First Look: Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America

This afternoon I found the new Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America waiting for me on the porch. I haven’t had time to go through it extensively, much less write a review, but I thought some of you may appreciate a quick look at it.

Here are some looks at the guide. I apologize for the quality of the pictures. They are aweful. No, they are worse than aweful. But regardless, they will give you an idea of the layout.

A unique feature of this guide is that it includes a DVD with “587 downloadable bird songs” (but only 138 species, total). It also comes with a nice booklet listing all the tracks. Here are all the species included. Again, I apologize for the format, but it was the best I could do on short notice. I’ll try to work up something better for the full review.

I haven’t had long enough with it to feel comfortable making a recommendation. That will have to wait for my full review. As a comparison, it seems most similar to the recent National Wildlife Federation guide. But in the meantime, if you normally buy every field guide that comes out (I can’t be the only one!), I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t add this one to your library as well.

A full review of the Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America is now available.

Posted by Grant McCreary on June 2nd, 2008.