Subject: Warblers of the Americas, a mini-review (fwd)
Date: Oct 20 11:10:35 1994
From: Steven Feldstein - sbf at ESSC.PSU.EDU

Since many birders have not yet had the opportunity to see the "Warblers of
the Americas" guide by Curson, Quinn, and Beadle, and are considering
whether to purchase this new book, I thought that I'd write up a brief
mini-review.

The book starts of with a standard introducation explaining the organization
of the book. This is followed by the colour plates, species text, references,
and index. The main part of the book are the colour plates and species texts.
Each species is represented by at least on colour painting plus a
description in the text. The range maps are beside the paintings.

The text for each species comprises 13 parts. These are

1) Identification: This gives a general description of the field marks.

2) Description: This is the longest section, where the details of
field identification are presented. Between 2 and 9 different plumages
are desribed for each species. The plumages covered are adult male
breeding, adult female breeding, adult male non-breeding, adult female
non-breeding, 1st year male (both fall and spring plumage), 1st year
female (both fall and spring plumage), and juvenile plumage. For those
birds that breed in North America, the number of plumages desribed varies
with species, but for some species 9 different plumages are desribed,
although the differences are often very slight. On the other hand,
typically only 2 or 3 plumages are desribed for tropical species, which
don't show the same sexual or age variations as the relatives farther north.
For those species with many different plumages, the corresponding colour
plates also contain several plumages, although not all those described in
the text.

3) Geographic Variation: For polytypic species, the field marks of each
subspecies are described, although not to the same extent as in the
"Description". The corresponding colour plates also show distinctive
subspecies.

4) Voice: Calls and songs are described.
5) Habitat and Habits.
6) Breeding: Brief information on number of clutches, eggs, etc. is presented.
7) Status and Distribution: Described breeding and winter ranges.
8) Movements: Describes both fall and spring migration routes.
9) Moult: Timing and extent of moult.
10) Skull: Time of complete ossification.
11) Measurement: Separate measurements for both male and female.
12) Note: Other topics such as hybridization.
13) References:

To me, this guide provides a wealth of information on the identification
of warblers that is not available in any of the standard field guides.
I feel that the paintings are also outstanding, and I won't be surprised
if this book becomes part of the personal libraries of most serious
birders.

Steven Feldstein
Earth System Science Center
Penn State University
sbf at essc.psu.edu