The David Sibley bird field guide of which I own two copies is likely to be replaced come February of next year. A really cool and totally different book on bird identification by birder and photographer Richard Crossley will be published then by Princeton University Press. The proof pages I've received show this book to be nothing like any other field guide I've (or you've) seen. Crossley has gone beyond the static portraits of birds we've relied on since Roger Tory Peterson's first guide book back in the 1930s. Crossley takes what is described as a "real-life" approach to identification. Using his photographs, an ID page will contain from 12 to 20 color images of the bird species in lifelike scenes. Take a look at this page for the Osprey. There are Ospreys in the air, viewed from above and below, Ospreys perched, Ospreys hunting, Ospreys with prey, Ospreys on the nest. These are Ospreys identified by appearance and by behavior. Crossley gives us birds as we see them, in action. There will be 680 such plates in the book, incorporating over 20,000 photos from his files. The hardcover book will have 528 pages. It is unlikely to fit in your pocket, but certainly should fit in your library. There is descriptive text to accompany the illustrations, of course, and range maps, text and maps on the same page as the illustrations. We've been inundated with "new" birding field guide books in recent years, no single one of them offering a compelling reason for purchase. This book will offer such a reason.
