[tn-bird] Re: Hummingbird field guide
- From: "K. Dean Edwards" <kde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:19:24 -0500 (EST)
I looked through it briefly the other day. In Knoxville, there
are several copies at Barnes and Noble and one or two at B. Dalton
in West Town. B&N also has the 2001 edition of the Peterson Hawks
guide which has been updated a lot from the older editon.
It roughly follows the outline of the Peterson Warblers guide but
with photographs in the front and text in the back. The maps look
nice with some of the more common species having a separate map
with lines indicating approximate spring return dates (e.g.,
Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, Rufous, Allen's). The range maps
seem rather useful and up-to-date; for example, the Green-breasted
Mango in NC last winter is included on the map and mentioned in
the text. Wintering western hummers in the East are indicated by
point markers. On some maps -- for example, Calliope -- one marker
indicates one occurrence; on others -- such as Rufous -- one marker
indicates several occurrences. This is a bit odd at first -- TN
has roughly similar number of markers for Rufous and Black-chinned
from what I remember -- but the legend is well documented. I'll
leave it to someone more knowledgeable to comment on the accuracy
of the maps.
I just scanned through the text so can't comment on it.
The photos bother me a bit in that almost all are detailed shots
of birds in the hand. For example, there are several pages of
close-up pics of tails in which the bird is being held in hand
with the tail spread out. Not sure how much use that would be
as a FIELD guide. Like I said, I've only flipped through it,
but my first impression is that I'm not sure how helpful the
pics are unless you have the bird in hand. Also, the pics are
small (as in _Dragonflies Through Binoculars_ small). Hopefully
the text does a good job of describing field ID.
I'll point out that there are two new guides from Academic Press
as well (haven't seen either): _Hummingbirds: A Photographic
Guide to the Hummingbirds of North America_ by Steve Howell and
_Sparrows: A Photographic Guide to the Sparrows of US and Canada_
by Rising (this is a supplement to Rising's Sparrow guide from a
few years back which is very nice). I have the first book in this
series which is on raptors and think highly of it. One of the
future books in this series will deal with flycatchers! I could
certainly use that one.
And while I'm at it, there are a few new books in the Helm guide
series that includes _Seabirds_ by Harrison, _Shorebirds_ by
Hayman, Marchant & Prater, and _Waterfowl_ by Madge. Two of the
new guides (there are several new ones) include _Raptors_ which
came out this past fall and _Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse_
due out in March. Unfortunately, unlike those first three books
metnioned above, _Raptors_ is a 1000-page tome! Lots of good
info I'm sure but... does it come with a fork-lift? Still, it
does cover all the birds of prey of the world (except owls and
shrikes which are covered in other Helm guides). On the horizon
... distant horizon I suspect... The Helm guide to gulls. That
one may require 2000 pages.
Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN
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