A Field Guide to Songbirds of North America is an illustrated guide to 100 of the most common songbirds in North America curated and presented by Dr. Noble Proctor. Originally published in 2016, this reformat and re-release from Quarto on their Chartwell imprint is 256 pages and is available in flexibound (field) format.
This is a good basic guide to identifying and observing wild songbirds. There is an abbreviated chapter on natural foods and building a habitat in the home garden to more easily attract some species, but it's not the focus of the book. I liked that the author emphasized the social aspects of birding and encouraged new hobbyists to seek out like minded birders in their areas to learn the calls and habits of different species and build up confidence with identification and observation.
The directory is arranged in chapters by bird family: flycatchers, swallows, jays & crows, creepers, wrens, thrushes, and many others. There is a thumbnail gallery giving a small overall picture of each bird with page numbers for more comprehensive info. The entries include taxonomy (Latin names), common North American names, distribution & range maps, song info including sonograms (graphic representations in a sort of shorthand), brief notes with some behavior highlights, and a more complete description. The full page color illustrations show both sexes in natural poses. Though the book does include some photos, they are confined to the early chapters and not in the primer sections. The author has included a number of tips for attracting each species closer to the home gardens for observation.
This would make a good selection for public or school library acquisition, birding and/or gardening groups, scouting and cooperative extension agencies, and similar. This would also be a good choice for the beginning or intermediate birder and is suitable for all ages.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment