Product Description

In 2000 Houghton Mifflin first published the Kaufman Focus Guide to the Birds of North America. Critically acclaimed for its innovative design, the Kaufman guide began introducing a new generation to birding. In 2005, this new Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America is now the most up-to-date field guide, including dozens of changes by the American Ornithologists' Union in official names of birds; the addition of new species to reflect the latest scientific discoveries; and dozens of updated range maps. Additional information helps beginning birdwatchers get started, all in the same compact format that has made this guide the easiest to use for fast identification in the field.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17902 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Turtleback
• 392 pages

Amazon.com Review
World-renowned birder Kenn Kaufman addresses a long-running paradox of bird field guides with his Focus Guide. While beginning birdwatchers prefer photographic guides like those by Donald Stokes, the physical traits that make identification easier are more readily discerned in the idealized paintings of illustrative guides like those by Roger Tory Peterson and National Geographic. Kaufman's groundbreaking work combines the best of both approaches by digitally enhancing photographic images to show the characteristics that are sometimes not apparent in photographs.

Some other distinguishing features include:

• The guide is organized by bird family groupings rather than strict taxonomic classification; this is a feature that will appeal especially to beginners.
• Text descriptions and range maps for each species appear on the page facing the plate of respective bird images.
• Important field marks are highlighted.
• Color-coded tabs identify each grouping of birds (waders, warblers, sparrows, etc.) for quick thumb indexing.

Kaufman's efforts follow the auspicious tradition of Roger Tory Peterson, whose portable field guide system was the first of its kind to meet the needs of the average birdwatcher. "It's the guide I've always wanted," says Kaufman, "and I suspect most birders will feel the same way."

From Publishers Weekly
Every spring, tens of thousands of bird-watchers migrate across the country in search of vireos, towhees, and violet-crowned hummingbirds; these birders can be recognized by their binoculars, their respect for nature and their frequent stillness and near-silence. By next spring, many of them will be toting this guide. Author and illustrator Kaufman (Lives of North American Birds) has long been one of the birdwatching community's stars. His colorful, practical and very portable book aims to become the new standard in the field. The book is small enough for a big jacket pocket, and can be held in one hand; color-coded tags divide its 16 sections on 16 classes of birds ("Ducks, Geese, Swans," "Chicken-Like Birds," "Medium-Sized Land Birds," "Flycatchers," etc.). Each left-hand page describes three to six related birds, with range maps for each, color-coded for season and frequency; brief phrases give most species' song, voice or call-note. The corresponding right-hand page offers bright, high-resolution color pictures of the same birds, on a perch or in flight. Short inserts help explain, for example, how to distinguish among many similar sparrows. Kaufman's guide is revolutionary in that it's the first to use digitally altered photographs (more than 2,000 of them) rather than unretouched photos or paintings - in practice the computerized images look like extremely detailed paintings. Though he pays more attention to common birds, Kaufman is happy to cover rare visitors and migrants: here are a brace of robins, but also bluethroat (restricted to northwest Alaska, and "hard to see when not singing"), and 16 kinds of (introduced) parrots. The guide may not be the most comprehensive available, and its laconic descriptions deliberately avoid facts that won't assist identification. But Kaufman makes up for those limits with compactness, great design and ease of use - especially for beginners: an appendix leads new birders to further resources (some of them online). Major ad/promo; 22-city author tour. (Sept. 22)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"If you buy only one guide to the birds of this continent, this is the book." --Mark Wilson -- Review

"When it comes to books on nature and the environment, Houghton Mifflin's tradition is hard to beat." -- Publishers Weekly

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Customer Reviews

The Best Field Guide for Birds of North America
My sister dropped her Kaufman's field guide in a lake and so I gave her a new one for Christmas. We have been birding for over 15 years using various bird books. We have found this one to be the best when using it in the field. The pictures are great. One of the best features is how Kaufman points out those small field marks that one might miss. The maps are also a plus. They are very easy to read.

Birds in he Northeast
This is a good book to have in the house. Finding various birds is always fast and easy.

Sensible, Easy to use, and Underrated.
I think a lot of birdwatchers will pass up on this guide because it lacks the aesthetic charm of Peterson and the comprehensiveness of Sibley. This is unfortunate. Kaufman has trimmed away the fat of the modern field guide and produced a surprisingly spare volume geared primarily for field identification.

The photographic rendering is unique. Its overall design is reminiscent of Peterson. It's simplicity and size belies its actual sophistication. Indeed, a book like this one complements, not replaces, its larger, illustrated cousins. Maybe only Golden's Birds of North America attempts this kind of coverage while also fitting comfortably in a jacket pocket.

There's no question the book was intended for beginners, but I can't help feel that this is the first of a new generation of field guides. It reasserts the field guide in its proper domain and skillfully leverages newer digital imaging technology. It's utility expresses a lucid understanding of what an observer in the field is trying to accomplish. There is a lot here that creators of other guides could learn from.