british birds
The best bird identification guide I have seen, ever, is sitting on my desk as I type. Unfortunately, it is a guide to British birds.
The full title is "British Birds, a Pocket Guide."
Like all guides it has illustrations (in this case photos), text, and maps. What makes this one worth mentioning is the excellent design. (There are other excellent features as well.)
Regardless of the quality of photos or text or maps, poor design can hinder the usefulness of an ID book. This British guide helps the identification effort beyond the usual. It enhances your efforts, makes the ID job easier.
What do I like, and which features might we wish for in the next North American guide? It would be a long list. Best of all I like the silhouettes of selected members of several bird families or groups: birds on water, standing birds, perched birds, small landbirds, birds in flight, in most cases separate sets for large and small examples. Seabird families are shown this way in addition to photos. And waders. Birds on the water, on the ground, in the air. The silhouettes are an important addition here.
I accidentally opened the book to pages for Herring Gull. There, flying across the top of facing pages was the gull in eight images, each showing a different phase of the gull's advancing plumage, year by year, clearly labeled. Ditto other gull species. The information is presented in orderly, logical fashion. A great idea.
Males and females, juveniles and adults, all shown in excellent photos (a hallmark of this book). Photos throughout are on the smallish side (this truly is a book that will fit in an ordinary pocket, another point in its favor), smallish but well chosen.
