National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America

I bought this for my grandchildren who recently moved to Arizona. They love it.

This is the best book I've found so far for the bird-watching enthusiast!I've purchased several other books that are not in the same league as this resource.Pros:* Multiple images of the same species, showing male, female, juvenile, etc.* Views include birds perching and in-flight* Excellent text description of variations, range, and distinctive markings.* At-a-glance maps of species range. This helps to include or exclude birds of similar species.* Well organized by bird family and species* A separate section for rare birds.* A handy introduction section covering the identification of parts of the bird and an overview of what is important for the beginner bird-watcher.Cons:None really!* The maps show where the birds are generally found, their range. Many are far outside my state (California), and range north to the arctic circle and west to Montana and Texas.I've taken to writing an "X" in the corner of the pages that do not apply to me, almost half, so too much information! I wish National Geographic would publish a volume for just Northern California.All-in-all, you can't go wrong with this book.As an aside, I would suggest you also study bird calls.I generally about five different bird calls for every one I see.If I could memorize just a few bird sounds, the amount of species I could record would go up tremendously.Welcome to the sport: It will provide hours of peaceful entertainment.

Love this guide. It’s not super in depth about each bird but has a lot of bird species and basic info on descriptions. Great to start out learning and identifying.

I think this is a great bird identification book for my needs. I am a beginner to intermediate bird watcher and I previously owned the Sibley bird guide. I like that this book as multiple similar bird species on the same page, I find this to be very helpful for me in identification. I think the illustrations are pleasant and clear, the birds are also placed in various natural poses. There is a very brief but good introduction on how to use the guide and what the different parts of a bird are called for use in identification. The size and weight of this book is normal compared to other similar bird guides. I like that there are thumb tabs built into the book, this makes flipping to the right section very easy and quick. I don't think every guide has thumb tabs which in my experience make using a guide at a park or nature preserve much easier. The cover and pages of the book have a nice feel and quality to them. In comparison to the Sibley bird guide I prefer this book. The features that make this book stand out in my opinion are the thumb tabs and the multiple similar bird grouping on a single page. Each available bird guide seems to have a few characteristics that distinguish them from one another. In my opinion this book excels in allowing the user to quickly and easily access the information they need. I was also able to buy a new copy on Amazon for nearly half the price of similar guides from a third party seller who also offered prime shipping.

Comparison to the previous 5th edition:The good: Extensive annotations have been added to the plates. This vastly increases the amount of information in the book and corrects one of the major flaws of earlier editions which was a failure to actually mention the critical field marks. A huge improvement (although the type can get small and dense at times)The bad.1) The new split editions are about the same size as the old combined version. Since this volume covers 905 species and the full one covers 967, it seems like the split edition was a marketing gimmick. Many comparisons of E and W species are no longer included (Wood-Pewees is an example) and will make it harder to ID vagrants.2) There are very few updates to the plates or accompanying text. Many of the plates are looking old and dated.3) The overwhelming strength of this book was its treatment of vagrants. In the new edition many vagrants that received full coverage in the previous edition have been shunted to the appendix with much smaller illustrations. Eastern vagrants get even less treatment. if you want full coverage of vagrants, you need to carry both E and W books (and maybe the old combined editions as well)! This means the split editions make things harder, not easier, to carry in the field. This relegation of vagrants to an appendix must have been done to appeal to the masses but will make the book much less valuable to seasoned birders. It would be OK to have a separate vagrants sections, but the birds there deserve full treatment.Overall, Sibley is still the best field guide for North America. The quality of the illustrations is just unsurpassed and the simplicity of presentation of complex information is amazing (time for a new edition however!). Sibley's weakness however is that he treats few vagrants. The revisions have made the NatGeo guides closer to Sibley for regular birds but the reduced treatment of vagrants has weakened its greatest strength. Therefore a mixed bag.

I bought this for daughter’s birthday and she is very happy with it. The pictures are very well drawn and the book is easy to use.

Great information, beautiful pictures, easy to understand. I love this book.

Lovely photos of birds of Southwest. Great gift for bird watchers at reasonable cost

Just s

As you can clearly tell from the other reviews, this is an informative, easy to use book that just about everyone enjoys using. What some of the other reviews don't mention is how NICE this big is, quality wise. I've had several people leaf through this book at my house and everyone of them has made a comment about how beautifully put together this book is. A must buy.

So happy with this book !! Great quality and arrived in a timely manner. Very detailed and the illustrations are beautiful, will be much easier identifying all the species we see on our adventures !!

Not the best book to identify birds

Beautiful book. Excellent information. Worth it.