The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl

I really enjoyed this book. The plates are very beautiful. I am a hardcore "expert" birder and found several good birding tips in the sections on geese, swans and mergansers. I think this book would be of interest to any birders from beginner to expert who enjoys watching waterfowl. An example of the books ID tips -yesterday looking at a mixed flock of hooded/red-breasted mergansers I used the book tip on looking at the bill width to identify mergansers which was great advice on IDing female common mergansers from red-breasted female mergansers - an item that previously I would sometimes feel a little uncomfortable with a completely positive ID. I had not seen this identification comment in other bird guides and it really works!When will the author take on gulls and terns? I am looking forward to him taking up this challenge for the Crossley series.

The Crossley Guide series approach to bird ID seems especially suitable for helping novice birders ID waterfowl, and this book has indeed been very useful to this birder. My one gripe with the volume is the decision to define the boundaries of the guide taxonomically, thus leaving out some birds that occupy the same environments as waterfowl, and can sometimes be found swimming among them. Grebes, Loons, Coots and Cormorants really should be covered in this guide, even if there are taxonomic reasons to exclude them.

I love this guide. You can see the waterfowl in every plumage, in every environment, in every pose. It's also quite beautifully laid out. Crossley's comments and descriptions are alive and interesting, no dry prose here.The book is a bit pricey, but really, it's worth every penny. This is not a book to take into the field, it's way too big and heavy. But when you get home and you look through your Sibley or Peterson and the bird still doesn't make sense, open the Crossley. You'll get your answer.

Ducks are neat and this is a fun way to get to know them. Crossley has an amazing eye for detail and you are cheating the experience with the low resolution in the kindle version. It is really a feast for the the eyes.

This is an amazing Waterfowl book! I purchased it for my husband, but my 5 year old son loves it too! Wonderful details and illustrations. It is very difficult to find a Waterfowl book as nice as this one. Highly recommended.

I had to put tape to stick it

Lots of descriptive information for each species with photos. If you want to learn more about what water fowl migrates thru your area. This book will help.

The best thing about The Crossley ID Guide is the numerous options to view waterfowl (both adults and juveniles) in many different situations. It's best used along with one of the more common birding field guides (Sibley's; Nat. Geo., etc.) because it gives you many views of waterfowl that you never see in the common field guides.