Although I’ve long been a bit doubtful about American books that propose to teach one how to be a better bird watcher (aside from the fact that there are simply too many species across the U.S. to be mastered without years of time afield, too often backyard species are downplayed while the hair-splitting required for many gulls, shorebirds, and other confusion species is overly belabored), George Armistead’s and Brian Sullivan’s Better Birding; Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field caught my eye.
Despite the fact that its cover features a small group of Common Eider’s – a species that few North American birders, or visitors to the continent, will ever see without expending great effort and expense – I have faith through experience with their previous work that Armistead and Sullivan will find a way to not merely present the “nuts and bolts” of their subjects but to surround the species and families presented with the context needed to make what they have written about them valuable to their readers.
