Stokes Beginner's Guide to Shorebirds (Paperback)

by Donald Stokes (Author), Lillian Stokes (Author) "Our only large shorebird with very long bright yellow legs: Greater Yellowlegs, p. 38..." (more)
Key Phrases: dark central tail feathers, plump shorebird, other small sandpipers, Main Year-round Clues, Fall Migration, East Coast (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Stokes Beginner's Guides, intended for beginning nature lovers of all ages, offer a wealth of identification and behavior information in a portable pocket-sized format. Illustrated throughout with full-color photographs and range maps, each Beginner's Guide is organized according to the Stokes' easy-to-use and popular color-tab system.

About the Author
Donald and Lillian Stokes, acclaimed authorities on birds and nature, are the authors of over 22 books. They host a popular public television show, Stokes Birds at Home , which will continue through 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (July 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316816965
• ISBN-13: 978-0316816960
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #570,411 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, shorebirds ARE beautiful!, July 17, 2001

By	"pygmybatis" (Medford, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Don and Lillian Stokes have taken one of the most difficult-to-identify groups of birds and made the task of differentiating them exponentially easier. Birders of all levels will appreciate this user-friendly, pocket sized book. Stokes Beginner's Guide To Shorebirds is a visually stunning book packed with spectacular photos of all the important shorebird plumages. Characteristic of all of Stokes books, the presentation is logical, clear, and straightforward, with information covering all North American breeding shorebirds.

The easy-to-use color tab system, which groups shorebirds by size and bill length, makes it simple to look up and identify a shorebird. The learning pages with photographic comparison of similar species, helpful comparative silhouettes, and revolutionary method of identification by shape, all will give birders a firm grasp of learning shorebirds.

In addition, the amount of information is impressive, including superb migration maps that show where and when each species can be expected during spring and fall migrations. No previous book has ever graphically shown these birds' migration paths; instead, until now the only way to get this information would have been to wade through countless publications and laboriously extract the relevant details. The Stokes Beginner's Guide to Shorebirds shows me, at a glance, which shorebirds pass through my area and when I should see them.

Beginners will now have an excellent tool to help them begin to master this exciting group of birds. Intermediate and advanced birders will use the beautiful photos of all important plumages, extensive information, and innovative maps to add to their knowledge of shorebirds. Anyone with even a passing interest in shorebirds will want to own this impressive book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good guide for both beginners and more advanced birders., November 9, 2006

By	Weatherbird (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent shorebird guide -- and not just for beginners. I bought this guide for a specific purpose: I lead tours in a wetland refuge and wanted an easy-to-carry guide I could use to show pictures of birds to people on the tour. This book fits my needs perfectly, but many others should find it useful. It is small and easy to carry. The book uses photo illustrations: I believe photos are better than paintings for depicting shorebirds since silhouettes are so important for shorebird identification and it is hard to get the proportions exactly right in a painting. The photos in this book are excellent. Shorebirds can vary greatly in appearance because of plumage variations. This book has multiple photos of most species and does a good job of depicting the plumage variation. This book is less comprehensive than some larger guides, but since it is designed as a beginner's guide, it wouldn't make sense for it to be too long and complicated. An excellent little book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shorebirds are NOT all alike1, May 23, 2007

By	National Birder "Terry" (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews

Prior to reading this book, I gave up on shorebird identification. This book makes it very easy for a beginner like me to ID shorebirds. I love the easy way you identify birds by size and then picture. I'm finding it is now fun to try to ID the shorbs!