Hello all,
In reading through the thread, I got to thinking about one of my favorite books. It is a basic birders guide, but far superior in its pictures. It is Birds of North America by Kenn Kaufmann. In it, Mr. Kaufmann used more than 2000 digitized photographs to show birds and their coloration. Often, you can see seasonal color changes, both male & female, and some juvenile plumages. There are also range maps showing where you can expect to find the birds. This "Focus Guide" again is basic in its scope, but the photo's and descriptions together on a page make it my best pocket guide. Sibley's? Nice but it isn't leaving the house. Audubon? Not bad, but too few photos. Peterson? Great info, but separating photos and descriptions is just stupid IMHO.
And I absolutely concur that some method of incorporating songs into a book would be great. Unfortunately, you'd then have Sibley's Maximus Gargantuan Field Guide! Good birding y'all. I'm going to Alki!
Brett A. Wolfe Seattle, WA gismybabe at yahoo.com

Ruth Sullivan wrote:Hello Margaret & tweeters,
Yees both idea about what Roland suggest about playing the song,as you can
watch the bird,and Margaret asking for good photos would help,expecial of
shorebird in different plumages.This might be in the making.


Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma
----- Original Message -----
From: "Margaret Parkinson"
To: ;
Cc: ;
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 5:29 PM
Subject: RE: designing the best field guide


> I would like good photographs as well as watercolors. I see different
> things in photos and paintings all of which are useful. I would also
> like to have representation of both male and female for each species as
> well as representation either visually or in words for juvenile and for
> breeding and non-breeding. I also LOVE the idea of having songs at the
> push of a button. Do I ask too much?
>
> Margaret Parkinson
> University District
> Seattle
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
> [mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Ian Paulsen
> Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 10:42 AM
> To: birdbooklist at yahoogroups.com
> Cc: birdchat at listserv.arizona.edu; tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: designing the best field guide
>
> HI ALL:
> I was wondering what you would want to be in the best bird field guide
> if
> you were designing it? I would:
> 1) Want the best artist(s) to illustrate it (of course!)
> 2) Limit the number of species per page. The National geographic and the
>
> Collins/Princeton Birds of Europe guide have an average of 4 species per
>
> page, often more than that in the National Geographic. I would like to
> see
> 2 per page (3 at the most, except perhaps accidental species on a page
> or
> pages together,the really rare ones NOT the rare but regular species). I
>
> know this would take up extra space and wouldn't be a "field" guide but
> these identification species pairs (isp) would be useful for those
> difficult species to identify. Maybe if size is a problem for a guide
> book
> maybe there could be an isp field guide? any comments?
>
> Ian Paulsen
> Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
> ipaulsen at krl.org
> A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
> "Rallidae all the way"
>
>
>



---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes