Peterson Field Guide To Birds Of Eastern & Central North America, Seventh Ed.: The Classic Birdwatching Guide with Updated Range Maps

If the book says “Peterson” and it pertains to wildlife, I know that it’s going to contain some great information and this book entitled “Peterson’s Field Guide to Birds Of Eastern & Central North America” is no different, great illustrations, great information, page thickness is very good and overall the book is a great size, especially if you take it out in the field or even in your backyard. I live in the Cedar Valley region of Iowa and I like to travel around here in the Midwest and photograph birds and journal what the bids look like, where I spotted them, what they were doing and little things like whether or not they were in groups, nesting, flying solo or just sitting alone on a shady tree enjoying the peace and serenity. The bottom line: These updated Peterson wildlife field books are very informative and of decent quality, the price is reasonable and if you’re a nature lover I think that you’ll be very satisfied with this book.

Moved to where we have a ton of birds. Put up a feeder and watch the show. Love the photos in the book, easy to confirm what is visiting my house.

Peterson is the classic field guide that taught many bird watchers how to identify a bird. With the first edition of this book, published in 1934, Peterson introduced the concept of field marks. These are distinguishing features (labeled with arrows on his drawings) that allow the observer to identify the bird using binoculars. Previously, even professional ornithologists often used a shotgun to collect an identity an unusual bird. Peterson’s guide and the availability of good optics, binoculars and telescopes, acted as an accelerant on the popularity of bird watching, or birding as it is often called. The guide features Peterson’s wonderful paintings which show the idealized bird, with distinctive field marks, like a bright eye stripe, highlighted by an arrow. The illustrations are fairly large, with a facing page written description and range map. Typically, both male and female of the species are shown, and in some cases immatures. For some species, illustrations include views of the flying bird. It’s an excellent tool to start learning about birds. There are numerous other field guides, David Allen Sibley has another excellent guide using his paintings of the birds. Sibley tries to show all plumages of each species . As a result, the images are smaller. The guide includes a written description and range maps too. Both Sibley and Peterson are fine artists in addition to being ornithologists. Other field guides use digital photos of the birds rather than paintings. Both Kenn Kaufman and Richard Crossley have published guides using this method. The Crossley guide includes photos of birds as they appear at far distance, a feature that sometimes helps with that bird at the limit of view. Finally, there are is the Merlin bird app from Cornell University. This one helps you identify the bird by asking a few questions and then presents a series of likely birds for you to consider. It ends with a button that says “That’s my bird”. Merlin links to other photos of females and immatures, and written text about habitat and range. So there are many field guide options, and every birder has a favorite. Personally, I tend to go to Peterson first, and still flip through it looking at various species I might run across in the field. But, I use the others frequently too. They all help made one a better birder. My on complaint about this edition of Peterson is the size, too big to easily fit in a pants pocket, but that’s very minor. I’d also encourage birders to study each bird, learn to make notes, rely on you impressions to identify a bird rather than constantly flipping back and from guide book to bird. It will make you a better birder. One true benefit of the popularity of birding is it takes you through a series of steps from wonder at the beauty of the bird, to anticipation of when you’ll see it, to concern about conservation of the species . Over the forty years I’ve been birding, there has been an alarming decline in the number of birds. Hopefully new readers of the Peterson guide will take that journey, and become advocates for preserving the diversity of birds in their neighborhood..

This book is the Gold Standard of Birding books. I have bought three now. The first one was for me and my son loved it so much I gave it to him and ordered a second one. My daughter is getting into Birding too so I bought her one, the third copy. We kee them with us at all times.

Wanted a book that would help with bird identification at local nature preserves. This is a comprehensive book. The birds are not keyed by color but by groups i.e. water/shore birds, warblers, hawks, etc. It takes some study to know how to identify birds - the introduction helps with focusing the birder's attention on wing and tail shapes, etc. to know which group they belong to. Once you find the group - I have been thumbing through the pages until I find a picture that is similar - then it is straightforward to find the specific bird you viewed. The hand drawn pictures of the birds are beautiful and have identifying marks and other characteristics clearly defined. If you can take a photo of a bird for reference that would be useful for finding it in the book - some birds are very similar to others in a category without a picture to make sure of the markings. It is a useful resource. Plastic cover will preserve it on hikes.

It's the best there is , my old one is 25 years old at least. Just thought I'd get a new one. Much better in that it's kinda hard back. It's the only one to have.

Super informative and helpful when trying to learn about birding

Excellent, Organized, easy to use. The Bible of bird watching!

Recebi o produto, de ótima qualidade

Superb book easy to follow, but read the first pages of how to use the book. Simple but easy to follow

Fue un regalo y valió la pena, es de calidad, está muy colorido y ayuda a identificar fácil en la diferentes etapas de las aves

O Livro é Bom e Bonito. Eu Gostei Muito. Com Certeza Eu Recomendo.

Great book, worth the price! Very informative, and great pictures to help discern different species.