FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] recommend a field guide for our area??

[Steve Johnson <stevejohnson2@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This should be good for a few replies.  I hope this is sufficiently 
on-topic for VA-BIRD.  I want to buy an up-to-date field guide, mostly 
to adapt to the newer species definitions from the A.O.U.  My favorite 
in recent years has been the National Geographic guide.

I have heard a lot of good press about Sibley's guides.  But I looked 
through one at the bookstore, and the paintings (in the copy I saw) were 
absurdly colorful.  I was looking through the wood warblers and it 
looked like they had gotten the right colors and then overprinted the 
page about 3 times.

Has anyone else noticed this?  Are there different editions of Sibley?  
Is this excessive color considered a feature of Sibley guides?  (Maybe 
it's supposed to be helpful in poor lighting conditions.)

I was also disappointed in the "Similar Species" sections - I saw little 
or nothing on that topic in the Sibley guide I was looking at.  Again, 
should I be looking at a different edition of Sibley?  Or does anyone 
have a recommendation for a guide with good discussions of similar species?

Thank you!!

- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
stevejohnson2 (at) verizon.net