Publisher's Weekly Review
Birding magazine editor Floyd (Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America) plays teacher in an informative volume aimed at both beginning and more experienced avian enthusiasts, offering brief and accessible accounts of "200 bird species, one bird at a time, one day at a time, one lesson at a time." An introductory section touches on the common and recognizable species, such as American robins and mallards, which often get people initially hooked; subsequent sections deal with basic topics such as bird naming, bird sizes and shapes, and migration. Floyd, a birder for close to four decades, also explores how ornithology has changed over the years, "especially in the past 10 to 15." Once upon a time, for instance, he "could get by" with binoculars, a field guide, and a notebook. Back then, "going to the library was common, taking photos was rare, and recording birdsong was practically unheard of," in contrast to today, when digital tools have made birding newly easy, popular, and more concerned with documenting experience. That said, Floyd shows that the attraction to and general interest in the field has remained the same: to learn as much as possible about and appreciate the natural world. This book helps greatly with that endeavor. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Choice Review
The Roger Tory Peterson book How to Know the Birds (Houghton Mifflin, 1949) has inspired generations of budding birders; hence, the approach Floyd (editor of Birding magazine and respected author) uses in a volume bearing the same name is of considerable interest. Other than sharing a title and being very well written, the two have little in common. Rather than drawing attention to field marks and other identification cues, Floyd addresses the state of the art of birding, relating early "that it is important to distinguish between who we are today and who we used to be." The reader is introduced to ebirding, xeno-canto (https://www.xeno-canto.org/), and the importance of digital media, among other recent high tech and useful innovations. Older birders wanted to know which binoculars to buy; today's question concerns which smartphone is better. The book is divided into 200 single-page "chapters" or lessons, each introducing one species and exploring one facet of the biology, or some other aspect, of that species. The text is particularly engrossing, and this book will be embraced by the community of birders, both young and old. General libraries will want copies; research libraries may not. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers. --Paul K. Lago, emeritus, University of Mississippi
Library Journal Review
Ornithologist Floyd (Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America) brings his credentials as the editor of Birding magazine to create thought-provoking and authoritative one-page essays on 200 different species of birds native to North America. Floyd's text is enhanced by the art of N. John Schmitt. This is not a guide for identification. Instead, it can be considered an accessible introduction to ornithology and birding; cerebral yet delightfully informal. A few of the many topics Floyd writes of here include migration, metabolism, nomenclature, avian memory skills, site descriptions, behavior, citizen science projects, population dynamics, the ethics and morality of our outdoor pursuits, molt, and brood parasitism. An excellent feature is the numerous cross-references from one essay often to several others, making it easy to see the interrelatedness of his manifold conceptual aspects of birding. Though a standout, this book could have benefited from a bibliography and glossary. VERDICT Highly recommended for those interested in the natural world. This is a book to be read; there is nothing else quite like it.-Henry T. -Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
