Pros: Great quick indexes, perfect field guide size and good information
Cons: Species details can be limited at times by size of book
The Bottom Line: If you need a good, handy field guide for birds, this is the top choice out there. Sibley's is a better identification guide, but this can go with you.
martytdx's Full Review: Jon L. Dunn - National Geographic Field Guide to t...
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 5th Edition
Many years ago, when I was first being exposed to 'real' birding, I remember being shown the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America that my friends Joe and Bake used when they went out birding. It was an excellent resource for them in their frequent quests for birds. I remember sitting there thumbing through it on more than one occasion while sitting in their room, checking out the drawings of the birds and Joe's notes spread throughout the book. When I got into birding, I picked my own copy (this was the 2nd edition), and later got the 3rd edition when it was 'hot off the presses' (or at least as much as a field guide can be) for my wife after I got her hooked. Thus, this series of books has always had an important place in my birding life.
After I got more into birding, I started to realize that this guide had some limitations, especially in ID'ing trickier birds. We had started taking pictures, and then using them to ID things we saw, and the guide's pictures were often not quite enough to get a good idea of what you saw. So, I had switched to the Sibley Guide to Birds which had better art and a wider variety of alternate views that made ID'ing easier. But the National Geographic Field Guide (NGFG) was still used quite frequently, especially out in the field; it was just the 'lesser' book.
[ • a better GUIDE IN THE FIELD • ]
Despite the 'shortcomings' of the guide, it remained our guide of choice out in the field - the more flexible cover and smaller size made it easier to have with us while we were out hiking. Sibley's was my favorite while at home, but NGFG was my trusted standby - and it was really starting to show the wear of the many expeditions. The NGFG tries to fit most of the species in the smallest space, giving you the textual and background information on the left-hand page, and the images on the right. In some ways, this works very nicely, offering a nearly side-by-side comparison of similar species. Unfortunately, that layout came at the expense of showing the numerous alternate plumages that might occur within a species, such as winter, non-breeding, immature and race plumages.
Still, in many cases it provided what we needed to ID many birds out in the field (or stream or park or pond). It was only the tougher ones that required us to head home and compare pictures to the Sibley Guide, although there have been occasions where Sibley ended up giving us information that contradicted what we found in NGFG (in most cases, I would find that Sibley's was correct when there was a discrepancy). Slowly, though the NGFG was our primary 'take with us' guide, we relied more and more on the Sibley's for our final IDs. In 2003, the 4th Edition was released but it didn't really seem to have enough new material to spend the money on. But this year, my wife surprised me with the brand new 5th Edition, and this edition had some vast improvements that made it well worth the money.
[ • the BIRDING BASICS • ]
This guide starts with a basic intro to birding, how to use the book effectively, some things to look for, etc. Then it's onto the birds themselves. The book goes through the books in a taxonomic order, grouped by family. Starting with geese and working their way through waterfowl, through pelagics to raptors, to shorebirds and gulls through thrushes and ending with sparrows and finches, the book covers a great breadth of information. Sub-families are described, and then the family and/or sub-family is then grouped (usually) by genus.
Each page contains as few as 2 and as many as 6 species of birds, with the basic information on the left, and the images of the birds on the right. The basic information includes color-codes range maps (showing winter, summer and year-round ranges), the common and scientific names of the bird, average sizes, habitats and key field marks for identification. In most cases, a phonetic description of the song is also given. The images most often show examples of adult birds of both sexes (if sexually dimorphic), plus immature birds if they are distinctive. Sometimes there are additional plumages - winter plumage for example, but not always. If there are a number of significantly different sub-species (or races), a selection of these is offered, although that can be limited to the more extreme examples of the races for space.
For certain groups, highlight pages are given which show a variety of species in flight - either ventral or lateral shots, depending on the most common view for that genus or family (such as hawks, which show a ventral view to aid in identification of soaring birds). Occasionally, there is a direct comparison between a species or two and a similar-looking but unrelated species for comparison, but these are limited to a few examples.
At the end of the book is an index, plus some of the great new additions - but you'll have to keep reading to learn more about those.
[ • so, WHAT'S NEW? • ]
In previous editions of the guides, there were subtle changes, mostly related to reclassification of a species or the rare addition to the North American bird list of a 'foreign' species (i.e. accidental species from Asia, Europe or South America). But the 5th Edition had some major updates that have vastly improved the guide as a whole. While the core of the book has remained the same - most of the entries are the same as they were in the 2nd Edition, with the same pictures - other features have changed drastically. The normal updates have been included, updating lists based on updates to the ABA and AOU lists, but more significant updates include:
-- A new, black cover to show off the level of change in this edition
-- Updates to species lists, including the re-insertion of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Black-crested Titmouse, as well as a new entry for Cackling Geese
-- Updated art for several species to give better examples of the birds for ID purposes
-- Updated range maps for many species
But these are small features compared to the major renovations of the text which really give it new life as a useful field guide. Two of the most significant are the new covers, which have provided a ton of utility in two simple additions. The front cover offers a quick index by family on the front flap - a great addition for users who want to quickly find a type of bird without having to thumb through many pages or reference the index while hoping the bird doesn't disappear. Inside this same flap is a great reference guide for the basic anatomy of a bird, which is key when trying to understand the field mark references in the text. The drawings have always been in the book but being in the cover gives instant access to them. The second major involved the back cover which offers a similar quick index with one major difference - instead of dividing up the birds by family, it offers up a list of 155 'groups' of birds. Basically, the common grouping term used - robin, jay, duck, warbler, scoter, owl, pipit, etc. - is given to help the user get quickly to the right page for that group of birds. By using the common term instead of a family or proper name, many users will have an easier time finding what they want - easier than trying to remember the family, and certainly much easier than searching a true index. And a slight addition is the bold text at the start of each letter as a marker - subtle but helpful.
Perhaps slightly less significant, but still great additions, also abound. This edition now provides 7 tabs of major divisions in the book: hawks, sandpipers, gulls, flycatchers, warblers, sparrows and finches. I'm not sure if the tabs are placed as such more because they sub-divide the book semi-evenly, or that these tend to be the harder-to-identify groups of birds and this gives super-quick access to those section (I'm leaning toward the latter).
In the core of the book, some changes have also been made. In addition to updated range maps, there have been some major updates to key identification information and field marks. With the relatively recent upswing in the popularity of birding in this country, the information regarding what birds are being seen where has really been significantly improved (for example, the annual Great Backyard Bird Count has greatly improved tallying of species presence in many places). Similarly, better identification methods have been developed for many difficult species, particularly shorebirds - and those key improvements have been included here.
At the end of the book are some great new additions - things that wouldn't necessarily have been missed had they not been included but that give some weight to the book's scope. A 14-page section on 71 accidental species that have been seen in North America has been added to speak to rarer species that 99.99% of birders will never seen - but might. To make it into the core, most species have to have been seen on multiple occasions - this covers species that are less frequent but have been known to occur (although some accidentals have been included in the main part of the text, simply because their addition allows a better comparison). They have also added sections covering Greenland and Bermuda, to make the book inclusive of "North America" as defined by the AOU, if not necessarily the ABA standards. Again, most people won't need this but it's a nice read and addition in the space of 2 pages. Lastly, there's an appendix which covers species that are in flux - mostly because the ABA and AOU differ in whether they should be included in the list. While many of the species may be in the guide, this section explains differences of opinion on nomenclature, or why they might not be included.
[ • why this FIELD GUIDE? • ]
Like most field guides, the NGFG gives a reference for birders - from the novice backyard birder to 1,000-bird lifelisters - to identify birds quickly in the field. It seems that any avid birder you speak with will have a favorite that they swear by - Peterson's, National Geographic, Smithsonian, etc. - and all have their pluses and minuses. As I said, I still prefer Sibley's as my bird book of choice - however, that book isn't a field guide since I would never dream of carrying it out in the field with me. So, for a pure field guide, I have to say that this was already my favorite - and the improvements have solidified its hold there. It's not tiny, but it's small enough to fit easily into a backpack and my old one handled a lot of rough treatment (this new one is already starting to show a little wear - but only in the sense that we're finally breaking it in). But what makes it so much better to use is those enhancements - finding certain birds is much easier and the information has been truly updated to reflect some of the more recent 'breakthroughs' in species records and identification tips. I've found it to be a valuable tool while we're out birding, pulling it out quite a bit to verify or identify a bird we've passed.
Whether a newbie birder or someone who is more experienced but is looking for an updated guide, there is a lot of great information in the 5th Edition. Even if you bought the last one, there are enough significant changes to make it worth spending the money to upgrade.
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