- Paperback: 172 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (24 Jun 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0062730282
- ISBN-13: 978-0062730282
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 9.4 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,608,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
A field guide to North American birds presents an identification method that uses panoramic illustrations, range maps, and an organization system based on habitat and characteristics.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This bird book is very good and the bird art work is much nearer the real thing than other well known birding books. The text is concise along with easy to see distribution maps. During two birding trips to Texas I found that it was very easy to use and this was also the general opinion of the other tour members on both trips.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
64 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding for actual field use.
6 July 1999
Format:Paperback
I have been interested in birding for about ten years, and own several other bird guides, and have examined closely several more. As you might imagine, most guides share quite a lot in common. If I were using a field guide to simply look at a backyard bird, I might equally well use my Peterson's Guide or my NGS Field Guide to the Birds of North America. All three of these guides have good art and organization, and are very usable. I think this is the best guide for FIELD use for several reasons: 1) The size and shape easily fit in a normal pocket. 2) The weather resistant materials the book is made of. 3) The way birds are grouped, by similarities in behavior, habitat, and appearance, allows for easy comparison and rapid identification of a species. The authors have obviously put a lot of thought into the design and organization of this book and it has a lot to offer both the beginning and advanced birder.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Depth and clarity
24 Jun 2001
Format:Paperback
I've birded for more than 40 years, and I've used all the guides. This may seem heretical, but I have too much trouble with ambiguous identifications when carrying the much-vaunted National Geographic guide. I recommend this ABC (Griggs) guide along with Sibley's as the very top choices: Sibley's when you don't mind carrying 2 ¾ lb, and this one when you do. The best feature of this book, and the one that keeps me studying it at night, is that it is much more than an illustrated list. It explains what to look for in separating similar species. If you tend to throw up your hands at "LBJ's" (little brown jobs, meaning sparrows and other brown passerines), you need to read the detailed explanations in this book for orientation. It has equally useful introductory material for many bird groups. The unconventional organization is no impediment: I like the way birds are grouped primarily by similarity and secondarily by habitat.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
A worthy second bird guide to take into the field
2 April 2001
Format:Paperback
With so many birding field guides available these days, birders suffer from a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to selecting which volume(s) to take into the field. Even in the face of still competition, this still fairly new guide put together by the American Bird Conservancy has many strong points to recommend it. First, the illustrations are, for the most part, gorgeously painted and well-printed. Second, there is adequate emphasis on key identification field marks. Third, the book is small enough to be easily carried in a jacket pocket or field guide pouch. And fourth, although no single field guide can really be said to include "all the birds," this one comes close enough, and even features some special sections and illustration plates showing "accidentals" that occasionally show up in North America.
If there is a key problem for potential users of this guide, it is that its authors have daringly attempted to create a new way to organize the presentation of the many hundreds of species included. Rather than follow the taxonomic approach typical of other field guides, the authors have organized in part in accordance with habitat and geographical area. For novice birders unfamiliar with the way it's "usually done," this may prove quite convenient. For experienced birders, however, this distinctive organization will likely prove the source of headaches rather than added convenience.
The other problem with this and indeed, any field guide that is more than a year or so old is that ornithologists are constantly lumping and splitting species. With its 1997 publication date, the book is recent enough to have included some important "splits," including the California/Black-tailed gnatcatchers and the California/Canyon towhees. However, there are more recent changes that have occurred since 1997, including the newly recognized Gunnison sage grouse and the splitting off of Arizona from Strickland's woodpecker. Hopefully, the publishers of *All The Birds* will employ a periodic updating regimen to keep its readers current with regard to what is or is not considered a "real species."
Ultimately, the field guide that most avid birders will continue to carry with them in the field always is the *National Geographic Field Guide To The Birds of North America*. As a second and perhaps more portable reference, however, *All The Birds of North America* might be a good book to bring on one's field trips, as well.
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