We birders are a most fortunate bunch. Not only are we spoilt for choice when it comes to high-quality optics, birding holidays to suit every budget and every level of interest, birding blogs (like this one!) and websites serving us with all kinds of information and avian adventure, we’re also being offered books of astonishing quality.

If ever there was a time to “get into” birding - and it appears that more and more of us are all the time which of course explains such product availability - it’s right now, because whatever we want someone somewhere is prepared to offer it to us. And this time around that “someone” is none other than the Smithsonian Institution, who have combined with the highly-professional and well-renowned publishing house of HarperCollins and given their name to the soon-to-be published (May 27th 2008) “Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America“…

Like I said, we really are a most fortunate bunch. I’ve been birding long enough now to have witnessed an absolute revolution in bird books - especially field-guides. The first “proper” book I ever used (or tried to use) to identify birds here in the UK was the “AA Book of birds”, a huge slab of binding and paper the size of a paving-stone, with the most exquisite (almost) life-size paintings, and a wonderfully evocative text. It was a work of art - but hopelessly impractical and virtually useless if you wanted to go beyond recognising male birds in full breeding plumage.

Thankfully over on the other side of ‘The Pond’ a genius called Roger Tory Peterson was busy re-defining bird identification and publishing a whole library of books that a birder - of any skill level - could use to correctly put a name to the bird he or she was seeing. Peterson’s condensed text and accurate paintings were the model for a whole slew of books, as publishers and authors alike realised that what we birders needed was a light-weight, portable, durable book that we wouldn’t mind getting a little mud or coffee on (I’m sure some of us used to think that the more distressed and dog-eared our copy was the better in fact - it showed how hardcore we were!).

Throughout the later stages of the twentieth-century hugely talented birders all over the world - literally - were coming together and producing books of outstanding quality, based on real-life observations and years of study. In 2000 and 2001 the bar was set at its highest point yet with publication in the US of David Sibley’s The Sibley Guide to Birds (”Sibley”), whilst in Europe Collins published what is still, in my opinion anyway, the best field-guide ever published, Svensson et al’s Collins Bird Guide.

The latter two books, though both exclusively illustrated with paintings differed slightly in approach. Sibley’s guide was novel in the way that whole groups of similar species (eg warblers) were painted in exactly the same pose to show how they differed in proportion and shape as well as colour. There was minimal text, and some birders (perhaps newer ones) found it a little unexciting and repetitive. Svensson’s book, on the other hand, was full of text and wonderfully personal descriptions: the illustrations were top-class too but perhaps a little too small sometimes? Both sold by the truckload, but also nonetheless perfectly showed that what one birder loves another can be lukewarm towards - we are a notoriously difficult crowd to please…

First Impressions:

Which brings me to the book in hand: the “Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America” (”Smithsonian”). Written by Ted Floyd (editor of the American Birding Association’s (ABA’s) Birding magazine) and entirely illustrated by 2000 digital photographs, the book bills itself as introducing “a ‘whole bird’ approach” and claims to concisely gather “a collection of birds into one portable and well-organised volume”. It’s weighty but not inconveniently so, has a flexible, wipe-clean cover (does anyone still miss dust-jackets? I doubt it…), and is emblazoned with an exquisite photograph of a Red-headed Woodpecker. More than 750 species are covered, the author having decided to base which species are included in the Guide on the basis of the ABA’s status code system (which is clearly explained on the inside cover): every bird up to and including Code 4 species are here, each has a range map, and a short description that eg refers to moult strategies and where applicable mentions conservation measure/population changes (a few additional rarities are pictured with just a short description too). Males, females, and often immatures/juveniles are illustrated and described, as are some distinctive populations.

I’ll get on to the text in a moment, but let’s face it a Guide will usually live or die on the strength of its first impressions, and it’s the illustrations that most people notice first. Both Mike and I received review copies about the same time, and as if to underscore the points I made above Mike - a ‘Sibley Man’ who prefers illustrations to photographs - was initially a little unsure what he thought, whereas I - who until the arrival of The Shorebird Guide had always been sceptical whether photography alone would ever be adequate to fill a ‘proper’ field-guide - was blown away.

The photographs:

I have to say that having now used this book in both Chicago and New York in the last few weeks (and flicking through it in between trips), my initial impression has held good: the photographs in this book are simply stunning and easily good enough and comprehensive enough to enable ID in the field - and commendably every single one is labelled with both the time of year the picture was taken and the location:useful and important information that should be always supplied in my opinion.

The bulk of the images have been taken by Brian E Small, the ABA’s photo-editor and evidently one well-travelled birder. Though they have generally been reduced to a quite small size to fit on the page, the standard of reproduction (the Singapore printers who produced this book have done a fantastic job) renders each one clear and beautifully-saturated. To use birder jargon, there is barely a ‘duff photo’ in here - and many, especially the flight shots of eg the raptors and an implausibly well-captured flying Yellow Rail by Matt White (how long did it take to get THAT photo for Chrissakes?) are world-class. If I’m being incredibly picky I’d have liked the flash artefact removed from the eye of the Bluethroat on page 353, but this is a wholly remarkable collection of photos and worth the cover-price alone.

The Maps:

The next thing I tend to look for are clear range maps. Again, the maps are quite small (a thumb is often enough to cover them over) but they are - again - strikingly bright and clear. I’m not sure what technique has been used to get the colours chosen to depict eg winter and summer ranges so sharp and defined but they are models of clarity (personally I find the maps in “Sibley” a touch ’soft’ and sometimes a little hard to use - perhaps the matt paper “Sibley” is printed on doesn’t reproduce colours as successfully as the glossy paper of the “Smithsonian”). As well as looking good, the maps have been produced by Paul Lehman, a tireless birder who has already worked as mapping-editor for revised editions of the National Geographic, the Peterson eastern & western Guides, and for other Sibley projects: in other words they will be accurate and up-to-date.With the state of bird populations in such flux (both expanding and contracting) having the most recent information available is important to birders, and the “Smithsonian” certainly looks to provide the goods.

The Text:

So how does the text stand up? I have to admit that when I first skimmed through the “Smithsonian” I wondered why just Ted Floyd’s name was on the cover. The text seemed so minimal and the photos and maps so prominent that it seemed only fair to have had a whole raft of names adorning the cover instead of just one. But that really is to under-estimate the work that has gone into the words (as well as ignoring the fact that as the project’s conceiver Ted Floyd’s name should be at the helm). Each species has caption text woven around the photographs and, in a standardised presentation throughout, a short ‘narrative’ which looks at various aspects of behaviour, habitat choice, status etc. Above this narrative are key facts including length, weight, wingspan, a look at moult, and an identification pointer; below a summary of vocalisations. The amount of space on the page available for the text has necessitated a concise and taut writing style, but the author has managed to include more evocative observations such as “A ground-loving tail-wagger” for Palm Warbler and “A feisty, flycatching, food-storing woodpecker” which opens the narrative on Red-headed Woodpecker.

Most modern guides don’t simply convey straightforward facts and stats though, and the “Smithsonian” is no different. The Introduction is excellent (and long), and contains a wealth of information for novice and experienced birders alike. If you get this book do spend some time reading the intro - it’s worth the effort and makes elements of the way the whole book is written and presented much more understandable. On top of this, preceding the main species pages each Family is given it’s own mini-essay, many of which contain some truly fascinating tidbits that make great reading (try the one on Wood Warblers on page 378 for example). As a package that aims - as I’ve already said - to introduce “a ‘whole bird’ approach” and claims to concisely gather “a collection of birds into one portable and well-organised volume” I shouldn’t have expected anything less - but it’s very welcome to actually have expectations fulfilled.

The Accompanying DVD:

Unusually the “Smithsonian” guide comes bundled with a disk that the cover proclaims contains “587 downloadable bird songs”. I have mixed feelings about the inclusion of his disk to be honest. At first sight being offered “587 downloadable bird songs” for free seems like a win-win situation, but once I realised that this meant 587 songs and vocalisations from just 138 species (which, to be fair, is pointed out on the back cover of the book) I wondered quite what the point was.

The recordings are all high-quality, and they’re mostly worth having, but - for instance - when I wanted to prepare for my trip to New York when I knew Mike and I would be looking for migrant warblers and found just a handful of species represented I was a bit disappointed. There were some useful recordings of course, but did I need American Crow or nine different Black-capped Chickadee vocalisations when I didn’t get Blue-winged or Prairie Warblers?

I don’t want to pour scorn on the disk at all - like I said it’s part of an excellent package and doesn’t cost extra -but I just have to ask: why include so few species?

Faults and Errors:

Personally I hate reviews that seem to be written just to prove how clever the reviewer was to find the typo on page xxx, or the mis-labelled photo on page xxx, but after such a eulogy perhaps I should make an effort to pick a few holes?

Okay, there is one obviously mis-labelled photo: on Page 4 a very drab female Yellow Warbler has been used to illustrate how similar the species’ plumage can be to Orange-crowned Warbler and is labelled “Texas, April”. It’s clearly not a spring bird, and on Page 386 the photo re-appears with the label “California, October”. It’s hardly a huge mistake though. I guess some people may open the book and recoil at how cluttered some pages appear, but in normal use most birders will be glad of all the text and the numerous photos crammed between the covers. I certainly didn’t find it a problem once I started to look up individual species and search for the information I wanted. I am a little unsure that I need the sentence on moult strategy that comes with each species - but who knows, perhaps I will one day, and it takes up little space so why worry? As a pedantic, old-school Englishman I get really irritated by the capitalising of the first word after a colon, and especially so when said capitalising appears to be inconsistent, sometimes being used, sometimes not: but language is fluid, grammar changes, and I’ll probably just have to get used to it. It doesn’t really detract from the book of course - I only mention it for reasons of balance (and because I’m a grouchy 40-something)…

Final thoughts:

Quite obviously I am very impressed with this book - from the design, concept, and quality of the product right through to the text and photographs inside. It’s a great achievement, and congratulations to all concerned. Having said that, would I have bought it myself, given that I’ve got a handful of North American field-guides already (a position I think a number of birders reading this will be in also)? Yes, I think I would. It looks fabulous, contains a mass of useful information, is very user-friendly, it’s up-to-date, and at the cover price of USD24.95 (I’m not sure what the UK price will be yet) it’s great value too.
I would think though that more important to the publishers will not be whether long-time birders who already have a field-guide will rush out to get another one (I’m sure they’d like that of course), but whether they will find a niche amongst the ever-growing ranks of people who are taking up birding for the first time - according to some surveys, birding is the fastest-growing hobby in North America. My personal feeling is that they will. Yes, the huge amount of info in here may be overwhelming at first, but this is a book that is approachable and I think will ‘grow’ with the user as he/she learns and becomes more experienced. If I was looking for a “proper” field-guide to give to a novice birder I would give them this one (if they were a young person I may opt opt for Bill Thompson’s more targeted The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America instead - or give them both and really win a friend for life!).

Summary:

The “Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America” is the latest all-encompassing bird book to be aimed at the growing ranks of North American birders, and it’s genuinely excellent. Published by HarperCollins, the layout, design, and printing is very high-quality throughout, and many of the 2000 photos used to illustrate the concise but interesting, well-written and informative text are simply world-class. The accompanying DVD is a bit of an incomplete addition, but the sound quality is similarly high. Could I justify owning both the “Smithsonian” and “Sibley”? Of course. Would I buy the “Smithsonian” to replace a battered, tatty “Sibley”? Yes, I would. And would I recommend it to inexperienced birders looking for their first field-guide? Unreservedly.

It’s competition time folks!

HarperCollins, publishers of the “Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America” have offered 10,000 Birds a very, very generous TEN copies of this superb book AND a fully-loaded iPOD to give away to our readers (a good job I like the book so much really, as it would have been quite unfortunate to have panned it!). We’ll be setting a competition soon, so watch this space - you really will be glad if you win!

(I’d just like to make absolutely clear that my review of this book was in no way influenced by this offer by HarperCollins. If I hadn’t liked the book, or had found major faults and errors, I’d have said so. Mike, Corey, and I like being offered give-aways, but we will never allow a publisher/contributor to influence our opinion - and that’s a promise.)