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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... Rare " birds are the ones you have only a slim chance of encountering . If you encounter a bird that resembles a rare species , your identification may well be correct , but you should approach the possibility with caution ...
... rare only in the extreme Southeast . HABITAT : Breeds on arctic tundra . In winter and in migration , occurs most frequently on fresh and coastal marshes , slow - moving rivers , lakes , rice fields , and surrounding agricultural ...
... rare interior migrants that may associate with other geese. MOVEMENT/MIGRATION: Migratory routes are narrowly defined. Atlantic birds move to and from wintering grounds on a route that carries them along the east coast of Hudson Bay. In ...
... rare south to the Salton Sea. HABITAT: Breeds on tundra lakes and ponds, commonly near seacoasts (that is, not in northern forest lakes and ponds, where Trumpeter Swan is found). In winter, forages in back bays, shallow estuaries, open ...
... rare along the Atlantic Coast; very rare inland. DISTRIBUTION: Winters coastally and modestly inland from B.C. to s. Calif. On the Atlantic, most common between coastal Mass. and N.C. Regular migrant and winter resident in w. Alaska ...
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 |