You can also find a set of 34 plates (i.e. more than that original
link) at

http://www.crossleybirds.com/gallery/THE-I-D-GUIDE-coming-soon

I don't think he's shown any text yet just the teaser plates.

One might suspect that something similar to his "Shorebird Guide"
style will be brought along at least for the species info and range
maps though I suspect the photo captions might be rather different.

As all the pages I've seen seem like full page plates I think I'd
prefer a facing page perhaps for text. But that's a lot of color
pages. I suspect the plates and the text will be split (like the
Shorebird Guide). But it's all just speculation until someone sees
some page proofs.

The problems I have with the plates (but I do like the diversity of
images) is they way it plays tricks with your mind. See the
Oystercatcher plate (or the Skimmers or Mergansers) for example. G-I-A-
N-T Oystercatchers invade the beach. OMG! I can't stop my brain from
thinking that. I think it's the background context photo that causes
this because I don't get this same feeling with the Cooper's Hawk
plate -- the same effect that makes the Moon look larger at the
horizon than when it is high in the sky.

http://server1.birdingonthe.net/imgs/crossley/American%20Oystercatcher.jpg
http://server1.birdingonthe.net/imgs/crossley/Cooper%27s%20Hawk.jpg

The win though is the multiple angles, distances and lighting (again
like the Shorebird Guide) which I think is a win for a more JISS style
of ID.

Viewing the plate is more like looking at a piece of modern (semi-
abstract art ... like a Cubist or other multiple perspective painting)
than looking at a representationalist image. But my visual system
won't believe what my "art critic" system is telling it!

On Sep 8, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Ian Paulsen wrote:

> I have just learned of a forthcoming photo guide to North American
> birds
> by Richard Crossley. Some sample plates are here (click on the species
> name):
>
> http://server1.birdingonthe.net/crossley/slides1.html
>
> Has anyone seen sample text yet?

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com
twitter: at kevinpurcell