My $.02: Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds

Recently I heard about the newly released Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America. After reading a couple "right on the mark" blog reviews, one over at 10,000 birds and the other at The Drinking Bird, I started looking for the book. I found it at Sam's Club for $15.74. So I bought it. You can work hard in cyber space and win a copy. Check out the details here!

Anyway, this is a guide worth checking out. To me, it does for "photo" field guides what Sibley did for "illustration" field guides. It is clearly in a class by itself, far superior to either the Audubon Society guide and the Kaufmann Focus Guide, and is equally useful for a beginner and an advanced birder. The CD of bird songs that comes with it is limited, but it's basically free. The field guide is well worth the money.

I still believe that the illlustrated Sibley Guide to Birds is the best North American guide ever. For instance, I noticed that a first year male Rose-breasted Grosbeak with its buffy plumage, which can be confused with a Black-headed Grosbeak under the right conditions, is not photographed. Sibley covers this alternate plumage well. In fact, there is little that Sibley misses and his illustrations (art, actually) cannot be matched in North America. I am, however, a fan of Lars Jonsson's art in the Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East, but that's a blog entry for another day.

I expect that this is a field guide that we will see in increasing numbers in the coming year. At $15.74 for over 2000 digital photos of 750 North American birds, you can't go wrong! Add this one to your bird reference shelf.