National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region

Audubon is the best in birds

I have been bird watching for over 25 years. I am far from a professional ornithologist, but I do keep yearly lists of birds I have seen. I lived on the pacific flyway for a few years and enjoyed the diversity of birds I saw daily with my family. I still struggle with the flycatchers and as Patrick F. McManus called them in his story "Tough Guys Don't Bird" (Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!), "the little drab birds." This is due to my lack of familiarity with them. Keep this in mind as you read the rest of my review!For ease of use it would be a "5 Star" product. Birds are categorized by type (gull-like birds, perching birds, etc.) with an easy to identify symbol. Some categories of birds (like the perching birds) are further divided into color phases that help to find the bird by color. Photos are in color and are linked (by page #) to a geographic map of the species range (with a written description of their range), written physical description of the species, common name and genus/species is also provided, identification by call (somewhat useful--I'd by audio examples if you are interested in ID by voice-- it is more helpful), habitat, and nesting. Additional helps are found in the introduction, Parts of a Bird (black and white plate with each part of the bird identified), How to Use This Guide section, and an Index of all birds with corresponding page numbers. IT IS A GREAT RESOURCE THAT I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN IDENTIFYING BIRDS OF THE WESTERN US. (My older kids <9-12 yrs old> can navigate the book and find the birds they have seen)The only complaint I have is some of the photos (maybe 1-2%) aren't as helpful as they could be (remember the LITTLE DRAB BIRDS). Color isn't as vibrant in the photo, specific characteristics are hard to see, and you only get one angle of view of the bird. I use a Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Western NA to help ID birds I am struggling with. It provides numerous color plates (painted) of each species with additional angles of view (flying and standing) that help to see the bird from other positions. Because they are painted the attention to detail is AWESOME and really helps with the harder to identify birds. It is a great resource in its own right! I would recommend buying both resources!

Lovely pictures, nicely put together!

Great pictures to help identify the birds at my feeders. Detailed written info to answer questions.

It IS a great guide, but the Kindle edition does not allow for any interaction - you can't go from the index or the contents to the referenced page. Youhave to scroll to the page number - more practical to buy the actual paper edition. I was hoping it wpuld be like the IPod versian, which has interactive links.

Book is excellent. The photos of birds are very nice. Some of the photos are a little non-descript, but I'm chocking that up to some of these as hard to get pictures of. My other book has more color renderings of birds and sometimes is a good companion to the photos for extra ID'ing. Descriptions of the birds in another section is a very good touch. All the birds are in the front section with write-ups in the rear. I would have really liked to just have the pictures for more portability. OR two volumes while splitting pictures and info. The info pages are very good. The book is barely a pocketbook at over an inch thick, 1 1/4" thick and heavy, but has a nice plastic cover for field use. You need a big pocket for field use.Overall great book at a great price.Update for 2020, I just ordered this for a fellow birder and photog'. Great inexpensive gift that is a nice handy item to keep in the car or backpack. Get one.

I have a few books from the audubon society, and they are all great quality. The pictures are well done, and in my opinion, the organization makes as much sense as any other field guide. I also like that iconic audubon society cover material. The size and shape are nice. Compared to other guides I've had, this one is a bit thicker, in terms of number of pages, but a bit narrower in terms of spine to tip of page. It makes it fit in my glove box a little bit better, but I could easily see preferring it the other way around.I'm a novice with birds, and so I can't speak to the accuracy, but so far anything I've looked up in a second source (Sibley), or happened to know already has been spot on. The main difference between this and Sibley's is pictures vs drawings. I prefer the pictures, but I understand the benefit of the drawing for getting a look at sort of the "archetypal" version of the bird. It's preference as much as anything else. Go with whichever you think you'd like better.

About 20 years ago, I bought this guide for my dad who at the time lived in Arizona and loved birds so much. He has since passed and now I have this guide and often refer to it. I have a friend who recently retired and has become very interested in the birds that show in her yard. We live in a rural area so we do see many birds. I gave her this guide book for Christmas and she is more than happy with it. I recommend it! The photos are beautiful and the information is essential if you love birds.

Bought the Kindle edition. This is the Eastern Region guide , as far as I can tell. So why does the cover say 'Western Region'? Layout and typography appear somewhat scrambled, both in the cloud reader and on my phone. Diagrams presented a small slice to a page with labels on a different page, line breaks in random places, odd letter substitutions, e.g. 'to' is often rendered 'co' - all very frustrating. Oh, and the plates are separate from the text about the bird. It does give you a page no. to turn to - but it's not the page no in the Kindle edition. I'm pretty sure this is going to be useless.

Easy to use but primarily for quick reference which is fine.I would note however that the species range is only mapped as far south as the US/Mexico border. As this is a "North America" guide, Audubon might want to consider that Mexico is generally considered part of North America with perhaps a small area south of the the narrows of Tehuantepec being considered part of Central America. There are differing opinions but it seems reasonable to say that the majority of Mexico is part of North America.

Good traditional bird book , and good value , Traditional, and as with most wildlife books , not much info on behavior, or special habits for each species, characteristics of seasonal variables, colors and so on .....identifying the bird is only the 1st step, its the characteristics and complex behavior thats fascinating, and yet to be properly included in bird or many wildlife reference books.

The new Audubon Field Guide to North American Birds , western edition is an improvement on my previous edition. Many plates have been redone and text updated to reflect changes in numbers and distribution of bird species. I had noticed birds living in our neighbourhood that were said to belong in more southerly ranges; now I have a reference that has almost caught up.

Bought this for my husband, hes a photographer and uses this book all the time, he loves it