A Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them (Peterson Field Guides Series) ebook

by Kenn Kaufman

Kenn Kaufman Biological Sciences English

Series: Peterson Field Guides Volume: 3. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson The aim of this guide is to go beyond the existing guides, and explain exactly how to solve the most challenging bird identification problems of North America.

Series: Peterson Field Guides Volume: 3. Clearly written and well-illustrated, it should be of use to beginners and advanced birders alike.

Well-known birder and author Kenn Kaufman presents some of North America's most challenging . I have quite a few birding books and have been birding for 30+ years

Well-known birder and author Kenn Kaufman presents some of North America's most challenging bird-identification conundrums in this guide for the advanced birder. Each chapter covers a group of y or similar-looking birds, with analyses, tips, and drawings to aid in positive identification. I have quite a few birding books and have been birding for 30+ years. I feel that this book has been a key for improving my skills, more than any of the other books with the exception of the new Sibley guide and perhaps the old out of print "The Western Birdwatcher" by Zimmerman.

The new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding is completely different. Very well written book with more knowledge transfer than a standard birding field guide. This is more about what to look for and how to appreciate behavior and appearance in the field. Almost a third of this ~450 page book is about learning the principles of understanding what you see (or hear) Most field guides have a very similar design: they are essentially laundry lists of species (some comprehnsive, some focused on common species), with photos/drawings, brief descriptions, and maps, usually with a short introductory section on general issues of the groups.

Kenn Kaufman A Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them (Peterson Field Guides Series). ISBN 13: 9780395975008. A Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Birding Challenges and How to Approach Them (Peterson Field Guides Series).

Part of the Peterson Field Guides ( Series and Kaufman . Kaufman does an excellent job detailing how to go about identifying birds in many problem groups, such as accipiters, dowitchers, and fall warblers.

Part of the Peterson Field Guides ( Series and Kaufman Field Guides Series).

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Release date: 1 March 1999 ISBN-10 : 039597500X ISBN-13: 9780395975008.

He and his wife, Kim, live in Rocky Ridge, Ohio.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, Hardcover. Publisher's Description. He and his wife, Kim, live in Rocky Ridge, Ohio.

Expert Kenn Kaufman helps active birders improve their skillsBirders can memorize hundreds of details and still .

Expert Kenn Kaufman helps active birders improve their skillsBirders can memorize hundreds of details and still not be able to identify birds if they don't really understand what's in front of them. The all-new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding takes a different approach, clarifying the basics and providing a framework for learning about each group. One of the world's best-known bird experts, Kenn Kaufman is the originator of the Kaufman Field Guide series, which includes books on birds, butterflies, mammals, and insects.

Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding. In many ways, this book is a descendant of Kenn's first, A Field Guide to Advanced Birding, which was published in the Peterson Field Guide series in 1990. That guide, illustrated with Kenn's line drawings, gave detailed ID information for about 30 of the most challenging species pairs or groups of North American birds.

Covering thirty-five of the most difficult groups of birds, from winter loons to confusing fall warblers, jaegers to chickadees, accipiters to flycatchers, this clearly written and beautifully illustrated field guide tells exactly how to solve the most challenging bird identification problems of North America.

Yanki

This is a great book for serious birders. It contains a great amount of important information that is well organized and helpful. This is a technical book that I would not recommend for the beginner, however, I found it practical in its structure and content.
I strongly recommend this book. I held back from awarding a full five stars because I felt that their illustrations lacked a little "life" although experienced birders will probably not find this to be a problem.

KiddenDan

This is a great birding book with great tips in identification of difficult bird groups. Kenn is explaining the fine details of similar species emphasizing on fine differences in shape, plumage, and molt. The B & W figures help understanding the text however it'll be great if publishers can incorporate color figures for the next edition. This book really helped me clarifying some of my birds beyond all field guides available (eg. Yellow bellied sapsucker without any red on the head). This will definitely be a good addition for the library of a serious birder.

Monn

Good book

Jake

If you're at the stage where you want to know the nuances of gull id, spotting the differences between hawks seen at great distances, then this is a book you need (along with a couple more years of experience....)

Anararius

Kenn is the best

Groll

I have quite a few birding books and have been birding for 30+ years. I feel that this book has been a key for improving my skills, more than any of the other books with the exception of the new Sibley guide and perhaps the old out of print "The Western Birdwatcher" by Zimmerman.

Kuaffman's books taught me some key points that I still employ when checking the scaups, dowitchers, gulls and looking for Western Sandpipers among other difficult identifications. His succinct descriptions and comparitive sketches make it much more possible to know how to identify a juvenile Western Sandpiper as opposed to a Semipalmated Sandpiper. I found that I would often go back to this book rather than the other shorebird books I had. Another key section in the book is the coverage of identification tips for the Terns. I had always found it difficult to separate Forster's and Common in the field despite the seemingly easy differences in field guides. This book helped out with good wing pattern comparisons and other marks that were not included in the guides. The pattern drawings of the Terns and Shorebirds alone are worth the cost of the book.

If you are ready to start on Iceland and Thayer's Gull or Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds you can't go wrong by getting Kauffman's Advanced Birding.

Ariseym

This book is appropriate for anyone who wants to improve his bird identification skills, whether he is already "advanced" or not. Kaufman does an excellent job detailing how to go about identifying birds in many problem groups, such as accipiters, dowitchers, and fall warblers. In some cases the information amounts to helpful hints that will make identification a little easier (did you know that the nail on a Greater Scaup's bill is substantially larger than that on a Lesser Scaup's?). In others, the information is a practical necessity if you ever plan on unraveling the species in question (if you're trying to identify a Thayer's Gull without this or some even more esoteric work, forget it).
My only quarrel with this book is that Kaufman sometimes places more emphasis on small field marks, and less on overall shape and other amorphous characteristics ("jizz," to the Brits), than I think appropriate. Otherwise, darned close to perfect.

I bought this book and the contents are very helpful in identifying birds. The problem is it has the information duplicated from pages 145 to 176, skipping from page 112. I have tried to exchange it with another one, but it had the same problem. I tried to do that for the third time, and now I am waiting for it. I hope it arrives with all the pages and no duplications.