Subject: Re: new book
Date: Feb 20 16:11:14 1997
From: Don Baccus - donb at rational.com


>Honestly, I'm asking: Do how-to-find books strikeyou a
>bit like shooting fish in a barrel or does the info help?

I've seen this book but haven't looked at it closely.

But in general, sure, these books are great. The old Lane's guides
(now ABA) sure helped me in my first birding trips to various US
hotspots. I'm not a hardcore lister, but I don't see much point in
going to SE Arizona and NOT seeing painted redstart, 10 species of
hummer, trogon, and the like...

I must admit that I like the premise of the Lane-style guide better
than the "100 most wanted" premise. The latter brings to mind that
subset of birders who are obsessed with listing rarities rather than
fully enjoying birds as part of the natural world (not all hardcore
listers are so narrow minded, of course).

When reading Lane's guides, you become aware that the author found
pleasure in repetitively birding really nice places, not just for the
rarities, but for the sheer joy of birding. He didn't just shoot down
there to twitch the 50 or so lifers the first-time visitor sweeps up,
but went down many springs and summers because he was just a fan of
fine birding. And that he enjoyed plants, mammals, and things like
old Spanish missions and other non-birding aspects of travel as well,
and wasn't afraid to put information on such things in his "birder's
guides". I routinely recommend them to nature photographers who e-mail
me asking for information on photographing various parts of the country,
even if they don't specializein bird photography.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at (NEW) http://donb.photo.net