Birds of Western North America: A Photographic Guide

Though it's true that birders can never get enough guidebooks, this entry fills a real need for a comprehensive regional guide. Where most are sketchy at best, noting only the most common birds, Sterry and Small cover more than 500 species an variants-including birds that migrate down the Pacific and Rocky Mountain flyways and over the eastern Pacific Ocean, as well as Eastern birds known to visit-assembling photos, geographical data, species descriptions and field observations from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Experienced guidebook authors, Sterry and Small present their information in an organized, easy-to-use manner. Small's photos are uniformly excellent, clearly showing fine detail in patterns and colors; the helpful layout makes it easy to compare similar-looking birds, meaning slight differences will be apparent even to novice birders. Though small, maps have very distinct color coding for seasonal and annual distributions, making them easy to glance over in the field. Descriptions of vocalizations, an idiosyncratic enterprise in the best of conditions, are less useful. While this guide will not replace the Peterson or Audubon guides, it should be welcomed into the backpacks of western U.S. birders.