With black-and-white drawings by Jacquelyn Giuffré and Carol Burr, the guide “will help you to identify sixty-three of the most common species” in California, parts of Oregon and Washington, and Canada and Mexico.
Lederer notes that “because there are about 500 species of birds in the Pacific Coast area, bird-watching could become overwhelming. But you have to start somewhere, and a simple book like this is a good choice.” Though birds appear in “taxonomic order, beginning with grebes and ending with songbirds” (and there’s a common-name index at the end), the real joy comes in leafing through the pages to find just the right identification.
Each page features a “sketch of the bird and gives its common and scientific names; body length … and wingspread; some identifying features such as eye stripes, wing bars, tail pattern, and behavior; and icons that indicate its usual habitat.” Here and there little boxes call out items of interest, noting, for example, that “there is no biological difference between pigeons and doves” which, “unlike other birds, can drink water by sucking with their head down.”
The American Robin is “perhaps the best-known American bird.” “Young robins,” Lederer writes, “hatch in about 10 days. After another 10 days they will jump from the nest, even though they can’t fly. Parents will take care of juveniles on the ground until their feathers grow enough to allow them to fly. People mistakenly think baby robins have fallen from their nest and need help. They don’t.”
From the Black Tern to Anna’s Hummingbird, from the Ruby-crowned Kinglet to the Dark-eyed Junco, from California Quail to Steller’s Jay, familiar birds flock in the guide, letting young bird-watchers know that one good tern deserves another.
Lederer has also published a companion guide, in the same format and from the same publisher, called “Bird Finder: Identifying Common Birds Of Eastern North America,” with sketches by Roger Franke and Carl Burr.
