National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition

Very informative book with very good drawings.

I recently replaced my old edition of this work with this, the fifth edition and must say I am quite pleased. I am one of those individuals (like many birders) who rely on a number of field guides and reference books. The previous edition of this work has for a number of years been one of the pillars I rely on.Now everyone has their own favorite field guide and of course I am no exception. How a guide becomes the favorite of any individual depends upon numerous factors, but I have found one of the leading reason is simply that each birder uses what he or she is most familiar with or the first guide they began using. With me, as many, many others, I have been a Peterson fan for well over 50 years. I still use the Peterson guides and they are the first book I reach for. But this is not to say that I am not oh so grateful for all of the other wonderful identification books we now have available, this work from National Geographic included. More about that later....I find the pictures in this particular guide very helpful and for the most part extremely accurate. If you compare the illustrations in this work with Sibley or Kauffman, it stands up pretty well. I find that the Peterson work will bring identification points to my attention quicker and I find both Sibley and Peterson easier to use from a visual aspect, but I suspect that is personal preference and simply what I have become more use to over the years.Now as to illustrations, in my case I find that if I use one illustrated guide (or two or three) combined with a guide that uses photographs, such as the Audubon or Smithsonian, my chances of identifying what ever it is I am trying to identify, increase greatly. I am a strong believer in using multiple books!The range guides in this work are quite good as far as it goes, but as with all guides and filed books, you have to remember that ranges are not written in stone. We are going through a tremendous range change at present due to the climate changes we are experiencing and as each year passes, I am amazed at the number of species If spot that have no right to be where they are; according range maps. Birders need to be alert to this.I like the quick find index found in this book and love the thumbtabs which are quite handy. This edition includes "every North American Species - 967 in all." Two things to note here: First, the species count is continually changing with new subspecies being added and older subspecies being grouped. I no of no field guide that can constantly keep up with this as quickly as changes take place. Secondly, beginning birders often make the mistake of including Mexico and parts of Central America as "North America." This is not the way they have divided up the "bird world." Anything south of the U.S. boarder is not considered North America as far as bird guides go.Note: As has been pointed out by a number of reviewers here, the arrangement of this work may take some getting use to as the authors have used the new taxanomic order as approved of by the American Ornithologist Union. This will be no problem for new birders, but old birds like myself had to do some mental adjustments when first using this work.I would never ever make the statement to the effect that "if you only have one bird book to your name...." as I am a strong believer in multiple books but that being said, if you do indeed want only one book, then I hardly feel you would go wrong with this one.Don BlankenshipThe Ozarks

This edition is much improved over my 1990s copy. It does include all birds in N. America, but the book is a bit bigger than a regular field guide so there is room for decent descriptions of the birds. There are nice thumb tabs too for the different families, which just delighted me. Highly recommended!

This is a great field guide if you want everything in one place, not if you want a field guide you could actually take into the field with you as a warning. I love just sitting outside with this and my binoculars or even reading through it in preparation for upcoming trips. This is a great source of truth for me when I want to reference a question. The illustrations are incredibly well done and include multiple stages of life, molt, etc. for each bird. I would recommend this as a main field guide to have on hand for anyone starting to get into birds.

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.