Birds of Massachusetts Field Guide

by Stan Tekiela

- Organized by color
- State-specific range map
- Flight, juvenile and morph insets
- Stan's Notes include "gee-whiz" facts
- Full page photos with corresponding full-page descriptions
- Contains state-specific species
Our state-by-state field guides--the first and the best
Compare our best-selling field guides to the imitators on the market:
- our full-page photos are incomparable: crisp, sharp photos of birds in their natural habitats
- we include insets of winter plumage, color morphs and more
- our organization by color is easily accessible to the beginner: there's no need to know the bird's name or classification in order to find it easily
- if the male and female birds of the same species are different colors, they're on separate pages; you won't overlook them
- using our field guides is a real pleasure: no more struggling to identify and learn about the birds in your state

Genres: Nature, Reference, Birds

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Author, naturalist and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela is the originator of the popular state-specific field guide series and many easy-to-use identification guides for the U.S. Over the last 30 years he has authored around 200 field guides, quick guides, nature books, children's books, wildlife audio CDs, puzzles and playing cards, presenting many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, trees, wildflowers and cacti found across the U.S. and in Canada.

Stan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural History from the University of Minnesota, and he has received national and regional awards for his books and photography. Also a well-known columnist and radio personality, his syndicated column appears in more than 25 newspapers and his wildlife programs are broadcast on a number of Midwest radio stations.

Stan leads instructional photo workshops and wildlife tours across the U.S. for both beginner and advanced photographers. He also gives detailed presentations about wildlife, complete with his award-winning photographs, to audiences of all sizes across the country.

Reviews

[Austin Fiedor]

Love that it’s MA specific and love the descriptions and information. Wish there were more pictures of the birds like in the Peterson field guide.

[C.J.]

Excellent facts, obscure and obvious, with accompanying photos.

[Rageofanath]

If you're looking to start birding and are overwhelmed by all the options and taxonomy-based navigation in the standard field guides on the market, Birds of Massachusetts will narrow down your options by state and color. Field identification is a lot faster, and the volume is small enough to fit in your pocket. It includes an introduction to birding in the front and easy color tabs for navigation.

Upsides:
~Don't have to look at pictures of every bird from Maine to Georgia when trying to find your species.
~Sorted by color so you can say "I saw a blue bird what birds in MA are blue?"
~Color is represented by tabs on the side so you can flip it until you get to the spot you want - very fast in the field
~Includes map of MA with range marked
~Includes plenty of facts
~Includes "compare" which lists commonly mistaken birds
~Includes extremely dimorphic species in separate entries per gender (such as red for male cardinal and brown for female cardinal) and their own photos, as well as inset photos of opposite gender or winter plumage as necessary
~Extremely quick to find most of the common species.
~Works in lower NH, also helped me with a few general ID's in CT

Downsides:
~Typically only one photo per entry.
~Few juvenile/nonbreeding photos, had to go to Peterson's to find out that the brown seagull was just a juvenile ring-billed
~Brown and Grey are subjective. Some of the "brown" birds I thought should be "grey" and vice versa, because that's the way they looked in the photo or the field. If you're looking for a brown/grey bird and can't find it, its probably in the opposite section. Can add a little extra time double checking, though a few are double-listed.
~Not as in depth as other guides, this is only meant for an introduction and quick ID guide.
~No illustrations, only photographs, which while high quality, are subject to lighting and non-ideal angles simply because they are photographs.
~Not a lot of birds with ranges that are primarily waterbound (ie shearwaters are absent). If you're doing your birdwatching in Stellwagen or just generally by boat you may find the volume less helpful.
~No index. If your birding buddy says "i think that's a hairy woodpecker", you have to find it manually in the black and white section rather than looking up the page and going directly there. It's not a large book so this may not be an issue, but it can be annoying with the grey/brown issue... your birding buddy says "that's either a purple, spotted, or semipalpated sandpiper. can you check?" ... do you turn to grey or brown? And why can't you just look this up in an index?! Good luck finding the correct species before the specimen flies off.

[Sarah Randall]

This is a good little book, and I like it for quick reference. Good pictures. However, I really do wish it were a little more extensive. I've started a list in the back cover of all the other birds I've seen in Massachusetts, and I don't mean a rare straggler who doesn't normally show up. I'm glad I have it, though, to complement the others. I'd buy it again, but I wouldn't want it to be the only thing on my shelf.