Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for Identifying North American BirdsFrom the award-winning birder and author of Birds of Prey, an authoritative, information-packed guide to distinguishing North American birds. In this book, bursting with more information than any field guide could hold, the well-known author and birder Pete Dunne introduces readers to the “Cape May School of Birding.” It's an approach to identification that gives equal or more weight to a bird's structure and shape and the observer's overall impression (often called GISS, for General Impression of Size and Shape) than to specific field marks. After determining the most likely possibilities by considering such factors as habitat and season, the birder uses characteristics such as size, shape, color, behavior, flight pattern, and vocalizations to identify a bird. The book provides an arsenal of additional hints and helpful clues to guide a birder when, even after a review of a field guide, the identification still hangs in the balance. This supplement to field guides shares the knowledge and skills that expert birders bring to identification challenges. Birding should be an enjoyable pursuit for beginners and experts alike, and Pete Dunne combines a unique playfulness with the work of identification. Readers will delight in his nicknames for birds, from the Grinning Loon and Clearly the Bathtub Duck to Bronx Petrel and Chicken Garnished with a Slice of Mango and a Dollop of Raspberry Sherbet. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 68
... Mexico), and along the Gulf of Mexico from w. La. to ne. Mexico. HABITAT: Nests amid tundra vegetation on islands and shores of ponds and along the edge of tidal wetlands. Winters on grassy meadows, rice fields, and agricultural land ...
... Mexico border with Mexico, Mexican Duck, a subspecies of Mallard (formerly regarded as a separate species), may occur. Males and females look much like female Mallard, but the tail and undertail are dark (not whitish). In the United ...
... Mexico. Eastern border falls across e. Mont., Wyo., w. Neb., Colo., N.M., and extreme n. Tex. Absent as a breeder in extreme w. Wash., e. Idaho, s. Nev., and extreme sw. Ariz. Winters throughout most of coastal and cen. Calif., s. and ...
... Mexico—in coastal areas, from s. B.C. and Cape Cod to Central America; in the interior, absent in the n. Rockies, much of the n. Great Basin, the northern plains, along the Appalachians, and in n. New England. HABITAT: Nests in seasonal ...
... Mexico, from s. Fla. to n. Mexico; in the Pacific, from sw. Alaska to Baja. Also winters on large, open rivers, lakes, and reservoirs across s. Canada and most of the U.S., excluding much of the southeastern coastal plain, s. and w. Tex ...
Contents
LOONS | |
ALBATROSSES | |
STORMPETRELS | |
PELICANS | |
HERONS EGRETS AND IBIS | |
STORKS VULTURES AND FLAMINGOS | |
RAILS COOTS LIMPKIN AND CRANES | |
SHOREBIRDSPLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS | |
SKUAS AND JAEGERS | |
TERNS AND SKIMMER | |
ALCIDSAUKS MURRES AND PUFFINS | |
Other editions - View all
Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for ... Pete Dunne No preview available - 2013 |