Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Texas (Smithsonian Handbooks) [Turtleback]

Fred J. Alsop (Author)

Book Description

Series: Smithsonian Handbooks | Publication Date: February 1, 2002

The most comprehensive series of field guides to North American birds ever. This impressive collection highlights birds from all regions of the United States including localized areas such as the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest and New England. Whether birding in the foothills of New England, the prairies of the Midwest, or the beaches of Florida, Smithsonian Handbooks are the most comprehensive field guides to North American birds on the market. Looking for the Great Blue Heron or the Piping Plover while visiting the Great Lakes? Desperate to find the rare Long Billed Curlew or the Marbled Godwit during a hike in the Cascade Mountains? There's no need to look any further! Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, these amazing guides are an absolute staple for any birder or amateur ornithologist. Each local species receives its own profile, along with descriptions of habitats and annotated photographs that highlight specific characteristics and other points of interest. Take bird watching to new heights!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The Smithsonian Institution is a center for research dedicated to public education, national service, and scholarship in the arts, sciences, and history.

Product Details

• Turtleback: 576 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789483882
• ISBN-13: 978-0789483881
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's New to Me, but I Like It..., October 22, 2002

By 

"texasbigal" (Bastrop, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Texas (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

The first field guide I ever owned was Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds of Texas. I was thrilled to own it since I was able to identify the birds I saw around me with its help. On the other hand, I was confounded by the archaic design of the book. I will cite the chief example: The textual description of a bird was separate, sometimes by many pages, from the corresponding illustration. This stimulated me to begin my search for the perfect field guide.

My latest acquisition is this book. I will say right now I like it. I haven't stopped using my Sibley Guide, but I was slow to stop using my National Geographic Birds of North America when I first got my Sibley.

Let me tell you why I like the Birds of Texas: The descriptions of the individual bird species. Oh, it has the usual introductory material and end matter, but none of that is really important to me in a field guide. It's all about the bird descriptions!

Each species has its own page with a standardized layout. There is a header bar with the family, species, length and wingspan. There is also a footer bar with notes about plumage dimorphism, habitat (using symbols), migratory habits and weight.

I am particularly pleased with an innovation in Birds of Texas: In the top right-hand corner of each page there is a small silhouette of the bird superimposed on an outline of this book giving a very useful size reference. (A "scale silhouette" according to the introductory material.) Of course I don't need this at the extremes, for example a Whooping Crane or a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but I do find it helpful for shorebirds and passerines.

In the main section there is a textual description that discusses the bird's appearance and habits. There are also specific "bullets" covering Song, Behavior, Breeding, Nesting, Population, Feeders (when appropriate) and Conservation.

There is also a photographic illustration that is masked so that the bird is presented with minimal distraction from any background. The photos are all very sharp, and important identifying characteristics are flagged with notes. I suspect that some features that are important to identification have been "digitally tweaked" to emphasize them. The pictures present the bird as you are most likely to see it: perched, flying and sometimes both. If the bird's appearance varies by sex or season additional photos or paintings are included.

I have to admit that I have a bias against photographic field guides (as opposed to painted field guides): I tend to think that birds must look exactly like a photograph while I can accept some variation from a painting. I know this is ... silly, but I'm not the only birder to have this bias. Having said this, I find that the masked presentation minimizes, but does not eliminate, my problem with this format.

There is a small section, discussing similar species. There are notes about the similarities and differences, and there are photos or paintings of these species.

Near the bottom of each species' page is another small section describing both graphically and in words the bird's flight pattern. I like this feature; I often rely on a bird's flight pattern to identity it.

Opposite the flight pattern section is a range map which uses a color scheme that is consistent with both the National Geographic and Sibley guides.

Just above the footer bar is the Nest Identification section which has symbols that show the size and typical location(s) of the species' nests. A short descriptive paragraph is also included. I really haven't found this useful (yet).

Below the footer bar there is a place to record your sighting of the particular species.

I have found quite a few things I like about Birds of Texas. They are:

*The size: it is smaller than the Sibley guide.

*The lack of backgrounds in the photos.

*The field marks pointed out in the illustrations.

*The scale silhouettes.

*The flight pattern section.

*The habitat symbols in the footer bar, although they are quite small and I haven't learned them all yet.

On the other hand I have a few complaints. They are:

*The weight: it weighs almost as much as the Sibley guide.

*No way to get to a bird quickly: I haven't said anything about this, but I sure would like a thumb index or a blind index or a quick index or.... I feel this way about every field guide I own. Fortunately I have found downloadable quick indices for the National Geographic and Sibley guides, and I have created one for The Birds of Texas.

*The size of some of the type and some of the symbols. I'm, ahem, middle-aged, and I need to use reading glasses to access some of the information. Of course, there's no way that the information could be enlarged without completely destroying the format of the book. Never mind!

As I said earlier, I like this book. I do not think you would be disappointed owning it. I don't know right now if I'll replace Sibley in my birding bag with The Birds of Texas, but I keep it there now when I'm birding in my home state.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm buying my second copy now..., April 30, 2004

By 

_Lucinda_ (Houston, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Texas (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

...to give as a gift, because I'm so pleased with it.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, who seem to have a great deal of expertise and several bird books at-hand, I'm just a casual observer of the visitors to my backyard feeder. This is the first bird book (ahem, field guide) for me, and I don't see that I'll need to seek other titles any time soon.

As with most Dorling-Kindersley publications, the photos are great (these show male, female, and juvenile examples), the layout is engaging, and the text is informative. One helpful feature for a novice like me: Next to a picture, there's often a notation of something like "often mistaken for.." so you can look up those other species to compare details.

I'm not really interested in an encyclopedia about each bird; I just wanted a handy reference, and this book serves that purpose admirably.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars to add to the first review, December 27, 2003

By 

Gregg A. Lee (central Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Texas (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

I generally agree with the first review. A few additions

I find the single page approach generally more useful.
The illustrations are larger than many other guides, and often include smaller pictures or drawings of female, juvenile, seasonal plumage, similar birds.
I agree that some pictures are photoshopped to enhance field marks. Generally this works, but attempts to add shadowing are sometimes misleading. For example, the great egret, a completely white bird shown from below in flight, appears to be mostly blue-gray due to heavihanded shadowing of underside.

Another issue is that this is not really a Texas Guide except in the selection of birds to include, probably drawn from a larger database. Distribution maps are national. There is no indication of dates to observe in Texas, All large illustrations are male breeding plumage, even though many of the birds do not breed here and are seen only in winter plumage. One glaring ommission is the Savannah Sparrow, one of the most common winter sparrows in Texas. Appears as "similar bird" several times, but no page of its own.