Synopses & Reviews
This series of pocket-size bird field guides began with the launch of the first two guides: California and Florida in Spring 2005, followed by the Summer 2005 titles: New Jersey and Michigan.
The new Fall 2005 titles take you to the Carolinas and Texas. The Carolinas introduces birds from the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina to South Carolina's Sandhill National Wildlife Reserve, to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, populated by beachcombing Sandpipers, Pelicans, and Kittiwakes.
Future titles will include: Alaska, The Rocky Mountains, East Coast Canada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and the Great Plains.
The books are designed for use by novices to experienced birders who want to take only the guide for the state or region they're visiting.
Each guide is 272 pages and features about 175 birds-either as a main entry or secondary entry
Their handy trim is 4x6 and can easily fit in a backpack or pocket for easy access. Rather than alphabetically, the birds are featured by family, as supported by the American Ornithological Association. (A quick reference alphabetical guide on the inside of the back cover helps you find a bird quickly.)
The following points make these books the ultimate area guides to birds:
Introduction: By an expert birder in that region gives focused guidance on how to look for the top birds in this region, where to look for them, and what to focus on when you see them.
How-To-Use: This 4-page entry is two-fold. It reveals the basic makeup of a bird, so users will become familiar with the bird parts and lingo in this and any guidebook; it also has how-to-use instructions with a keyed spread.
125 Easy-to-use Entries. The clean, straightforward layout makes it a snap to identify birds in the field:
1.Each entry has a vivid photograph on the left page showing the bird in its habitat.
2.On the right page is a list of bulleted points called field identification clues
3.Then 3 main entries are: Behavior, Habitat, Local Sites.
4.At the bottom of each entry a "Field Note" gives an additional highlight to look for in the bird's behavior. Many of these are illustrated by
5.Secondary birds (about 25 per book) are featured in artwork next to the field fact.
Several features work together to make this the ultimate beginning birder's tool:
*A full index with boxes for beginners to start marking their life list.
*In many volumes a Field Notes page for individual notes on where birds were sighted or features to look for.
*The alphabetical, quick-reference field index on the back inside cover,
*A color-coded index, which features drawings of birds by color, with page number- the best possible cross-referencing tool to put early birders on the track to lifelong birding.
Synopsis
National Geographic Field Guide to Birds provides affordable, portable, reliable region-specific information, perfect for the novice or experienced birder. In each guide, an introduction by an expert birder from the region offers guidance on where to look for key birds. An opening section gives pointers on how to look for key birds and what to focus on when you spot them. Each guide features approximately 150 birds, grouped by family. Two indexes: one alphabetical and one color-coded help readers identify a bird quickly.
Each entry has a vivid photograph showing the bird in its native habitat. On the facing page, there is a list of bulleted points of field identification clues as well as behavioral and habitat information, and the best local places to find the bird. Special field notes give additional i.d. or behavioral information and detailed maps show the range of each bird's habitat. With comprehensive coverage of the region and valuable advice from experts, these user-friendly guides will quickly become favorite companions on the journey to lifelong birding.
North and South Carolina, a favorite among bird watchers, are homes to a wide variety of birds that live in the western mountainous terrain or the eastern shorelines.
About the Author
Jonathan Alderfer, a widely published author and field guide illustrator, is well known in the birding community for his expertise as a field ornithologist and his knowledge of North American birds. He has served as a general consultant and an art consultant for the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (4th edition) and is the Associate Editor of Birding, the magazine of the American Birding Association.