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Can you believe that it hasn’t even been a year since Richard Crossley and Princeton University Press unleashed The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds on the birding public? Actually, a fair accounting of this innovative book’s already storied history must include many months of fervent speculation. I recall the words “game-changer” and “unprecedented” bandied about as enthusiasts across North [...]

I confess, I don’t always love hawks.  Sure, they’re beautiful and powerful, a reminder of the feral freedom of the skies. They’re also confoundingly difficult to identify, the eternal inscrutable spot in the distance.  This is probably why I number so many hawk books in my collection. There’s the slim Hawk Watch: At Guide for [...]

It really has been great to see such beautiful pictures of wood-warblers all week, especially when it has been so long since we saw any in the USA. It made us reach for our field guide for North America, but that really does not compare to the real thing. I had spent several holidays with [...]

The second edition of the Crossbill Guide to Extremadura has just been released and – to my delight – a copy arrived in the post for me the other day. In preparing for our birding trip to Extremadura this February (as part of the EL50 Swarovision launch), I had bought a copy of the first [...]

How many birding reference guides pack the visual punch of The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds? Not many, that’s for sure! That’s why we wanted to find out some of your favorite plates in Crossley’s new opus as part of our Fun, Fun, Fun Crossley ID Guide Giveaway. Are any of these plates your favorite? The photos [...]

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds is undoubtedly the most innovative avian reference guide to come along in many years. In fact, the guide represents such a bold leap forward that reading it makes one wonder what the future of bird guides holds. This is why we asked readers to share their views on the [...]

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds is undoubtedly the most innovative avian reference guide to come along in many years. In fact, the guide represents such a bold leap forward that reading it makes one wonder what the future of bird guides holds. This is why we asked readers to share their views on the [...]

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds is undoubtedly the most innovative avian reference guide to come along in many years. In fact, the guide represents such a bold leap forward that reading it makes one wonder what the future of bird guides holds. This is why we asked readers to share their views on the [...]

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds (read Corey’s review) is undeniably one of the most exciting and innovative bird guides to come along in a long time.  I for one couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book, loved it at first sight, and appreciate it even more after a month’s study. How about [...]

“Our dream is to inspire a nation of potential birders who will delight in the beauty of Brazil’s abundant birdlife and become interested in helping to protect Brazil’s vibrant ecosystems and natural heritage.  It is our hope that this volume will provide the first sparks.” – John Gwynne and Martha Argel What does a field [...]

The Crossley ID Guide from Princeton University Press has long been anticipated and has certainly been the subject of many discussions among birders across North America.  Now that it is in the hands of reviewers across the country we can see that it is unlike any other field guide we have ever seen.  It is [...]

With a release date of 25 October 2010, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America will likely be showing up on the wish lists of many a North American birder this holiday season.  Entirely illustrated by photographs, the main selling point of the new field guide is the sheer number of species [...]

An era of phenomenal photographic field guides is dawning, its golden rays finally extending all the way to the blue-water beaches of the Caribbean islands. Only last year, I declared Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele to be the finest field guide to the entire region.  Visitors to Jamaica would still do well to purchase that excellent reference [...]

I am a firm believer that birders should invest in two categories of field guide: those they will need and those they want to need. New guides and references for the areas you reliably visit increase your knowledge, which is a worthy endeavor indeed. But guides to parts of the world you’ve never yet visited, [...]

In the arena of North American avian field guides, illustrated guides have reigned supreme. However, if one could imagine an arms race between illustrated guides and photographed ones, it is safe to say that the latter have taken huge strides in recent years in closing the gap. Sure, everyone loves The Sibley Guide to Birds [...]

Anyone who has ever visited the Greater or Lesser Antilles can attest that the 564 fantastic bird species known to appear in the West Indies deserve a high-quality field guide. The current consensus is that the finest field guide to the exotic archipelagos of the Caribbean is Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele. [...]

I’ve been on record for years as endorsing David Allen Sibley’s masterwork, The Sibley Guide to Birds as the first and foremost reference guide for anyone at all who looks at North American birds. Whether you consider yourself a bird watcher or not, you’ll never regret having this book on hand. But does Sibley’s preeminence [...]

Shorebird season is upon us once again and with the waves of undifferentiated brown and gray birds arrives yet another resource by which to tell them apart. Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Photographic Guide by Richard Chandler is an excellent addition to any shorebirder’s library. With only 217 species worldwide, shorebirds are [...]

My most recent birding excursion to Guatemala was immensely improved by the addition of two invaluable items. With my new Swarovski SLC 10x42s, I saw so much more than I ever had before. And with Birds of Mexico and Central America by Ber van Perlo, I was able to identify a lot more of what [...]

If you have any plans to bird Mesoamerica you need to purchase A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America posthaste.  The two who put the guide together, Steve Howell, who did the text, and Sophie Webb, who did the plates, spent over seven years on the project and the expertise that [...]