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TagsBY VALERIE SUDOL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Do you need more birding field guides on your bookshelves and in your backpack? Yes, you do — especially when they are as beautifully done as the pair of volumes just published by the Princeton University Press.
"Birds of Eastern North America: A Photographic Guide" and "Birds of Western North America: A Photographic Guide" by Paul Sterry and Brian E. Small put advanced digital imagery at birders' fingertips. Each has more than a thousand photographs of almost supernatural clarity to aid in identification of common and rare avian species.
The debate over which is more useful in field guides — paintings or photographs — has gone on for decades. The truth is that you need both: Illustrations to point out field marks that distinguish one species from another, and photographs to present a realistic picture of an individual bird in its habitat. Ideally, you'll carry two guides, one with illustrations, one with photographs.
For years, birders like me have reached for "A Field Guide to Birds" by Donald and Lillian Stokes (Little, Brown & Co., 1996) as their go-to photo guide. But the art of digital photography has come a long way in 13 years, and Small fully exploits those advances. You can count the feathers on each bird's wing in his larger and extremely sharp images. The Sterry-Small guides will no doubt set new benchmarks for photo quality and precise reproduction.Inset photos cover seasonal and gender variations in plumage, picture birds in flight or show groups of birds for easier identification. Sterry's well-organized descriptions offer bird-spotting tips and information on habitat, feeding styles and conservation status. Range maps compile the latest data from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the authority on birding in North America.
Small is photo editor of Birding magazine, and has been chief photographer for other guides, including the "Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America" and Ken Kaufman's "Birds of North America." Sterry is author or coauthor of more than 50 books, including the Harper-Collins "Complete North American Wildlife" and the Collins "Complete British Birds." Their new photo guides sell for $18.95 each in paper, $45 each in hardcover versions.
