluting smoke stacks and SUVs!!) Talk about a canary in the mine!! Bird-watching is a pleasurable past time I have shared with grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and now share with my children and grandchildren. If we all don't get more serious about preserving the places birds live and breed there won't be any birds to watch. The Smithsonian is dedicated to preserving our heritage. It's Guide will raise your consciousness and help you identify many more birds than you ever thought possible.

I take issue with the Book News review. Every birding guide has strengths and weaknesses. For illustrations, we'll leave that to Sibley. The Alsop book's attribute is its standardized format of song, behavior, breeding, nesting and population summaries, plus similar birds, flight patterns and nest identification, for every species. This comprehensive information makes it a useful companion to other birding guides. The Alsop guide may be too heavy to carry in the field (my trustworthy, dog-eared Peterson's still wins out here), but it doesn't take up too much room in the car trunk.

A really great book on birds. With photo picture makes it easier to identify as well as a commonly confused with (looks a lot like) section. It is well organized (like most bird books by predator/color). Also nice to have a little shadow in the corner showing scale compared to this book. The sounds the birds make isn't too helpful to me (more fun watching my friends trying to make the sounds) but then again I do better with visual identification. My one family member likes it so much I've had a hard time getting it back from her. If you're looking for general information of trying to identify a bird that may live in the eastern part of North American then this is a fine book. However if your looking for your local state and are pretty new to birding it may overwhelm you and this may be a book for you but after your over the beginner state.

I read at least 10 different books from the library, and was pleased to be able to purchase this book from Amazon. The pictures are clear and accurate. The format is very easy to use. Would recommend for all interested in bird watching and identificationSmithsonian Handbooks: Birds of North America -- Eastern Region (Smithsonian Handbooks)

This Guidebook gives a very accurate description of Birds of Eastern North America including some outstanding habits, nesting areas, and calls.It is a very important addition to my Ornathalogical Book collection.

I am not an avid birdwatcher, but I am interested in identifying birds whenever I see one in my backyard or on a camping trip. That's why after looking through all the bird books I could find, I settled on this one. I love the layout of the pages and the content included about each bird, especially the diagram of the flight patterns. Also, the pictures are very helpful. This book works great on a bookshelf as an occasional reference, but I would not want to lug it around with me in the woods.

I actually prefer this book to Sibley's which I also have.Being a novice birdwatcher, this serves my needs. Now, I'll have to decide which field guide will be best for me.

This book was in poor shape not what I would call a good quality book. It is almost falling apart. i had ordered a similar book from another seller and it was in beautiful shape. I realize it is used but I would have labled this in poor shape