Best North American field guide... again!

There are 3 worthy North American field guides. But the one I carry with me on trips, the one I turn to first, has been updated to compete strongly with the others. Yes, with its 2011 printing, Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer did it again with the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, now in its 6th Edition!

The back cover advertises: "America's #1 Bird Guide Just Got Even Better!". While I don't necessarily agree with the grammar, I agree with the thought.

You may argue that The Sibley Guide to Birds is your favorite. Fine. That was an amazing book when it first came out, and is still a strong contender. The songbirds shown in flight in that book still haven't been matched by any other guide. But when Sibley's guide first hit the market in 2000, the National Geo was in its 3rd Edition with just over 800 species shown, matching the 810 in Sibley. The 5th Edition of the National Geo was a complete make-over, and this 6th Edition is also a redesign--now with 990 species (including 92 Accidentals and Extinct)!

While many of the illustrations in the National Geo are familiar through all versions of the book, this 6th edition claims 300 new art pieces in addition to all the changes in the 5th Edition! Averaging over 3 illustrations per species (as opposed to 8 for Sibley), the National Geo's bird illustrations are larger and more detailed than Sibley's. I noticed many new illustrations, including standing and close-up head views of jaegers. I notice the goatsuckers no longer have "shrunken heads" as those illustrations were re-done. Many of the warblers were re-drawn. The comparison views of the foreheads of Tundra and Trumpeter Swans are a great new ID illustration.

This new edition places helpful identification text next to the illustrations, making it similar to the arrows and text in Sibley. This seems to add almost 50% more identification text than the previous edition of this guide. Imagine having an expert write additional ID comments next to each illustration in your field guide. Wow!

Following the lead of The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America the new National Geographic guide also heavily stresses field identifiable subspecies, with 59 maps showing subspecies in the main text, and an additional 37 subspecies maps in the appendix.

The subspecies are especially helpful for the white-cheeked geese, carefully delineating range and plumages of the various populations of Canada Goose and Cackling Goose--something birders really need, based on the amount of confusion I have witnessed among birders.

The maps are updated, too. The 3-color maps of the 5th Edition (breeding, winter, year-round) have been replaced with 6-colors (adding 3 different colors for migration: spring, fall, both). Hurray!

The new edition also adds more voice annotations. For instance, previous versions of the guide did not list the distinctive calls of swallows and some shorebirds (Red Knot, Surfbird, Rock Sandpiper)--it does now.

Finally! We now have a field guide that shows North American seabirds correctly and completely! It is updated with rarities and subspecies that may actually be separate species. The illustrations of wing molt in Wilson's Storm-Petrel was a nice surprise.

A new feature is a quick-find index on the front cover, and a visual index to bird families on both front and back covers. These will help newer birders find birds and learn the taxonomic sequence.

All the way around, this is a great field guide. In fact, compared to previous editions (especially the 4rd Edition or earlier), this seems like a brand new field guide to hit the market!



Related: A review of the new Stokes guide.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon, 13 October 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

On a recent slow drive with my window down I heard numerous Golden-crowned Kinglets in the lowland woods. Although some birds will remain through the winter in the snow-covered mountains where they breed, most move down-slope or southward for winter.

The photo above was taken on a recent cloudy morning at the nearby nature park. These low-light weather conditions will be frequent through the winter in western Oregon, where I live. At 1/30th of a second, hand-held, 400mm, and 800 ISO, it is amazing I got even one good photo of this energetic little bird. So I'll probably add a flash to my camera for my photo outings for the next few months. Birds look more realistic and three-dimensional with natural light. But without flash my bird photography would be very sparse from late October into April.

Earlier this year I posted a more in-depth article on Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Heermann's Gull

Heermann's Gull, Seaside, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Over 90% of the world's population of Heermann's Gulls nests on Isla Riza in the Gulf of California, Mexico. After the nesting season concludes, Heermann's Gulls join Brown Pelicans moving north into the productive waters of the California Current, as far north as British Columbia. They are often seen feeding together, the gulls stealing food from the pelicans.

The eBird frequency chart (below, click for larger view) shows that a major movement of Heermann's Gulls on the Oregon and Washington coasts begin the first week in July. They are most widespread the first week of August and remain common through October. By the end of November, most are gone.



While Grant in his 1986 book "Gulls" says that Heermann's attains adult plumage in the 3rd year, Sibley indicates that Heermann's may take 4 years to become an adult. Indeed, I believe the bird above is in third summer plumage. The primaries and tail are worn but apparently not in adult plumage, the body plumage does have an adult-like aspect. This bird will likely undergo a full molt into adult non-breeding plumage before it heads back to Baja in November.

Guest post at Birding is Fun!

Robert at Birding is Fun! asked me to guest post once each month. So, my posts will appear on that blog on the 11th of each month.

This month's post was on the Northern Harrier and entitled: Blue Circler.

Please check it out!

What I learned about Ruddy Turnstone from eBird

Ruddy Turnstone, Seaside, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

I don't get to see Ruddy Turnstones very often, especially adults in breeding plumage, like this bird.

They breed on rocky coasts and tundra in the Arctic. In the Pacific Northwest, spring migration is primarily mid-April to mid-May. Adults heading south arrive in mid-July, juveniles arrive in mid-August. By October most birds have departed, though there are always a few that winter, especially on the southern Oregon coast.

Unlike many shorebirds, turnstones in the Pacific Northwest are restricted to the outer coast--they are very rare on inland pond edges.

Thus, I was quite surprised to see the range map in the new Stokes guide. It showed regular migration through the Mississippi Flyway. No other field guide shows that.

So I thought I'd check it out in eBird.

Below is the winter range of Ruddy Turnstone in North America, showing the coastal preference of this species (click on the map for a larger view):



Next is the spring migration during May. Note the birds in the Mississippi Flyway and Midwest:



The exact breeding range is a bit hard to determine from eBird. That is because many birds are still migrating north in early June, and many adults are already heading south in July. Mapping for eBird currently is by month, not week.

The main southward migration is shown below (August-October). Notice again that there is a good migration through the Mississippi Flyway, but also widely in the Northeast and generally everywhere east of the Great Plains:



So, then, the migration range in North America is mostly coastal and the Mississippi Flyway. I learned something I didn't know before! How about you?

Interestingly, this individual bird hung around for several days at the "Cove" in Seaside, Oregon, where others also found and photographed it.

Mike Patterson's photo of this same individual on August 8.

Jen's photo of this same individual on August 8.