The Shorebird Guide

Front Cover
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 - Nature - 477 pages
When many birders go out looking at shorebirds, they see a distant mud flat full of grayish brown birds in various shapes and sizes and have no idea where to begin the identification process. When advanced birders look at that same flock of shorebirds, they can identify the vast majority of birds with a quick binocular scan. Experts use the simplest, most easily observed characteristics--size, structure, behavior, and general color patterns--almost subconsciously, and can identify most birds even before looking carefully at plumage details. Now birders of all levels can learn how to identify these wildly popular birds quickly and with much less effort. This guide provides more than 870 stunning color photographs, sequenced to give a general impression of a species first and progressing to a more detailed image of the bird throughout its life cycle. Captions list characteristics in order of importance, reflecting the thought process that experts use to identify birds.

From inside the book

Contents

How to Use This Guide
23
Pacific GoldenPlover
40
Piping Plover
54
Stilts and Avocets Family Recurvirostridae
71
RARITIES AND REGIONAL SPECIALTIES
225
Oystercatchers Family Haematopodidae
245
Appendix
455
Glossary
462
Photo Credits
469
Copyright

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About the author (2006)

Michael O'Brien currently serves as an Associate Naturalist with Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey. He is also the co-author of The Shorebird Guide, Flight Calls of Migratory Birds, and America's 100 Most Wanted Birds. KEVIN T. KARLSON is an accomplished birder, tour leader, and wildlife photographer. He is a coauthor of The Shorebird Guide and two other books. He lives near Cape May, New Jersey.

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