Customer Reviews

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of the Mid-Atlantic (Smithsonian Handbooks)

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I'm an avid birder with almost 20 years of experience in the field (mostly in the mid-Atlantic region), and I enjoy looking through various field guides (lots have been published since I began birding).

The one good feature about this book is that it contains a lot more text information than other guides: details on behavior, nesting, and population status. But both the photographs and selection of birds for the mid-Atlantic region were quite bad.

The photos are in the style later improved by Kenn Kauffman in his Focus Guide series, with images of birds removed from their background. But the images are often in poor lighting and in odd poses that would be misleading to anyone trying to identify a bird in the field. The Great Egret, an all white bird, is shown in flight in shadow so that the wings appear dark gray.

For a book covering the birds of the mid-Atlantic, they have included some species rarely seen in the area while relegating some seen more frequently to an appendix of rare and accidental birds. The Wilson's Phalarope, often seen in migration in the region, is listed as casual while the rarer Red and Red-necked Phalarope are given full space in the book.

The guide is misleading for beginners and more seasoned birders can find better guides to further improve their identification skills.

Have enjoyed looking up the birds that land on my birdfeeder! The book is easy to use and I have been able to look up almost every bird that I have in my yard.