
Birders now have their own 12-step program.
It has nothing to do with addiction, although birding can be addictive.
A new book by a pair of long-time birding guides offers 12 steps to help you become better at identifying birds. "Peterson Guide to Bird Identification in 12 Steps" will be released in April by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Authors are Steve N. G. Howell and Brian Sullivan. Howell is an international tour leader and popular speaker. Sullivan works at the Cornell Lab of Ornirthology.
They do not make this information difficult to understand and use. Like any 12-step program, however, it requires some effort.
Keeping their suggestions in mind will make you a better birder from the time you leave home. Just the first four steps can make a big difference. They stress context. Context defines the bird.
Open your field guide to any page. You are looking at a family of bird species. They share characteristics — shape and behavior as two examples.
You are looking for a particular species. Being able to narrow the field to family will save you the frantic paging most of us have done at some time. Where is the bird that looks like the bird I am looking at? It's gotta be here somewhere!