Thursday, May 22, 2008

Old Question, New Answer



No matter the birding message board, someone periodically has the courage (some would call it audacity) to ask this question. And just as the question is generally legitimate and sincere, so too is the ensuing multitude of often contradictory and confusing answers. Unfortunately, since the inquirer is quite often a fairly new birder, the end result is that she or he is left in a deep pit of bewilderment and uncertainty, unintentionally, yet most artfully, dug by some of the “experts” in the birding community.

“What is the best field guide on the market?”

That’s it… a very innocent, legitimate and reasonable inquiry, right? No matter the level of experience, skill, and knowledge there is no birder that hasn’t asked this question at some time. It is a question which deserves an answer, and to be fair, we should consider some of the more common, well intentioned and not necessarily wrong in and of themselves, replies before continuing.

There are the “Sibley people” who swear by the merits of his monumental, single person, artistic and descriptive accomplishment. Not to be silenced by such a singular achievement, defiantly chiming in with their choice is the “NGS (National Geographic Society) group,” eloquently extolling the comprehensive, multi-source “obvious superiority” of the Dunn and Alderfer work. Not to be left out is the “Kaufmann clan,” the legitimate offspring of the progenitor of all field guides, the late Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds, telling all that will listen that if simplicity and succinctness is valued, Kenn Kaufmann’s handy, “arrow enhanced” guide, reminiscent of the granddaddy of all guides, is what everyone is really needing.

Lest I forget, some swear by the “photos only” guides, rejecting all three of the above as nothing more than an artist’s imperfect perspective and expression. Seeing what a bird actually looks like through the eyes of a camera lens is received as “more realistic” than anything an artist can replicate. Field guides recently published by those advocates of all that is still natural and untamed in our world, the National Wildlife Federation and the National Audubon Society, fall into this category.

Let me preface everything else I share by stating emphatically that “I have most of them”… and realized quickly some time ago that there is no ultimate visual field guide… and that its creation is actually but a fond dream… and an impossibility. No one guide can ever fully represent the various races and morphs, as well as the seasonal, sexual, and age plumage differences of each species of bird you or I may possibly see. Every credible guide needs to be selective by reason of practicality and portability… most people just don’t have room for a library (and that’s what it would take!) in their backpacks…. And even if someone could take “it all” along on their birding trips, they definitely shouldn’t spend all the time it would take looking in the various guides, comparing and sorting (something that would have to be done to arrive at any hope of identifying some birds), while they could actually be looking at the birds themselves.



If you are one of the very many that have only one guide, let me be so bold to emphatically say that you are cheating yourself. It will not take you long to find a bird that is not “just like the illustration.” And then what happens?

Before moving on to my “new answer,” let me make it clear that having multiple guides is a good thing. Often what you see in the field is neatly and accurately illustrated in one, while absent from the rest. And if you haven’t discovered them for yourself yet, you soon will realize that some illustrations and photos can be downright misleading when used as the only source of identification for a specific species, e.g. Vesper Sparrow in NGS. So, when financially feasible, purchase those“ other” guides. Having two artist illustrated guides and one photo guide would be a nice minimum. You can’t go wrong by choosing from those that I’ve already mentioned.

From the “multiple general field guides” position, I’m sure that many will want to (and should) go on to obtaining bird family specific guide books dealing with some of the more identification troublesome taxonomic groupings, such as A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of the Sparrows of the United States and Canada by James Rising, or Gulls of the Americas by Jon Dunn and Steve Howell. While you will not find books like these for all species, the ones that are available will be invaluable.


But finally, here is a guide that few birders know about, and even fewer procure and utilize, yet I believe it to be a treasure chest of valuable identification information that no “serious birder” (you know who you are!) should be without. It is one to which I personally refer often… and would not be without. Peter Pyle’s Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part I is that guide. While only 395 Passerrine species (and 855 subspecies!) are dealt with (Doves through Weaver Finches) and that this is the guide used by bird banders for “in hand” identification, there is so much detailed, invaluable information that I believe it to be the one and only guide that no birder should be without. Now, be assured that I have no financial interest in more of this extremely detailed work being sold, other than as someone who cares deeply about carefulness and accuracy of all avian identification, there is no birder that I would not urge to take the extra effort it takes to purchase. Yes, you must order it by mail; it is not available in any store. One place to find it is at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO) website: http://www.prbo.org/cms/244
or just Google the title and author.

Be advised, if you’re looking for elegant, artistic drawings or revealing photos, where all that is necessary is to “compare and match,” this guide will be an absolute disappointment. You will find nothing even coming close to the realization of those kinds of expectations. But if you’re looking for superbly detailed written information (with a few feather or other body part drawings thrown in when needed) about the seasonal, gender, age and subspecies related variations we all encounter, this book is for you. Sure, quite a bit of what you’ll find is only applicable to banders, but there is also a wealth of knowledge which is helpful for all of us “regular birders” that just cannot be found anywhere else. Also, be warned that some material may seem a bit technical and difficult for the average recreational birder to understand…. But even knowing that to be the case, what is available and important for everyone else is priceless.

So, what is the “new answer” to the same of old “What’s the best birding field guide” question? Without any reservation, especially if you already have an assortment of other guides, it is Pyle’s monumental work. Give it a try… it will not disappoint.

(By the way, Part II, covering all the rest of the birds in North America, is “coming soon”).

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Dissatisfaction Factor


If you are totally satisfied with your birding ability right now, don’t read any farther…. In other words, if you grab your binoculars, go out to a favorite birding spot, or even your yard, find undisturbed, absolute enjoyment in what you see with no thoughts or wishes of more “proficiency of skills”… Hey, God bless you… stop here… sit down and relax… and forget about reading my ramblings which follow.


Phil Unitt, Curator, San Diego
Museum of Natural History

I’m one of those “never satisfied” types. I can’t help it. Who in my progeny is to blame is a moot point, but this is definitely me. My long suffering kids and wife endure. My real friends realize its part of sharing my journey. And I’m sure any detractors or would be enemies just snicker… and stick another pin in the doll.

But for me, I’ve decided that this not too cleverly disguised strain of perfectionism isn’t such a bad thing after all… especially when it comes to birds. Now, if you’ve already summoned the foolish courage to read this far, I’d like to be so bold as to share this affliction with you. In fact, I would love to see it become an incurable contagion, sweeping through the birding population, sparing no one in its careful, measured march to a new level of field observation proficiency.

Over thirty years ago in Southern California, during the first exciting decade of my birding experience, I met Phil Unitt, the current editor of Western Birds, Curator at the San Diego Museum of Natural History, and arguably one of out most knowledgeable ornithologists. All good now, except in the early-70’s Phil would have been hard pressed to tell you the difference between an Ovenbird and the proverbial “20 blackbirds baked in a pie.” Then he may have been more into eating pie than identifying the latest avian rarity discovery at Death Valley’s Furnace Creek Ranch, the California birder’s world equivalent of Mecca and Medina. (Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit.) But needless to say, anyone that was "a somebody" in the birding community went there on at least a twice yearly journey of discovery, searching for the steady stream of eastern rarities predictably encountered there.

Living in San Diego, Phil too made the obligatory long car trips, but in the process was cursed with one of the biggest blessings of his newly conceived and embryonic birding journey… his often inescapable birding companions were Jon Dunn and Guy McCaskie. Jon was arguably then already one of the most talented young field ornithologists to tackle the newly emerging intricacies of identification, distribution and vagrancy. And Guy was the acknowledged West Coast icon of a small but growing cadre of birders whose field identification (and finding) skills would become legend… and he was a mentor of Jon too. Through those lengthy weekend car trips to everywhere and anywhere in the state, Phil endured the pokes at and the prods of his field skills, often silently assimilating, digesting… and steadily improving in a way that inevitably no one would dare question.

Phil learned that dissatisfaction coupled with action was the doorway to endless horizons of continuing improvement. Today Jon (primary consultant and editor for the National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America, a member of the American Ornithologists’ Union Checklist and Nomenclature Committee, and a much sought after tour guide for Wings) and Guy (longtime regional editor of the Southern Pacific Coast Region of North American Birds, Secretary of the California Bird Rarities Committee, frequent author and consultant, and acknowledged dean of California birders) both hold little, if any, superiority in knowledge and ability to Phil. At the least, through a relentless pursuit of “dissatisfaction resolution” he has become their equal.

Let’s be personally practical. What is your “dissatisfaction factor?” What is the next hurtle to meet head-on, rather than avoiding? What are the "id issues" that frustrate you? Maybe it’s that all time nemesis of many birders, gulls in anything less than full adult, field guide perfect plumage? Or perhaps those very confusing, nondescript ducks in their post-breeding drab eclipse plumage? And then there are always the juveniles of almost every species, bearing little apparent resemblance to their adult relatives. Vocalizations are another hurtle for many who find the quick “That’s a ___________” identification, without ever seeing even one feather of the living bird, a bit incomprehensible.

Each one of us knows… this one isn’t a mystery… what the next step for us as birders may be… the step to move beyond our “dissatisfaction factor” is very clear. And just as its clarity is universal, so is its uniqueness very individual and personal. Your step is your own, and quite unlike mine or that of anyone else.

Right now, my personal step is getting to know all the subspecies that can be seen in Idaho, and then being able to identify those that are separable in the field. I’ve made a dent in the process…. I make numerous mistakes. Sometimes I just want to give up in frustration…. Many times I’m sure that no one but me even cares about which race of an Orange-crowned Warbler they’re looking at… so why in the name of John J. Audubon should I care?!

But I’ve decided to persist… and so can you in whatever the dissatisfaction factor may be that is dogging your steps. You can take the next step! None of us may be the next Phil… or Jon… or Guy…, but you can become the next you! There is an unspeakable satisfaction in knowing that you were not satisfied with your dissatisfaction, did something about it, moved on… and became all that you could be as a birder.