A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
| About BEV

Features
| Boreal Owl
| Sparrow ID

Beginning Birding
| What's that bird?
| Where to go birding
| Guide to field guides
| Binocular basics
| Flocking instinct
| Think like a bird

Young Birder Programs

A Bird's-Eye View

A Brief Guide to Field Guides

by Nick Barber
[from A Bird's-Eye View, August 1998 Beginning Birding Special Issue]

Because guides vary in complexity, a beginning birder might be overwhelmed by one of the more technical field guides. But you may want a more complex guide as your birding skills increase. The simpler field guides, while rarely having wrong information, may over-simplify some topics. Older guides may not mention recently discovered field marks. When choosing a field guide, be sure to compare it to others at a bookstore or, if possible, borrow it from a library and try it out while birding. You will probably notice characteristics of the book that you like or dislike, which should be kept in mind when planning to purchase a field guide. These are a few of the most popular field guides available:

A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
A Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America
Roger Tory Peterson
Including field guides on many natural subjects, the Peterson Field Guide Series are excellent for beginners, especially because of their simple, direct text and small arrows included on the paintings to point out the most important field marks. By providing separate guides for eastern and western North America, these guides simplify a birder's job by limiting the number of species to consider.

Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Eastern Region
Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Western Region
Donald and Lillian Stokes
The Stokes' guides are also good for beginners and are also separated into two regions. They use high-quality photographs and devote an entire page to one, occasionally two, species.

National Geographic Society's Field Guide to the Birds of North America
Chief Consultants, Jon Dunn and Eirik Blom
This guide covers all of North America in one book and is probably not ideal for beginners. It is, however, the most complete field guide currently available, with very thorough text and often showing multiple plumages for each species.

All the Birds of North America
Jack L. Griggs
This guide has a unique arrangement of birds according to habitat and behavior, which could help beginners. The illustrations are large and attractive, despite some flaws in the shape and structure of some birds. It is entitled "All the Birds of North America" because it attempts to illustrate all species that have ever occurred in North America; but this seems to be mostly a gimmick, as most of the rarities are tiny, cartoon-like pictures crammed onto pages at the back of the book. Although it may not function well as a field guide, information scattered throughout the book is useful to birders trying to increase their overall knowledge of birds.

About the author: Nick Barber roosts in Mayfield Heights, OH, and spends much time birding along the shores of Lake Erie. He is one of the editors of A Bird's-Eye View. Nick has been a member of ABA/Leica Tropicbirds teams in New Jersey and Texas and placed second in the 16-18 age group of the 1997-1998 ABA/Leica Young Birder of the Year. He plans to major in biology when he enters college and ultimately hopes to study birds and their ecological roles.