To add to what Ian said, I agree that the Crossley guide (to the id, according to the title) is probably not a good guide for beginners, probably too overwhelming, but perhaps intermediate birders can improve identification skills from its unique presentation method. It will be interesting to see if it contains gems for advanced birders.

I think many will buy it just because it is such a beautiful collection of scenes featuring bird species. I was blown away when I first saw some of the pages online. I think it is the most fun field guide for browsing I have seen, putting birds in rather spectacular context and often evoking past experiences with them. I really enjoy looking at those pages. Many of us in the tweeters area will wait for the western guide, and I will be curious to see if Princeton puts together new plates for that book, with western subspecies and scenes, rather than just reusing the eastern pages.

But why is a Red-naped Sapsucker in an eastern book? I haven't seen a copy yet and can't figure that out for myself. And, from the pages Ian showed, why are Black-capped Chickadees shown in mountain conifers? I hope the western birds will be put in deciduous bottomlands or an urban scene. I assume the book will be reviewed critically, as all books that impart knowledge should be.

A Yellow-rumped and a Townsend's Warbler are competing for the suet feeder outside the window. The Y-r seems to be dominant, chasing the other one away. Birds really like suet on these very cold days.

Dennis


On Feb 24, 2011, at 12:01 PM, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Message: 10
> Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:58:41 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ian Paulsen <birdbooker at zipcon.net>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Crossley guide
> To: birdbooklist at yahoogroups.com
> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu, birdwg01 at listserv.arizona.edu
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.58L0.1102231657150.839 at zipcon.net>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
> HI ALL:
> I just wrote about the Crossley guide at my blog here:
>
> http://birdbookerreport.blogspot.com/2011/02/crossley-id-guide-eastern-birds.html
>
> sincerely
> --
>
> Ian Paulsen
> Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
> Visit my BIRDBOOKER REPORT blog here:
> http://birdbookerreport.blogspot.com/

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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