Gulls: Guide to Identification (Paperback)

by P. J. Grant (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Second Edition of Gulls: A Guide to Identification incorporates a great deal of new information discovered since the last edition. Most of the entries have been updated, and the species drawings and distribution maps have been improved. Gulls details 31 species, and includes a new section on eight extra species which occur on the west coast of Canada and the United States. The book now features all species and subspecies which occur regularly in the whole of North America.

Key Features
* Covers 31 species in detail
* Contains more than 500 photographs including 79 photographs for eight North American species
* Improved identification drawings and distribution maps

From the Back Cover
The second edition of Peter Grant's guide has been extensively revised and has been reset throughout. Importantly, a further eight species of gulls occurring on the west coasts of Canada and the USA have been added.
The book now covers 31 species and has been increased in length from 280 to 352 pages. More than 280 new photographs have been added or substituted, bringing the total to 544, including 79 photographs for the eight North American additional species.
The great increase in interest in gull identification since the publication of the first edition (and the author's series on that topic in British Birds) has helped bring much new information to light. As a result some revision was made to almost every text page and most of the identification drawings were improved in some way; in addition, changes were made to many of the distribution maps. These revisions and improvements were often quite minor, but others were substantial and important (see the author's Introduction).
Until recently gulls were widely regarded as a difficult group and identification and ageing was often inaccurate or uncertain. This was largely due to the complexities of immature plumages, which of necessity were generally unrepresented in standard field guides. Birdwatchers need no longer be deterred or confounded by that deficiency. The book offers them the opportunity to advance their skill in field identification by accepting the challenge rather than shrinking from the difficulties. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; 2nd edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0122956400
• ISBN-13: 978-0122956409
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,387,466 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great descriptions and photos leave you wishing for more., February 25, 1999

By	[e-mail] "atakdoug" (Cooperstown, PA) - See all my reviews

This is it: this book will enable you to master the gulls. This book, and hundreds or thousands of hours studying the birds, that is. Gulls are a pain, and no book can change that. But Grant does a good job spelling out everything you're going to need to figure out. The hundreds of photographs (inappropriate for a field guide, but perfect for a supplemental guide) are themselves a reason to buy this book: they're not art, but they will show you how much you can and sometimes cannot tell the various species apart.

It's actually a shame this is the best gull book there is, because the focus is very British. Species that do not occur in Europe or Asia get reduced treatment (those from western North America) or none at all (those that are normally confined to the Southern Hemisphere). So the description of, say, the Yellow-footed Gull is adequate, Thayer's Gull inadequate, and some Latin American species that stray occasionally to the U.S., nonexistent. But with the exception of the Thayer's Gull the book deals very well with the more difficult problems a North American gull watcher is likely to encounter.

If you think gulls are no fun, Grant isn't going to change your mind. But if you want to tell them apart, get this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No longer the best gull ID book but still indispensable, September 20, 2007

By	Brian Allen "neotropical birding" (Manistee, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think Olsen and Larsson's Gulls of North America, Europe and Asia has just eclipsed Grant's book as the premier Gull guide but Grant is still excellent and in some ways better. Grant has excellent writren descriptions for identification purposes but the individual species accounts are far more detailed in Olsen and Larsson. That might not be of importance to all that just want a gull guide, the critical difference is in the illustrations. Grant has fewer illustrations, all in black and white, Oleson and Larsson have colored illustrations and show more plummages.

I do like this book better for comparisons with the black and white illustrations. For example it is much easier to compare juvenile Little Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Ross's Gull, and Sabine's Gull in Grant than in the larger Oleson and Larsson as this book groups them together in one section.

Both of these books are better classified as reference books rather than field guides but this book is slighter and easier to carry around to the lake or seashore than Oleson and Larsson.

This is an excellent book and very worthwhile to have if you are willing to work on gull identification.