This could have been my easiest, shortest review yet:

Arctic Autumn is the latest book from Pete Dunne. You should read it.

I wouldn’t even have to read the book! But, while true, I suppose that wouldn’t be a very satisfactory book review. And I did really want to read it. So here’s a bit more…

Arctic Autumn: A Journey to Season’s Edge is the latest book in Pete Dunne’s exploration of the seasons and place. It follows Prairie Spring and Bayshore Summer, but these books can be read in any order.

The story opens on Bylot Island in Nunavut, Canada, on the summer solstice. Yes, as Dunne points out, that is technically the first day of summer, not autumn. But when you’re that far north (see for yourself), “autumn comes early and surrenders quickly”. The journey ends in November finding Dunne and his wife on a Polar Bear photography tour in Churchill, Manitoba.

In between, we join Dunne as he rafts through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, attempts to meet up with migrating Caribou, birds St. Lawrence Island, and hunts Caribou. Through these travels, Dunne provides vivid glimpses of the Alaskan and Canadian arctic and its wildlife. This includes birds, of course, but also the mammals that, perhaps even more so, characterize this special place.

But Arctic Autumn is more than “just” about arctic wildlife. It also presents other, mainly human, sides of the arctic and introduces us to people who live there along with their historical and cultural background. It’s sad that a book like this wouldn’t be complete without also looking at the human impact on this not-as-remote-as-it-seems environment. Dunne doesn’t shy away from this, discussing the controversial subjects of oil exploration and climate change. He does this in a remarkably even-handed and practical manner.

Until the last chapter, the book had been good, but something was missing: Dunne had yet to have his “conversation”. If you’ve read the first entries in this series you most certainly know what I’m referring to. Arguably, it works much better in this book, where it frames the perfect conclusion to this chapter in the series. I’d go into more detail, but I think it best if you experience it for yourself. I’ll just include one particular quote that spoke to me. It’s one of the main issues that Dunne seems to be taking on in these books:

Most of the members of my species are too distracted and estranged to recognize, much less care about, the natural endowment that supports them, and the interconnectedness that binds them. Polar bears in the Arctic are far less pertinent than getting the car through inspection, making the monthly mortgage payment, or deciding what color to paint the kitchen.

So how do we break free of our distractions? Explore. As Dunne exhorts: “break with the routine of your life and set off to explore the world beyond your own…” This book, and the series as a whole, makes me want to do just that.

Recommendation

Arctic Autumn may not be the best in this series (for me, it’s still Prairie Spring), but it will inform, entertain, and – hopefully and most importantly – open your eyes a little to the natural world and your role in it.

In other words: Arctic Autumn. Pete Dunne. Read it.

I’m sad to say that this book marks the end of the series; the concluding volume on winter will not be published. (At least from this publisher, although I hope that Dunne can eventually get it published somewhere.) The series, although sadly incomplete, is still very much worth reading. Dunne seeks to instill a passion for nature and an appreciation that we are inextricably connected to it. This is a vital ambition, and I believe that he has successfully done that in this series.

I can’t believe it’s been five years since the publication of the fifth edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America! But it has, which apparently means it is time for the sixth edition. This venerable guide, first published in 1983, has long been considered one of this continent’s best field guides. Does this latest one continue that trend, or is it a superfluous update?

This review will start with an overview of the guide, its structure, and features. In this regard, it does not differ greatly from its predecessors. So if you’re already familiar with this guide’s previous incarnations, you may want to first check out this list of changes from the 5th edition, and then skim ahead to the evaluation.

Plates

The NatGeo guide follows the now-usual plan of illustrations on the right-hand page, with text and range map on the facing page. The plates consist of paintings from 21(!) artists. With that many contributors, you expect a mishmash of styles. That is the case here, both between pages and even within the same plate. Thankfully, most plates, despite the varying styles, are of very high quality. Many of the illustrations are updated or completely redone with each new edition, and those redone for this sixth edition are a clear improvement. Most of the problematic plates from before are now among the best in the guide (i.e. the Spizella sparrows). There are still some plates that need work (like the vireos), but I suppose they have to leave something for the inevitable seventh edition!

A good amount of variation within species is illustrated, including sex, age, seasonal, and regional differences, as appropriate. Each is clearly labeled, including subspecies names, which is very welcome. Additionally, the illustrations are annotated with field marks, a la the Sibley and Collins guides. I love this feature, as it clearly draws attention to the most important characteristics to look for on a bird, and is a great use of space.

Species Accounts

• Name – English and scientific
• Size – length for all species and wingspan for some; in inches and centimeters
• Notes – identification information, including plumage descriptions and behavior
• Voice – description of song and calls
• Range – habitat, abundance, and other information that can’t be shown on a map

The identification information is extensive, but not exhaustive, as the authors focus on the most important characteristics. The descriptions are largely the same as in the prior edition, but the voice and range sections have, on average, been expanded. Many non-passerines, such as shorebirds and gulls, have a voice description for the first time.

Range Maps

All but a few introduced or rarely occurring birds have a range map, including many that did not in the fifth edition. They are large (for a field guide) and zoomed in appropriately for limited ranges. Many also continue well south into Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, showing much more of the bird’s entire range than most other field guides. Distinct colors illustrate permanent, breeding, winter, and migration ranges, with dotted lines showing the extent of irregular occurrence. All of this is good, but it is two features unique among current North American field guides that make these maps stand out: distinct colors for spring, fall, and both-way migration, and subspecies names and boundaries.

The extra detail on migration is very helpful, but it is the subspecies information that excites me the most. The maps of 59 birds with multiple subspecies are marked to show the ranges of the constituent subspecies. And if this weren’t enough, there is a separate section in the back of the book with larger and even more detailed maps for 37 additional species.

In most cases, if I were to say that the range maps are the best thing about a field guide, it would be a sign that I was struggling to find something good to say about it. Well, I have no shortage of good things to say about this edition of the National Geographic guide, and the range maps just may be the best thing about it. In fact, it may be worth buying for the maps alone!

Other Features

National Geographic includes all the birds that have been recorded in North America north of Mexico – 990 in all. 92 of these are found in an illustrated list of accidental and extinct species at the end of the book. Along with a single illustration, details of the species’ occurrence and a brief description of appearance is included.

An eight-page introduction describes the plan of the book, gives some tips for better birding, and presents diagrams illustrating the parts of a bird, among other things.

The navigation options have been expanded and improved. The seven thumbtabs for major families have been retained from the previous volume. A “quick find index” on the inside-front cover flap lists birds’ “last name” in alphabetical order. Additionally, a visual index to bird families is printed on the inside of the front and back covers.

Issues

The only issue I have with this guide is not specific to this particular guide, but rather with field guides as a whole – slavery to taxonomic order. Most North American field guides follow the species order prescribed by the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) rather closely, at least to the level of family and genus. NatGeo6 is no exception, incorporating the latest changes from the AOU at the time of publication. Most of these changes are to a species’ scientific name, which of course should be kept up-to-date in field guides. But some groups have been moved around. If you want to check out a longspur, for example, you would no longer look after the sparrows (their usual place in field guides since before I’ve been birding), but before the warblers. How does this help birders, especially new ones? More and more, I think field guides should stick to a standard sequence designed to help birders identify birds.

But this review is not the place for such a discussion. And if this is my main issue, that can only be a good thing!

Changes

The sixth edition of the National Geographic guide is not a mere cosmetic change. Dunne and Alderfer have done much more than incorporate the latest AOU updates, add a new species or two, and slightly change the cover. Again, here is a detailed list of changes. This guide is clearly an improvement over the previous edition, even more so than the fifth was better than the fourth.

Recommendation

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Sixth Edition is a great guide. In my review of the fifth edition I qualified my recommendation, especially for owners of a prior edition. Not so with the sixth – it belongs in every birder’s library! From beginner to expert, it will be useful to any birder. And for those interested in geographic variation, it is a must.

Birding is all about finding and identifying birds. Plenty has been written about the last part of that equation, the identification step. But what about finding the birds? Sure, there are bird-finding guides that tell you where and when to go and what birds you can expect there. But what happens when you get there? You can’t simply drive up to a birding hotspot, pull out the site’s checklist, and add all the birds found thereon to your life list. No, you still have to find the birds that are supposedly there. In The Art of Bird Finding, Pete Dunne explains just how to do that.

He starts with our innate bird-detecting skills. The good news is that even the most bumbling and oblivious among us is still a “bird-finding machine”. We just need to be aware of this built-in ability, hone it, and intentionally bring it to bear on our surroundings.

Next up are some fundamental principles. Dunne covers everything from how to look to how to walk to what to wear. Some of these are (or should be) common sense, and you may have read some elsewhere (i.e. don’t wear white). But others will likely be new to you, such as some great tips on how to approach birds more closely. Most of the things covered are general in nature, but a few are quite specific, such as how to see a Sprague’s Pipit.

Of course, no book about finding birds would be complete without a discussion of seasonality and weather systems, so Dunne dutifully covers these things as well, especially how they impact migration (fallout!). Finally, the author gives a brief introduction to finding birds on new horizons: hawkwatching and pelagic trips. I particularly appreciate the latter, where Dunne tells how to look for seabirds and even where to position yourself on the boat.

The Art of Bird Finding is a small book, but contains just about everything you could want to know on the subject. The only thing I thought was missing was a more detailed explanation of how to forecast migration and interpret weather maps (similar to this). Oh, and an index would have been nice.

Some parts of this book may be familiar to long-time readers of Dunne, as they are based upon topics he has covered in previous articles and books, especially Pete Dunne on Bird Watching. Actually, this (as well as The Art of Pishing) feels like a supplement to that wonderful birding instructional guide. But that’s not a bad thing.

With Dunne penning it, there is no danger of this book being dull or dry. His trademark wit makes this a fun, as well as informative, read.

Recommendation

The Art of Bird Finding admirably fills a gapping hole in the birding literature. While even experts will likely learn a thing or two from Dunne, this is highly recommended to beginner and intermediate birders. Well, only if they want to find more birds.

When I first saw the description of The Birding Life: A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield, I was intrigued. The author describes it as “an effort to capture not just the experience of bird watching in all its insouciance, diversity, and surprise, but also to show how devotees of the species reveal the depths of their passion in their homes and haunts”. Wait…”in their homes and haunts”? Is this going to be a birder’s Better Homes and Gardens? Causing further concern is the fact that this is the latest in a series of similar books from this authorial team (the others are about dogs, hunting and fishing, angling, and gardening). They may be well practiced at this kind of book, but will (presumably) non-birders be able to capture the experience of birding?

The Birding Life starts strongly with a prologue that jumps right into the midst of the birding scene, recounting the author’s experiences on a field trip during the Potholes and Prairie Birding Festival in North Dakota (one I’ve got to get to someday!). I must admit that Sheehan (the writer of the book’s text), even though we come to confirm that he is not a birder, does a good job capturing the excitement and “looniness” (his term, obviously chosen for the play on words, honestly isn’t that far off) of birding.

Similarly, interspersed throughout the book are “field trips” to Central Park, High Island, and Magee Marsh. These are short tours through the location that describe what birds you may see and why they are so important to birds (and birders). This pains me to admit, but I’ve never been to any of these hotspots (I’ve driven through High Island in early April, before all the migrants arrived, but that doesn’t count). Even so, I didn’t learn much from these field trips, but, like the prologue, I still enjoyed reading them.

The majority of The Birding Life, however, does not deal directly with birds and birding. Rather, it focuses on people. Part one – “Birders in Birdland” – starts with an introduction to a few “iconic figures” of bird watching. Included, naturally, are Alexander Wilson, Audubon, and Roger Tory Peterson, along with two of the most well-known modern birders: Kenn Kaufman and David Allen Sibley. From there we go on to visit Maine’s Hog Island, along with the homes of birders you may know, like Bill Thompson III and Julie Zickefoose, and those you may not, such as a thirteen-year-old Manhattan birder who has quite an impressive bird-book-filled bookshelf. The chapters are on the brief side, offering just a quick introduction or tour.

How many teenagers have a field guide to Borneo?

I found this first section to be very interesting and the people featured easy to relate to, as they seemed to interact with birds in the same way that I do, namely by finding, identifying, and learning more about them.

The remaining two-thirds of the book brings us into the homes and workplaces of bird-lovers. I use that term deliberately as, contrary to the first part, most of the people profiled here do not seem to be birders (in the normal sense of the word). They are all interested in birds, some perhaps even passionately, others more influenced by birds, such as the artist who creates sculptures using real bird nests. Apparently, the main way they express that interest is by collecting, and decorating their homes with, avian-themed art and objects, from paintings to sculpture, pillows to wallpaper.

Clearly, the manner in which these people choose to express their interest in birds is no less valid than that of a hardcore birder. Still, this section was not nearly as interesting to me as the first. Some of the art on display, especially the more true-to-life representations and the waterfowl and shorebird decoys, were appealing to me. But most of it wasn’t. There were still some bright spots, though. The look inside Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History was enlightening. Charlie Harper, one of my favorite bird artists, was featured. And the chapter on the man who builds tree houses designed like bird nests was absolutely fascinating.

An example from the first part of the book. You can't see them well in this picture, but I love those carvings.

From the second part. Not my style.

You can tell when a non-birder writes about birds and birding. That is the case here, although it is not as egregious as many instances. I feel Sheehan does justice to birding, although he just scratches the surface of what birding can entail. His unfamiliarity with his target audience does reveal itself from time to time, especially when the topics of parrot ownership and nest collecting are broached without any mention of the moral, environmental, and legal implications. But overall, I found the writing to be pleasantly engaging; even the parts that did not interest me didn’t feel like a slog to get through.

One thing’s for sure – this large, coffee-table book looks great. It is attractively designed and brimming with photographs, many of which fill an entire page. There are some great shots of birds, but most pictures show birders birding, or the interior of homes.

Recommendation

The Birding Life: A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield explores some of the ways in which people appreciate and relate to birds. It is an attractive, well-written book, and what it does, it does very well. However, I don’t think it will appeal to everyone interested in birds. If, like me, the first part of this book sounds more relevant to you, I would recommend checking it out if you are also interested in bird-centric art and other objects. Instead, if the second part is more your cup of tea, or if you’re curious about the various ways people express their passion about birds, I would unreservedly recommend The Birding Life.

Birds of North America and Greenland is the latest entry in the Princeton Illustrated Checklists series. (It was also published in the UK as Collins Field Guides: Birds of North America.) You may be wondering what they mean by illustrated checklist. Though this book is little, it is more than a mere list of birds found in this region accompanied by illustrations. But it is also not a full-fledged field guide. Think of it as a “lite” field guide.

This guide includes nearly every species recorded in the lower 48 states, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland – over 900 birds. Some recent additions to the region – whether vagrants or “splits” (discussed below) – are missing. The standard field guide format is followed, with the illustration plates on the right and species accounts on the facing page.

Illustrations

Birds of North America and Greenland is illustrated with the author’s own paintings. As I mentioned in my review of Birds of the West Indies, also by Norman Arlott, I find his work to be very attractive. The illustrations are labeled as male/female and breeding/non-breeding where appropriate. Annoyingly, instead of the species’ names, numbers are used to identify the birds on the plates.

The concise format means that not all plumages were included. Most male/female and breeding/non-breeding plumages are displayed, with warblers being the most glaring exception (all having at most two birds illustrated, with the exception of Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers). Some geographic variation is illustrated, but not any immature or juvenile birds, which could cause some identification headaches. The only birds shown in flight are seabirds (only in flight), pelicans, raptors, jaegers, swifts (only in flight), and swallows. Oddly, the gulls and terns are only shown perched, even though the former were also shown in flight in the West Indies guide.

Species Accounts

The text accounts include:

• Size – length in centimeters
• Field Notes – brief notes on behavior, identification, and subspecies
• Voice
• Habitat
• Distribution

The “Field Notes” impart some useful information, but not nearly enough to differentiate between similar species, leaving you to decipher that yourself from the plates (which don’t show all possible plumages!). For example, the author mentions that some Philadelphia Vireos are drabber than the one shown and look much like Warbling Vireos. But nothing is mentioned of how you can differentiate such birds.

Range Maps

Breeding, winter, and permanent ranges are shown on maps with country, but no state or provincial, boundaries. These maps are extremely small and tucked into the inside margin – to the right of the text – where they are hard to see. Perhaps a better placement would have been on the outside of the page, to the left of the text. They give a rough idea of where the bird occurs, but nothing more.

Issues

Even a cursory reading of this guide revealed errors like incorrect alternate names, labels, and sizes. Rick Wright noted the same in his review, including the use of the wrong illustrations for European Starling. No field guide is going to be error free, but the amount of them here is more egregious than most.

Taxonomy is always in flux, but this guide seems especially out of date. The latest AOU updates are not incorporated, but that is not a surprise or issue. However, neither Winter Wren nor Whip-poor-will has been split (based on the 2010 AOU update); although in each case the text mentions the possibility of one.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that since Birds of North America and Greenland was originally published for a European audience, Arlott has chosen to use some names that may be unfamiliar to North American users (with other names given in parentheses). Here are a few examples:

• Great Northern Diver (Great Northern or Common Loon) – “Diver” being the European preference
• Snipe (Common or Wilson’s Snipe) – Considers Common and Wilson’s as races of the same species
• Chuck-wills-widow (Carolina Chuck-will) – I’ve never heard that alternate name before
• Blackbird (Eurasian Blackbird) – Many birds also (or primarily) found in Europe are listed as just a single name
• Grey Catbird – uses the English word forms, such as “grey”, even for birds that are indigenous to the Americas

I’m disappointed that Princeton didn’t change these to make this book more user-friendly to their North American audience.

Recommendation

The appeal of Birds of North America and Greenland is that it illustrates all of the birds of North America (minus Mexico, of course, and the latest splits) with very nice paintings for a low price. I was able to reliably use the Illustrated Checklist for the West Indies in the field, but would not be able to do the same with this one. The number of possible birds is too great, and the lack of variation depicted and identification information in the text will too greatly handicap efforts at identification. Because of this and the various issues (especially the fact that it is not user-friendly to birders within this region), I cannot recommend this guide to anyone here in North America. It could, however, be of use to visiting ecotourists and general wildlife enthusiasts, or those who may never visit but want to know what our birds look like.

If you want to take a closer look at some plates and text, there are more examples at Princeton University Press.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? My shortlist of answers to this question isn’t all that short and constantly changes. But Antarctica is always on it. Antarctica? It is cold (I hate cold) and doesn’t have all that many birds (I want to see lots of birds). But what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up in quality (penguins – ‘nuff said). So it was with great excitement, and not a little trepidation, that I received Antarctic Wildlife: A Visitor’s Guide, by James Lowen.

Antarctic Wildlife is one of the most unique field guides I’ve come across. It’s not just the photographs, layout, or any one particular thing. Rather, it is the overall approach taken by the author. Lowen intended this to be a guide to the wildlife – marine mammals, birds, and a few plants – one might see on a typical cruise from Argentina or Chile to the Antarctic Peninsula. Everything about the book serves this purpose in an extremely user-friendly manner.

This starts with the extensive introduction. In addition to the standard descriptions of the book and how to use it, the author has included an overview of the environments you will pass through, the Antarctic cruise experience, and the wildlife. Actually, it is much more than a mere overview, especially regarding the wildlife. Lowen introduces each of the families included, from seals to skuas (and one page on plants), gives identification tips, and tells where to look for these animals during the different segments of your cruise. There are even tables listing the species you are likely to see in different parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, so that you can better prepare based on your particular ship’s itinerary. This introductory material is excellent; the author seems to have included everything you might need in order to make the best of your trip.

Antarctic Wildlife limits its geographic scope to just the areas routinely traversed by Antarctic cruises. The species accounts are even divided based on the cruise’s three distinct sectors: the Beagle Channel; the Drake Passage; and the Antarctic Peninsula. Normally, I despise such “gimmicky” organizations in field guides. But it works here, for the most part, mainly due to the relatively small number of species covered. Species are only included in one section, even if they are possible in others. But if you don’t find a likely match for a creature seen in one, it’s quick and easy to look through the other two as well. But attempting the same organization for almost anywhere else – say, a trip down the Manu – would be utterly insane. However, this scheme does make it more difficult to directly compare related species.

Species Accounts

The accounts follow the standard plan, with photographic plates on the right-hand page and text on the left. One to five species are included on any given two-page spread, though most have just one or two. Each account includes:

• Name – English, Scientific, German, and Spanish
• Threat Status – according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature
• Status – color-coded bars giving abundance in each of the three sectors
• Measurements – length and wingspan in centimeters; comparison to other species, as appropriate
• Talking Point – interesting tidbits
• Main text – description and identification tips
• Where to Look – where exactly to look in each sector

The few number of species per page means that the text is pretty extensive – and often very interesting. I particularly enjoy the “talking points” and various sidebars scattered throughout the guide. The whale accounts also include a helpful diagram showing what it looks like when surfacing.

The plates of most mammals and some birds are partitioned traditionally. However, those for most birds feature photographs edited onto a common background, similar in style to The Crossley ID Guide, although not nearly as complex as Crossley’s scenes. Each image is labeled with a number and, when applicable, a code denoting sex, age, and breeding/non-breeding. The photos are good to great, and the plates very attractive overall. The relatively few number of species per plate accords the space to include multiple images of each bird. The variation depicted should be sufficient to identify most birds. Some seabirds, however, are extremely difficult to identify. I would recommend serious birders also carry along a more detailed guide for them.

The cetacean accounts only include photos of the animal at the surface. This makes sense, as that is all that you are going to see in the field. However, if you’d like to see what the animal as a whole looks like, there is a wonderful two-page plate in the introduction that illustrates these whales and dolphins “in all their unconcealed glory”. Thoughtful inclusions like this really set this guide apart.

Another nice touch is that some species, such as Wandering Albatross, and Humpback and Killer Whales, have supplementary pages of photographs in order to show a greater variety of appearance and behaviors. There are also an additional 22 pages of incredible (and useful) photographs of penguin behavior.

One final nice thing about this guide is that a portion of the proceeds will go to support the Save the Albatross campaign.

Recommendation

Earlier in this review I mentioned receiving this book with a measure of trepidation. This was not borne out of any misgivings about the book’s quality, but rather its anticipated effect on me. I was right to be wary; thanks to this book, I now want to go to Antarctica more than ever! And if (hopefully, when) I go, it will not be without this book. Antarctic Wildlife: A Visitor’s Guide should be required for any cruise-based visitor to the great white continent. And if you want to risk being compelled to pay big bucks to go on such a cruise, I’d also recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in the wildlife of Antarctica.

For those traveling to Antarctica outside of the area covered by this book, as well as serious birders and those wanting to know even more about the wildlife they may encounter, I would also recommend the more extensive (and larger and heavier) The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife, by Hadoram Shirihai.

Accounts of “big years” (trying to find as many birds as possible within set geographic boundaries in a single calendar year) are prominent in birding literature. Wild America, written by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher in the ‘50s, changed how many looked at birding. Kenn Kaufman’s Kingbird Highway, though written much more recently, is no less of a classic. The Big Year, Mark Obmasick’s account of three birders’ big years, has been adapted as a Major Motion Picture. And now we have Extreme Birder: One Woman’s Big Year.

In this book, Lynn Barber tells the story of her 2008 ABA big year (a big year confined by the boundaries and rules of the American Birding Association). Even though her results, as judged by number of bird species seen, can be found right on the book’s flap and even in the product description on book-selling websites, I’m not going to reveal them here. Suffice it to say that it was much more successful than Barber was expecting (and it’s hard to conceive that in five months she had seen more birds in the ABA area than I have in eight years of birding). From the Everglades of Florida to Gambell, Alaska, it was quite a journey, and one filled with great birds.

But it wasn’t easy. The birds didn’t always cooperate, of course, but the hardest thing seemed to be the grind of it all. An entire year of birding all over the continent sounds like a dream-come-true, but it is physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially draining. I applaud Barber for not glossing over this aspect of a big year. Toward the end she came close to sounding whiny, especially in the poems (poems? Yes, I’ll get into that in a minute), but she was honest. Her portrayal of a big year’s toll may be more helpful to prospective big year birders than anything else in the book. I was also pleased to find that she mentions, but does not dwell on or beat herself up over, the carbon footprint necessary in her undertaking.

The appeal of books such as this is being able to bird vicariously through the author, in most cases in a manner that the reader isn’t able to do in real life. Most birders will never have the time, money, and/or inclination to attempt an ABA big year, but we can still experience it through the accounts of those who have. Barber makes this especially easy as she presents her year in a day-by-day, diary-style manner. This structure differentiates Extreme Birder from similar books and makes Barber’s progress easier to track. This should also make it easier to use this book to prepare for your own big year.

However, this format is not without drawbacks. The day-by-day accounting makes it very hard for the author to avoid the trip-report feel of “I went here and saw such-and-such” repeated over and over again. As far as trip reports go, this is a well-written and interesting one, but it still hindered my engagement with the story. Instead of a single, unified narrative, at times it felt like reading a series of blog posts.

Contributing to the blog-like feel (in a good way) of Extreme Birder are the many extra touches that the author includes, such as photographs, a few paintings, and even poems – all by Barber. The photos depict some of the locations and birds the author saw during the year. Many of these pictures are nice, but not art-book worthy. Others are out of focus, partially obscured, or excessively grainy. However, I don’t see that as a shortcoming; I prefer these documentary shots, as these are the actual birds the author saw during her big year. The paintings are great; I only wish there were more of them! I even enjoyed the poems for a bit of levity and, especially, the insight they provide into the author’s frame of mind.

While most birders seem to enjoy the big-year subgenera, it’s not something that many non-birders can get into. The Big Year, along with select others, has risen above this, but I don’t think Extreme Birder has joined them. The main reason is that there is very little in the way of context. For instance, I turned a page to see one of the many photographs and thought, “Wow, Aztec Thrush!” In the text, Barber describes waking up and immediately hiking to the spot where it had been reported, where she finds a couple of other birders who have the bird. She reveals that it was a lifer for her, but otherwise does not explain what is so special about the bird (other than the fact that it’s one more for her year list, of course).

Recommendation

Anyone planning, or even (especially?) considering, an ABA big year should study Extreme Birder: One Woman’s Big Year. Barber provides many tips and resources, in addition to what can be gleaned from the narrative, that should prove extremely helpful in planning a big year. But for those of us not undertaking such an endeavor I’m more cautious in my recommendation. Personally, I greatly enjoy birding vicariously through others’ big year tales. Extreme Birder is no exception, although I didn’t find it as entertaining or engrossing as the other books mentioned at the beginning of this review. Try one of them first if you don’t already know if you like such books. But if you tend to find birding travelogues to be insufferable, this one will likely prove no different.

At the beginning of 2011, The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds was published with much fanfare. It seems like a new field guide is published every year, but a single look at this one will tell you that it is very different. I posted a peek inside the guide along with some preliminary thoughts in my initial review, but it’s (past) time to discuss this book in more detail.

Images

I have to start here. Crossley uses photographs to illustrate his guide. But instead of presenting them separately as other photographic guides have done, he incorporates all the pictures of each species into a single photoshopped montage.

The first thing you notice is the backgrounds. The birds are integrated into an appropriate habitat: ducks on water, warblers in trees, etc. Next, you realize how many birds are depicted in each scene. There are hundreds of some ducks, but most species, even songbirds, have at least a dozen. The birds are shown in various poses and at different apparent distances from the viewer. Thus, some birds will appear very large as if they were in a traditional field guide, while others may be so small or positioned in the background such that they are very difficult to spot. All of this is a part of what Crossley calls reality birding.

Crossley composed his plates to be “as lifelike as a printed image will allow” in order to show the birds as they actually appear in the field. This includes not only showing the habitat and positioning birds at varying distances, but also lighting conditions and partially obstructed views. It even includes behavior! If you see a bird doing something in one of these plates – for instance, a Rough-legged Hawk perched on a limb that looks much too small to support it, or a Blue-winged Warbler poking its head into a cluster of dead leaves – you can be sure that these actions are typical for the species.

Species Accounts and Maps

As striking as the pictures are, don’t neglect the text. Crossley starts with the bird’s status, habitat, and behavior. A terse description of vocalizations is given for some species. The ID section lists important field marks used to identify, age, and sex the bird (there’s a phrase in which context is everything). Only rarely mentioned are subspecies, hybrids, and the like.

Crossley’s accounts are very informal, making them memorable and unusually pleasurable to read. In fact, they often reminded me of Pete Dunne’s descriptions in his Essential Field Guide Companion. For example, see if you can tell what bird Crossley is describing with these statements (answers after the review):

1. Tiny round ball of feathers with a cocked stub for a tail – nothing else like it!
2. Sits at top of trees, with condescending stare.

The range maps use the standard three colors to indicate permanent, breeding, and winter ranges, with dotted lines to show approximate limits of irregular occurrence. Unfortunately, migratory range is not shown. The maps for full-page accounts look small on the page, but are really no smaller than the maps in other field guides. The maps of less-than-full-page accounts, however, are tiny and can be very hard to see. Oddly, some maps show the bird’s range across almost the entire continent, while others are zoomed in on the eastern half on which this guide focuses.

Other Features

Here are a few more aspects of the Crossley guide that you should be aware of:

• This Crossley ID Guide covers the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada (a western guide is in the works). Most regularly-occurring species in this region have full-page accounts. Rarities and vagrants generally get a quarter page and regional specialties a half page.
• This book differs from most field guides in that the species sequence is not strictly dictated by taxonomy. Instead, it groups similar families based on habitat and physical similarities. The order closely follows the sequence suggested in an article in Birding magazine, which shouldn’t be all that surprising since Crossley was one of its coauthors. In my opinion, the article presents a compelling argument. Now that I’ve seen it put into practice, I prefer it over a strict taxonomical ordering. It may take some getting used to (but see the next item in this list), but if all authors follow suit it will make field guides much more consistent and usable (though I’m not holding my breath on that).
• The inside-front cover and first page serve as a visual “quick find’ index, with unlabeled bird pictures representing the various families. A more detailed, 16-page key follows that shows just about every bird in the book (omitting most vagrants), this time labeled with alpha code (see next) and page number. The birds within each group are shown in scale, allowing for size comparison.
• In order to save space, Crossley makes heavy use of “alpha codes”, or bird-bander codes, as an abbreviation in the text. Many experienced birders have likely been exposed to these codes and will barely even notice their use. But I can see them being a bane to beginners. As Crossley notes in the introduction, the birds being referred to are often related, and thus close by. But I can still see some users having to refer to the alpha-code index in the back an annoying number of times.
• Don’t skip the introduction. If you haven’t already gathered it, this guide is a little different, so the “How to use this book” section is very helpful. There’s also a great, succinct discussion of how to be a better birder, along with an extensive set of labeled bird topography diagrams.
• Crossley’s website – Crossley Birds – includes 45 sample plates (as of right now) with expanded captions that give additional notes on identification and other interesting background information.

Issues and Errors

Inevitably, there are some issues with the Crossley guide:

• Even with all the photos, some plumages are still not illustrated. Immature Saw-whet and Boreal Owls are prominent examples (this seems to be a recurring theme with recent field guides) .
• As previously mentioned, most scenes are a full page with some being smaller. In order to reduce wasted space, the smaller ones are fitted together to fill a page. To accomplish this, sometimes unrelated birds had to be put together, which causes some aberrations with species order. For instance, you have to flip five pages from the regularly occurring mimids before you come across Bahama Mockingbird. This could have been avoided, but it would have made a big book even bigger.
• Some of Crossley’s plates are stunning to behold, more a work of art than utilitarian image. But a few, at least to me, just don’t look very good. The author has said that in order to keep the plates as realistic as possible, many of them are darker and less sharp than photos we’re used to seeing in field guides. That explains most, but not all of the poor images. There are some – I don’t know a better way to describe it – that look like an image scanned at low resolution. Even when viewing these pages from a normal distance, the colored dots that make up the image are distractingly visible. I have no idea whether this is due to the original images, all the processing done, or the printing process.
• In one interview, Crossley said that when it comes to identification, “size is just about everything”. It’s quite surprising, then, that the only measurement given in his guide is length (and then only in inches). Wingspan should have been included as well.

Crossley has listed a few corrections on his site. In addition to these, the White-eyed Parakeet account means to compare it to the very similar Green Parakeet, but the alpha code used is actually that of the African Gray Parrot (not very hard to tell apart!).

Purpose and Audience

The Crossley ID Guide, despite the category in which I classified this post, is not a field guide. Its size alone would preclude all but the most determined from carrying it with them while birding. Also, its design is not conducive to quick comparison between species. But this is by design. In the introduction, the author urges birders to not take a guide into the field. Further, although Crossley may be helpful in sorting out a difficult identification, it would not be the first reference I turn to when faced with such a quandary.

So if the Crossley guide isn’t for use during or after birding (not that you can’t, of course), what is its purpose? I think the value of this guide lies in learning birds before you go birding. Everything about this book is designed to familiarize the reader to birds as they actually appear in real life. This is a book to be studied – immersed in, really – at home.

The next question is who is it for? The quick and easy answer is anyone interested in North American birds! Intermediate birders may get the most from it, but I’d think that even experts would enjoy and learn something from this book. As for beginners, I tried to imagine how I would have reacted to the Crossley guide when I first started birding. The plates can be quite intimidating, and I’m not sure I would have had the framework to fully get everything shown and written in the book. But I still think that it would make a great learning tool, especially when used in tandem with a more traditional field guide. I can’t help but feel that if I could have studied with the Crossley and Sibley guides open to the same bird, I would have become a better birder faster. Actually, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to do now.

One last thought: I wonder if Crossley’s unique photographic montages will better serve to engage beginners and even non-birders. Birds arrayed in static, consistent poses against a neutral background (a la Sibley) facilitates easy comparison, but no matter how accurate or attractive the illustrations are, they aren’t alluring to anyone who’s not scrutinizing them for the sake of identification. Other photographic guides showcase gorgeous portraits of birds (like the recent Stokes field guide or, especially, the Sterry and Small guides), but they still aren’t relatable to the uninitiated. But Crossley’s images grab the viewer and forces contemplation, or at least awareness, of birds as a part of our world.

Recommendation

The amount of work that went into The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds is staggering. It contains 640 scenes, composed from more than 10,000 photographs (nearly all taken by Crossley himself!), that present the birds of eastern North America in a unique and lifelike manner. I don’t know if it will revolutionize field guides; probably not, though, if for no other reason than I don’t know if anyone other than Crossley could produce a guide like this (I’m only half joking). Still, the Crossley guide has become my go-to source for learning birds, and it is simply a pleasure to browse through. I highly recommend it.

Answers:

1. Winter Wren
2. Northern Hawk Owl

Earlier this year, in my review of The American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation – an excellent summary of conservation in the Americas – I wished that a similar resource were available for the rest of the world. Bird Watch: A Survey of Planet Earth’s Changing Ecosystems comes close.

Bird Watch covers the same topics as the ABC guide – threats to birds, habitats, profiles of threatened birds, and conservation efforts – but less comprehensively. This is partly due to the increased scope (the world vs. the United States), but the focus of the book is also different. Walters concentrates primarily on ecosystems, their threatened birds, and what the birds can tell us about the health of our planet.

Eight major habitats are covered, from wetlands to deserts, islands to mountains. Several examples of each are given, describing the location’s specific geographic characteristics, birds, and threats. Rare and endangered birds are given special consideration. Each habitat chapter has one or more extended sidebars that profile a specific location or bird. Aside from being informative and interesting, these profiles serve to provide some concrete examples in a book that is otherwise more general.

Following the ecosystem overviews is a catalog of the world’s endangered birds. All 1,227 species on the IUCN Red List (at the time of publication, unfortunately there are more now) are listed by family in taxonomic order. Each family is given a brief introduction, recounting its unique characteristics, range, the number of species it has, and how many are considered to be threatened. A table lists these threatened birds, and a few are individually profiled.

The tables display the family, red list status (endangered, vulnerable, etc), and common and scientific names. To me, that’s not enough information. They would be much more useful if range (just countries would be fine) and population estimates, for example, were added. The species profiles are much more informative, providing a painted illustration, range, population estimates, and much more information about the bird and its main threats. The illustrations are sufficient for their purpose – giving an idea of what the bird looks like – but I wasn’t impressed overall. Bali Starlings are beautiful birds, but the illustration here makes them look downright ugly. Still, these profiles are helpful in grasping what birds are endangered and why; I wish there were more of them.

Bird Watch is a visually stunning book! If the bird illustrations are less than impressive, the photographs of birds and habitats more than make up for it. Plus, the layout and design are superb.

Recommendation

Bird Watch is “an illustrated tour” of the world’s endangered ecosystems and birds, with the underlying message that they are worth conserving. It is more of a broad survey and sampler than a comprehensive guide, and is thus recommended to anyone looking for an introduction to these subjects.

I love birding – actively finding, identifying, and watching birds. But there is so much more to these amazing feathered creatures than what you can glean from even the most intensive birding. That is why I also love reading about birds. Through books like The Private Lives of Birds, by Bridget Stutchbury, you can discover how birds live. But there is another layer still. Sy Montgomery delves into this – the “avian essence” – in Birdology: Adventures with Hip Hop Parrots, Cantankerous Cassowaries, Crabby Crows, Peripatetic Pigeons, Hens, Hawks, and Hummingbirds.

Montgomery’s goal with Birdology is “to restore both our awe and our connection to these winged aliens who live among us”. To do this, she focuses on seven birds, using each of them to explore a different aspect of this avian essence. The birds, and their associated concept, are:

• Chickens – Birds are Individuals
• Cassowary – Birds are Dinosaurs
• Hummingbirds – Birds are Made of Air
• Hawks – Birds are Fierce
• Pigeons – Birds Find Their Way Home
• Parrots – Birds Can Talk
• Crows – Birds are Everywhere

In the first chapter, the author introduces the hens that she keeps and their startlingly distinct personalities. In the second, we accompany the author to Australia as she searches for a cassowary, a bird right out of the Cretaceous. Hummingbirds has the reader visiting a hummingbird rehabber. The next chapter deals with falconry, followed by homing pigeons. The penultimate chapter discusses parrots and their cognitive abilities. Finally, Montgomery uses a large, urban flock of crows to demonstrate that birds are everywhere, yet threatened.

If you read that list closely, you’ll notice that only two of these deal with birds in the wild: cassowary and crows. To be fair, though, these hummingbirds and hawks are truly wild birds that are only being kept for a time. As a birder, I’m much more interested in wild birds than those in captivity. So it was no surprise that the cassowary chapter was my favorite. It’s a taut tale of the author’s search for a bird. Any birder can relate to that. Yet it also possesses an added element of danger that, thankfully, most birders do not have to deal with – the bird Montgomery was looking for could kill her. It’s true; cassowaries can, and do, kill people. Montgomery writes, “Friends at home wondered why I wanted to venture into the dark rain forest hoping to encounter a big black creature who might eviscerate me”. It may not have been the “normal” or “sensible” thing to do, but it sure made for some good reading.

However, I found myself far less interested in most of the other narratives. They are most definitely informative, but not interesting unless you are curious about the topic being discussed. And if these stories were all there were to the book, it would be an unconnected hodgepodge of tales without much to recommend it. But the author uses the stories as a framework, adroitly weaving a deeper thread into the narrative. She uses the specific subjects to introduce general concepts, all with the goal of getting the reader to see birds in a new light. So while I didn’t, and still don’t, have any interest in pigeon racing, for example, I did learn a good deal about the practice and, moreover, gained a deeper appreciation for birds in general.

It also helps that Montgomery is a great writer. Her prose is an easy, fun read.

Recommendation

In Birdology, Sy Montgomery explores a number of facets of birds and instills an awe of these fascinating creatures. This book will be most impactful for, and thus more highly recommended to, those who are not already extremely familiar with birds. But it’s still worth a read for anyone.