Field Guide to the Birds of North America (McMullen)

When it comes to comprehensive field guides to the birds of Canada and the United States (I continue to disagree with the designation “North America” when used in such books that don’t include Mexico), there are usually three that are overwhelmingly referenced: Peterson’s, Sibley’s, and Alderfer’s. All of these are very good indeed and I take nothing away from any of them. However much like Nathan Detroit and Mindy’s cheesecake, using them makes me “feel like I’m playing the favourite.” Thus when a new option enters the picture, I’m keen to explore what it has to offer.

The most recent addition to the list of options for this geographic area comes from across the pond in the U.K.: Miles McMullen’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America from Pelagic Publishing. “Broadly follow[ing] Clemens/ebird 2023” in taxonomy, names, and sequence, this new field guide covers 1,100 species, employing over 6,000 illustrations in doing so. Given that the entire book contains a total of 372 pages and is comfortably field jacket pocket sized, this is certainly a worked in which no printable space has been wasted.

As a copy has recently reached me (yes, I know it was published in March and as of the time of this article it’s July; it must be the the result of the continued attempts of the present U.S. maladministration to cripple the once great U.S. Postal Service in order to justify selling it into private ownership), I’ll be putting it through it’s metaphorical paces in the field presently and reporting back once I’ve acquired a better understanding of it.