Wisconsin Birds: A Seasonal and Geographical Guide (North Coast Books) [Hardcover]

Stanley A. Temple (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 2 edition (February 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299152200
• ISBN-13: 978-0299152208
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,889,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding companion to a Peterson field guide, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wisconsin Birds: A Seasonal and Geographical Guide (North Coast Books) (Paperback)

This book is an ideal companion to a field guide to Eastern birds. Primarily designed as a reference guide (it contains no pictures, descriptions, or field marks) it contains a wealth of information on the likelihood of finding a particular species by county and time of year in Wisconsin. Based on at least 15 years of birding reports, the book is organized in standard order of species with one bird species per page. Each page contains the probability of spotting the species somewhere in the state in a given year, a map of the frequency of reports by county, a chart of the reporting frequency by week for the year, and a trend line by year of the total relative number of reports. I would recommend the guide primarily to the intermediate or advanced birder who is knowledgable about each bird species and their likely habitats already, but needs to know what is likely to be found in a given part of the state.

IMHO, this book is a template of how every state or regional guide should be designed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I use it regularly, June 8, 2002

By 

Robin Gittich (Jefferson, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wisconsin Birds: A Seasonal and Geographical Guide (North Coast Books) (Paperback)

Any birder is familiar with the format that even the best guides use to convey the likelihood over time of finding a given species in a particular location. Because of the scope of those guides, they are limited to conveying the timing to seasons and the locations to regions.

This book tells the reader exactly when specific bird species are generally found in specific counties of the state. A field guide will tell you that a certain bird migrates through the state in the spring, but some birds migrate in March, and some in June. This book will also tell you how populous the bird is (ie. how rare it is). You can also see the general movements of resident birds in the state over seasons.

I live in Wisconsin, so I use this book all the time. I have been frustrated trying to find similar information for states that I visit regularly. It is an invaluable resource for concentrating observation and understanding the animals being studied.