Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region
by Donald Stokes, Lillian Stokes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Donald Stokes, Lillian StokesBrand: Stokes
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-01-29
ISBN: 0316818100
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region
Book Review: THE best guides for the backyard bird watcher
Summary: 5 Stars
A few months after I set up bird feeders in my yard, I found myself looking for a good bird identification book to help me to identify some of the feathered visitors that I had never seen before and couldn't identify. I'm not a professional bird-watcher--just someone who enjoys the variety of birds (and their antics) and who wants to be able to identify and learn something about all these new birds my feeders were atracting. Finding a good bird ID book geared towards the backyard bird-watcher proved to be a lot easier said than done. I looked through all kinds of books, and even the ones by publishers whose reputations would lead one to believe they would likely be what I desired (e.g., National Geographic, Petersen's) were disappointing. Some of the problems with these guides were: dime-sized illustrations of the birds, paintings of birds rather than pictures of them in the wild, (In spite of "professional" bird watcher's who seem to think that bird guides with paintings are the only way to go, I've never seen a painted bird in the wild so I don't find paintings very helpful.), pertinent basic facts like nesting behavior and feeding habits buried in scholarly treatises, or contrarily, very bare descriptions. When I finally found this book (and its companion book covering the western USA), I had finally found what I had looked so long for. Here was a book that had actual pictures of birds in the wild--and they weren't dime-sized either. This book also frequently has a picture of not just the male but also the female birds along with immature young whose coloring is distinct from the adults--and even variant/sub-species show up from time to time. The information in each profile is a good summary of each of the most important aspects of a particular bird species (e.g., distinguishing characteristics, feeding habits, song(s), nesting habits and patterns, and the most interesting/useful notes about miscellaneous aspects of each bird). The guides are excellently organized--and in several ways. There is a quick, color-coded index for finding pages on the most common birds as well as color-marked sections on broad types of birds. A comprensive and easy-to-use index is also included. The only negative aspect to the guides which I've found are that more than once I have found the ranges to be inaccurate--or perhaps out of date. (It's true that the ranges of some bird species seem to spread out rather quickly.) According to the range in the guide, purple finches shouldn't be even near my area; yet, thanks to the guide's comments about distinguishing house finches from purple finches, I've identified them at my feeders many times. Finally, the western region guide covers the region west of the 40th Meridian (line of longitude) which is roughly from the middle of the North Dakota border with Canada down through the "boot" of Texas. (Yes, Canadian birds are covered too.) Any birds that appear at all in that area are covered--even if most of their range is east of that line. The converse is true for the eastern region guide, so in many cases a bird species will be listed in both guides because their range covers areas on both sides of the 40th Meridian.
Summary of Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region
The easiest-to-use and most comprehensive field guide to North American birds-from the country's preeminent writers on birds and nature Drawing on more than twenty years' experience as bird and wildlife experts, Donald and Lillian Stokes have produced field guides that are factually, visually, and organizationally superior to any other books you can buy. You'll find: * All the identification information on a single page-color photographs, range map, and detailed description. No more fumbling to match photos with text! * For fast reference-a compact alphabetical index inside the front and back covers. * More than 900 high-resolution color identification photographs. * An illustrated Quick Guide to the most common backyard and feeder birds. * Convenient colored tabs keyed to each bird group. * Concise and comprehensive text, with information on habitat; plumage variation; feeding, nesting, and mating behavior; bird feeder proclivity; and-for the first time in any guide-population trends and conservation status.Birdwatching Books
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