Field Guide to the Birds of North America

by Ted Floyd, Paul Hess (Editor), George Scott (Editor)

Enjoy birding like never before

A complete guide to birds with superb color photography, up-to-date and detailed range maps, clear and concise text, and a DVD of birdsongs

This new field guide provides a suite of modern tools to effectively aid in the identification of more than 750 species of birds across North America. It introduces a "whole bird" approach by concisely gathering a collection of information about birds into one portable and well-organized volume.


2,000 stunning color photographs of birds in natural habitats show the most important field marks, regional population differences, life stages, and behaviors
700-plus detailed and up-to-date color range maps show summer, migration, winter, year-round, and rare but regular occurrences of every major species
A DVD of birdsongs for 138 major species (587 vocalizations in all for 5½ hours of play); each high-quality MP3 file is embedded with an image of the bird, perfect to view on home computers and portable MP3 players
Concise descriptions of habits and ecology, age-related and seasonal differences, regional forms, vocalization, and informative captions pointing out the most important aspects of the bird
46 group essays with information outlining taxonomy, feeding, migration, habitats, behaviors, and conservation status
A thorough and accessible introduction to birds and birding includes sections on parts of a bird, plumage and molt, food and feeding, migration, habitats, conservation, tips on bow to become a better birder, and more
A detailed glossary of terms, species checklist, and quick index
The Field Guide to the Birds of North America is perfectly designed to give birders the most powerful and user-friendly collection of information to carry into the field or wherever they enjoy learning about birds and nature.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Reference, Field Guides, Science

512 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

Reviews

[June Pecchia]

Not the kind of book you'd normally read from start to finish, but for a bird lover and/or avid traveler, it's a fantastically useful 'encyclopedia.' Each bird has at least one excellent photo, a small map indicating range, and other notations including a description of the song. A CD of 587 downloadable bird songs included.

I'm now looking over about 25 comprehensive bird guides I got at the library to see which I'd like to purchase so I can take notes in it about my viewing of birds. This one is a contender, but because of its depth and breadth, it is rather heavy.

I'll update this post when I'm sure which ones are best for this purpose.

One big complaint: Mexico is part of North America, but is not included in this book. Fine, if you need to limit the number of birds, but then don't call it "North America".

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am falling deeper and deeper in love with birds. Like madly in love. Like making-them-a-mix-tape in love. Why? So many reasons! Their earth-dominating scale (50x our population!), their wild evolutionary histories, their gorgeous plumage, their majestic flying, their gonzo behaviors. Nevermind their collective nonchalance about the pandemic. That alone is worth something! I know it’s a pandemic cliché but I just can’t stop looking at the birds. I love this guide because before every type of bird there’s a page or two about its history and behavior. Helps you get to know the birds you love better.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While you can't go wrong with this field guide you don't need it if you already have either Sibley, Nat Geo 5th edition, Peterson, or Kaufmann. What does this book add to the competitive field guide market? Basically a disc with bird calls in MP3 format. Be warned however that the disc is a DVD and will only be useful if your computer has a DVD drive. It will not work in regular CD players, CD drives, or even in MP3-compatible CD players (like my car stereo). It did not play on our DVD player either but it may play on more updated/integrated audio/TV systems. So in order to listen to the disc I had to convert all them to MP3 on CD and that takes 2 discs. Also, the front of the book proudly announces "587 downloadable birds songs" but the fine print on page 491 (and the back cover) reveal that 138 species are covered. But these species are a good selection of starter species throughout N. Amer and a good variety of calls and songs within species. So this field guide is an excellent choice for a tech savvy newish/younger birder without any/many bird guides already. One other note: the illustrations are photos and suffer from the same problems with other photo-based field guides - namely the lighting and postures are not controlled or consistent and can make comparisons among species problematic. For example look at the Empidonax flycatcher section (a difficult group to identify) and try to compare primary extension among species. Aside from that issue the photographs are generally excellent (better than stokes and audubon guides). Finally, why did they change the color scheme on the range maps from the typical blue/winter, purple/all year, red/summer? It only confuses the issue. Ok, so Sibley modified it too but now we have 3 schemes to juggle if we refer to multiple books.

[Alexandra Desailly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best field guide of North American birds that I have ever come across (and I own several). This is one of the few bird guides out there that uses actual photos for all of its entries. This is in and of itself is an accomplishment, given how difficult it can be to have ID-worthy photos of ALL species. Not only does it offer actual photos but the photos are excellent! There are also multiple photos for some species as well - making ID-ing species a cinch. The descriptions of each species are also in-depth and not only cover the basics, such as appearance and song, but also things such as their behavior and sometimes interesting facts such as their evolutionary history which makes reading this field guide fun! I recommend this field guide for beginners and expert twitchers alike.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I designed (with extensive and invaluable help from Whitney Grant). Of course, I read every book I design, but this isn't a book one reads so much as uses. It's in my book category of "machine" (the other two general categories being "meal" and "metaphor"). Machines are books that one "uses" until they wear out or lose relevance. It'll be some time before either happens to this chunky field guide. It includes a DVD of bird songs, and some of the most stunning and current photography of birds ever committed to print. Ted Floyd is the kind of maniacal author/person who lives and breaths his subject. Maniacal intensity makes for valuable "machines".

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome guide for really identify birds.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best guide I've found. My sourcebook in all things birding.

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes:
photography not drawings

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Ted Floyd (Harper Perennial 2008)(598.097). This is a very well done guide to birds and birding. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 2009.