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National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition (National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America) | 
| Authors: Jon L. Dunn, Jonathan Alderfer
Publisher: National Geographic
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $13.93
You Save: $10.07 (42%)
New (28) Used (7) from $13.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 705
Media: Paperback
Edition: 5
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 504
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0792253140
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.097
EAN: 9780792253143
ASIN: 0792253140
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ALL BOOKS ARE BRAND NEW
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Product Description
Birding is the fastest growing wildlife-related activity in the U.S., and even conservative estimates put the current number of U.S. birders at 50 million. According to the New York Times, some authorities predict that by 2050 there will be more than 100 million—and the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America will be the essential reference for field identification and the cornerstone of any birder's library. This is the ultimate, indispensable bird field guide—comprehensive, authoritative, portable, sturdy, and easier than ever to use.
Among the the new edition's key elements and practical improvements: Every North American species—more than 960, including a new section on accidental birds—classified according to the latest official American Ornithologists' Union checklist 4,000 full-color illustrations by the foremost bird artists at work todayand newly updated range maps that draw on the latest data New durable cover for added protection against adverse weather, plus informative quick-reference flaps that double as placemarkers New reader-friendly features like thumbtabs that make locating key sections faster and easier, and a quick-find index to direct users straight to the information they need.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
The Best Guide On The Market May 11, 2008
After five revisions, this book is a fine-tuned machine. Absolutely every aspect of the book has been thought out in terms of field-usefulness. Once you use this guide, you won't settle for anything else, not even Sibley's excellent guide.
The only thing that might discourage a beginning birder is: 1. use of scientific jargon, and 2. extensive subspecies coverage.
These two factors can be confusing for neophytes, but on the other hand many veteran birders can't live without them. This is the single NA bird guide that approaches the avocation from a scientific standpoint; all the rest take a more relaxed standpoint. I find the subspecies pictures to be extremely useful when afield; some may view it as a hassle.
Bottom line: you owe it to yourself to buy this book - it may be the best $16 you ever spend. If you are a beginner, you may wish to start out with the Sibley guide, or the Peterson guide.
birds April 26, 2008
I finally know what kind of birds i've been feeding for the last twenty years.
Great Book April 10, 2008
Nat Geo has done a great job with this book, at least for the non-professional bird watcher! A great resource!
Excellent field guide April 6, 2008
Better size than Sibley for a field guide and almost as good as Sibley as a guide.Best to have both.
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 5th Ed. April 5, 2008
A single field guide is not sufficient. A birder needs to compare the information and illustrations of two or more field guides. The trick is to pick field guides that provide comprehensive, easily accessible, clear information that make identifications quick and indisputable. I believe that the Fifth Edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America has a number of qualities and features that make it an admirable and worthy choice as one of the field guides one should use.
First, it has the very sage advice, "The time you spend at home with your field guide will be repaid when you go out birding." Using its maps as a guide, a birder can peruse the pages to obtain a good idea of what to expect in the field.
Among this field guide's qualities are an easy to use quick find index on the back cover flap, a convenient size, illustrations of the 967 species seen in North American (including the extinct ones) and a wonderfully helpful Introduction with many hints on bird identification, parts of a bird, the range of maps, and how to be a better birder. For example, the Introduction provides an illustration of what to look for and how to tell a Lesser Scaup from a Greater Scaup.
The text is comprehensive, providing the diagnostic features for males, females, and juveniles when these vary. Although the diagnostic features of a species are not pointed out in the illustrations, which is a drawback in my eyes, the concise text clearly sets out the features. An experienced birder will have no difficulty finding the correct family or grouping of birds even if they still cannot tell the Empidonax flycatchers apart. (That is not the fault of the field guide.)
The field guide does have a few draw backs. It promotes itself as "comprehensive, authoritative, portable, sturdy, and easier than ever to use". Without field testing, the sturdiness of the paperback format to withstand rugged use is unknown, but in doubt. The illustrations vary in quality. While the illustration of the Greater Roadrunner is absolutely brilliant in shape and color, the Northern Cardinal's color seems muddy and dull. Any birder will still be able to identify a Northern Cardinal, but the reality will be different from the illustration, which casts some doubt on the color representations of other, less well known species.
Despite these minor flaws that emphasize the need for more than one field guide, I highly recommend the Fifth Edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America as one of the field guides to study at home or carry into the field.
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