martytdx's Full Review: Mel Baughman - National Geographic Field Guide to ...
When planning a recent trip to Texas to go birding, my wife and I did our research to find the best spots to visit and what we might see. I got The Birder's Guide to Texas as an Xmas present, but it was more of a guide of where to go rather than what we'd see. So, I figured we needed a locally-focused field guide to help us out. During my research, I came across this guide; comments were mixed, with slightly more than half recommending it. The chief concern was the limited information, with only some common species being listed. But one of the key things for me was that it was limited and scope and had images to compare to - so I grabbed it for our trip.
[ • mini guide in MANY WAYS • ]
This book is small - both in terms of actual size (6" x 4") and breadth of details. It's obviously meant to be two things: a quick reference for casual birders looking out there window, and as a supplement to a full field guide, such as National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 5th Edition. Taken as either, the book actually succeeds, despite its narrow scope and limited information.
The small size of this book also makes it a great secondary guide to throw in your pack when you head out - it takes nearly no room, and provided us with a great add-on guide.
[ • small but HELPFUL • ]
At 211 pages, this field guide isn't meant to be comprehensive - and with 629 species to be found in the state (over 400 annually), no regional guide of this size really could be. One of a series of regional mini-guides that National Geographic has released (12 of them cover Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Colorado, California, Michigan, Arizona/New Mexico, Oregon/Washington, New York, the Carolinas and Maryland/Washington D.C.), this guide focuses its attention to species that will be found in the state of Texas without worrying about the breadth of birds in North America (of course, Texas tends to have a vast percentage of the species that can be seen in America, so...).
The book begins with a short intro by the editor, Jonathon Alderfer, including basic anatomy of birds used for identification, legends for the maps, etc. There is also a state map that shows some of the key birding areas to be visited.
THE BIRDS
Then the bird listings begin. In all, 199 species are covered, although only 124 of them have main entries. Each species represented has 2 pages - a photo on the left and the text/description on the right. The images are nice - very nice, in fact, although many birders will tell you that photographs are harder to use in field guides because they very rarely show all of the significant field marks or variations well. Perhaps more significant is that there is rarely more than one gender shown - and that is usually the male of the species.
The text is fairly basic, briefly describing the species and key points:
Common and scientific names General sizes Field Marks: The field marks are given next to the range map which shows winter, summer and year-round ranges of the birds within the state.
Behavior: A brief description of noticable behavior which might help locate or identify the bird.
Habitat: A short description of their most common habitats, including variances between winter and summer.
Local Sites: This section quickly describes some places where the bird is most likely to be seen (Gulf coast, desert areas in the center of the state, etc.)
At the bottom of the description page is a short call-out section (Field Notes) that is used for two purposes. Most often, it is used to speak to a similar species to the main entry. There is usually a smaller, thumbnail image that accompanies these secondary entries, but not always. They use this section to contrast similar species, giving helpful tips on telling them apart. I found this to be one area in which they were a little weak - there is often too little description to differentiate between similar species.
Sometimes, instead of a second species, this space is used to give further information about the main species including tips to locate difficult to find birds, or a historical perspective on the species.
At the end of the book, 2 indexes offer different ways to quickly narrow your search: a color-based index (mostly black, mostly blue, mostly yellow) and alphabetical index. I didn't find the color index that helpful, but someone less familiar with birds might.
SPECIES COVERED
The species shown are a decent cross-section of Texas birds; oddly, however, several important or interesting species have been omitted from the book, such as Peregrine Falcon, many of the hummingbirds and Green Kingfisher, while others are relegated to the 'secondary entry' status with little information. The order of the species is also strange - since it is a National Geographic guide, it would seem that following the same basic order as the main book would be a no-brainer, but this isn't the case. Also, some species seem to be displaced from other similar ones - making comparison of similar species difficult. Still, in the capacity we used it - as a quick look-up and/or second check instead of a full field guide, the book performed well.
[ • final SQUAWKS • ]
I wouldn't recommend this as a primary reference (except as the most introductory of 'kitchen window' guides for new and casual birders), but as a secondary reference that's convenient to take with you it was perfect for our trip. Small, light and offering an alternate view (and a picture instead of drawing), it was nice to have with us as we were out looking at the many new birds we saw.
There are some oddities to it, but nothing too major. A larger concern is that it might have been a bit pricey for the content at $14.95 (vs. $24 (retail) for the full guide - I guess those pictures are expensive). But in the end, it was nice to have with us. If you're planning a birding trip to Texas, I'd pick it up as an extra resource - but only after you made sure you had a real field guide as your main asset.
National Geographic Field Guide to Birds provides affordable, portable, reliable region-specific information, perfect for the novice or experienced bi...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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