[texbirds] The Rare Birds of North America, a great new book for Texas birders

From: antshrike1@xxxxxxx
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 14:33:30 -0500 (EST)
There are certain books that serious Texas Birders need to have in their 
library.  I think the three most important are the Sibley and National 
Geographic Guides and the TOS Handbook of Texas Birds.  These are the three I 
use the most.  While ordering the new TOS Handbook, I saw an advertisement for 
The Rare Birds of North America by Steve Howell, Ian Lewington and Will 
Russell.  I went ahead and bought it because I knew anything done by Steve 
Howell would be great and I wanted to see how they would treat a certain 
austral flycatcher that is dear to my heart.  This might be a fourth important 
book for Texas birders.

Anyway it arrived a few days ago and I am really impressed.  The book begins 
with a discussion of vocabulary and of rare birds in general, followed by a lot 
of neat theory about migration and vagrancy in birds and a good section on 
topography, molt and aging.  The remaining 90% of the book discusses 262 
species of rare birds found across the North American continent.  Of course 
this is important to Texas birders as close to a quarter of these have been 
seen in Texas and many of the others could possible show up some day.  Each 
species is illustrated with several fine paintings and similar species like 
Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Green and Solitary Sandpipers, various stints 
and peeps are illustrated together.  Specific records are listed for the more 
rare species and each species has an interesting commentary about the records 
and future possibilities of sightings.  Each of the species also has a detailed 
description of plumage, habitat and behavior.


The rare Texas birds range from one time records like Bare-throated Tiger Heron 
and Double-striped Thick-knee to more common rarities like Masked Duck, Blue 
Bunting and Crimson-collared Grosbeak.  They are all discussed in much more 
detail than is possible by the TOS Handbook.  Of course many of the Asiatic or 
European strays may not get down here but there no reason Texas can't have a 
Long-billed Murrelet or a Gray-hooded Gull.  


So anyway, I'm learning a lot from this book and it certainly makes a good 
reference work for rare things that may show up in our state.  I think most 
serious Texas birders would feel the same.  Here's a link to the Princeton 
University Press page.  http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10101.html


Dan Jones, Weslaco

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[texbirds] The Rare Birds of North America, a great new book for Texas birders

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