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
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... particularly) in differentiating some that are very similar. Plovers walk, stop, and pick (like robins); sandpipers feed on the run. Semipalmated Sandpiper likes to keep its feet wet; Least Sandpiper more commonly forages on damp (even ...
... particularly grain fields and rice fields, and shallow wetlands (fresh or tidal). COHABITANTS: Often found in association with other geese, particularly Snow Goose and Cackling Goose. MOVEMENT/MIGRATION: Spring migration from late ...
... (particularly detection of females) easier. FLIGHT: Round-headed, short-billed, slightly shortertailed profile. The bright chestnut heads of breeding males stand out, as do the white upperwing patch and the white belly (traits shared by ...
... particularly fast. Flies in compact groups. (Wood Ducks are more strung out.) Males particularly, but females also, have a distinctive white patch on the leading upper surface of the wing (compare to Gadwall's square, white speculum on ...
... particularly on northern birds, are reddish. (On Mallard, feet are orange.) An iridescent patch on the wing (speculum) is purple without a white trim or border. In flight, the contrast between the very white underwing linings and the ...
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 | |
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Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for ... Pete Dunne No preview available - 2013 |