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 81
... compact body, and sturdy orange legs and feet. Mostly plain dark grayish brown overall; distinguished by a pink bill with a white-rimmed base (looks like a pink and vanilla ice cream cone) and a scattering of black markings on the belly ...
... compact, and petitely featured Cackling Goose. One subspecies of Canada Goose, the Lesser Canada, which breeds from central Alaska across northern Canada to Hudson Bay, migrates through the prairies to wintering areas in Colorado, New ...
... compact, single-species flocks that may number in the hundreds. Feeds by tipping up (like a dabbling duck) or walking across exposed mud flats and rocks, neck extended, nibbling as it goes. Like most geese, garrulous. Unlike most geese ...
... Compact, with fairly slender wings and a distinctly long acutely pointed tail. Holds level in flight. Overall silhouette is more easily confused with Wood Duck than the more slender Northern Pintail. Wingbeats are quick, somewhat fluid ...
... compact and less shifting. VOCALIZATIONS: Less vocal than Green-winged Teal. Males make a high peeping squeak; females make a low, muffled, scraping quack. PERTINENT PARTICULARS: Except in eclipse plumage, drake Blue-winged Teal is ...
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 |