A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (Turtleback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Roger Tory Peterson had already made his mark with his innovative field guide when he conducted DDT research during World War II. His friend and fellow naturalist Rachel Carson built on these efforts and eventually wrote Silent Spring, a landmark text that, along with Peterson"s field guide, jump-started the modern environmental movement.
By combining the tireless observation of a scientist with the imaginative skills of an artist and writer, Peterson created a field guide that Robert Bateman, in his foreword to the fifth edition, says was the doorway for millions of people into the wonderland of natural history.
The Peterson Identification System has been used in the more than fifty books that make up the Peterson Field Guide series. Peterson"s magnum opus, now in its fifth edition, created the trail for countless field guides to follow. They are still following year by year, but his is the standard by which all other field guides are judged.
On the morning of July 28, 1996, Roger Peterson was painting his final bird plate. He died peacefully in his sleep later that day. It is fitting that his final work—a culmination of more than sixty years of observing, painting, and writing—should be this one, a revision of the guide that started his legacy.

About the Author

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars, and the Peterson Field Guides® are credited with helping to set the stage for the environmental movement.

Virginia Marie Peterson worked with her husband, Roger Tory Peterson, to research and create three-color range maps for several books in The Peterson Field Guide Series(R).

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Product Details

• Turtleback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 5th edition (April 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395740460
• ISBN-13: 978-0395740460
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,358 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Field Guide for Beginner to Intermediate Birder, March 17, 2002

By	Hany Aziz "haziz" (West Springfield, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (Hardcover)

This is the last Field Guide done by the great Roger Tory Peterson before his passing in 1996. Most of the plates have been reworked and many redrawn. He was working on the last plate (on Flycatchers) the day he died.

This remains probably the best Field guide for beginner to intermediate birders in the eastern US (and Canada). The illustrations and the helpfull arrows (the "Peterson System") pointing out essential ID points. His verbal descriptions often bring the birds to life, such as his now famous decriptions of Sanderlings and Swifts, and the verbal descriptions of bird songs and calls remain the best of any guide. This remains one of my favourtie Field Guides and is often the one that accompanies me out in the field. The National Geographic Guide may be a slightly more suitable choice for the advanced birder, though birders of all levels would be delighted with this guide.

A welcome change in this edition is the addition of small "thumbnail" maps on the opposite page to the illustration thus removing one of the main criticisms of previous editions. The larger maps remain in the back, still done by Mrs Peterson with help form Paul Lehman. One negative is the slight increase in size (the pages are a little bigger) making the book slightly less pocketable.

Overall an excellent Field guide, which while not reaching the exaltred heights recently set by Mullarney et al in their superb European guide, is the final effort by the man who essentially started it all.

60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy Writ if you watch birds, July 6, 2002

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

I've had versions of R.T, Peterson's Field Guides ever since high school. I've actually watched birds my entire life from the day my mom told me I could catch a bird if I put salt on its tail and she caught me running out of the house with the salt shaker, chasing after a blackbird. (I'm not making this up.) This book is one of my key tools I use to convert friends and family into bird-o-maniacs. I begin with the provocative remark "Did you know I've recorded over 40 species of birds in our suburban back yard," then I take them out to watch birds at a national preserve nearby. Works every time.

I love the drawings because they give you the average or highlighted characteristic feature of the species. Photos can obscure, although sometimes they are indispensible to make a tough identification. The new edition has a wonderful feature: the range maps are now WITH the bird species and not in the back. Hooray! Range is critical to bird identification--if you think you are seeing a Western Jay and you are in Delaware, well, maybe it is an accidental but probably you saw some other kind of bird. The notes on songs help you identify that unseen bird, and the description of habits is essential.

I suggest if you have kids, that you get a reasonable pair of binoculars, this Field Guide and a set of index cards, a scrap book, a weblog or just use the life-checklist in the book. Have the kids note the species they see, when and where they see them. Soon they will have a fascinating list of what's in their own backyard and you will have something wonderful to do together.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Field Guide to the Birds, May 13, 2002

By	J. Lindner (Gem Lake, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very good field guide, I've owned it for several years. The illustrations are usually accurate enough to make quick identification. There are times, though, that this is not the case. Recently I had a difficult time identifying a particular bird because what I saw versus what was drawn and the accompanying map were not all in total alignment.

However, this book is still far and away the best field guide I've come across. It is easy to use, organized into logical sections, and is as complete as most birdes would ever need. Some of the technical descriptions are cumbersome, namely trying to describe sounds with words, but this is not a major problem.

This guide should remain the standard for years to come. The reader just needs to be aware that varaitions may likely occur in what they see on paper compared to what they see in the field.