The Shorebird Guide by Richard Crossley, Kevin Karlson, Michael O'Brien
Shorebirds, also knows as waders, are (together with raptors) among the most favorite birds of many birdwatchers. This has several reasons. Shorebirds have a very interesting biology, migrate over long distances (some fly nonstop for thousands of kilometers), some occur in large numbers and many have a beautiful plumage.Many shorebird species are hard to identify which makes them popular among many birdwatchers who like the challenge. Also, shorebirds often appear as rare vagrants far away from the traditional range and cause a lot of excitement among local birdwatchers.
In order to identify the difficult species and especially the rare vagrants a birdwatcher needs a lot of experience. The plumage characteristics alone are often not enough or can not be seen from far away. Size, structure and behavior of the bird play an important role in the identification process of any difficult shorebird.
"The Shorebird Guide" by Michael O'Brien, Richard Grossley and Kevin Karlson recognizes this and with that book the authors provide the (in my opinion) best identification guide to North American shorebirds currently available.
On more than 450 pages the authors cover every shorebird species regularly occurring in North America and also all the vagrants that show up in North America like Northern Lapwing, Marsh Sandpiper or Oriental Pratincole.
After a general (and very good!) introduction into shorebird identification, every species is described with several color photographs showing all important plumages of every species. For the regularly in North America occurring species a range map is provided. Next to the pictures is a short text that describes the important characteristics of the bird(s) shown. The pictures are very good and help to make clear what is important for the identification of every species. The second part of the book (without pictures) covers further information for every species, including status, taxonomy, behavior, migration, molt and vocalizations.
As I already wrote, I think this is the best identification guide to North American shorebirds currently available and probably will be for many years to come. Every birder interested in North American shorebirds should have this book. I also highly recommend it to European birders as some species occur in both regions and most European species are also covered. Also, this guide would be very helpful for European birders when they encounter a rare North American vagrant.
Book details:The Shorebird Guide Richard Crossley, Kevin Karlson, Michael O'Brien Houghton Mifflin 496 pages ISBN-10: 0618432949 ISBN-13: 978-0618432943 |