Selecting a Birdwatching Field Guide

A field guide is an illustrated reference book. It is used to identify things in the field. Its design should make that a quick and easy process. There are field guides for identifying birds, butterflies, plants, insects and even reptiles and mammals. Whatever the topic of interest, there is a field guide designed to help the enthusiast.

Selecting your first bird watcher's field guide should be a simple task, but its not. There are thousands of bird books and field guides available. Now days there are field guides for every country. There are some for sections of the country, or for specific states and provinces. Even smaller geographic areas, such as counties, birding trails, and specific refuges, parks, or preserves have their own field guide.

There are several things to consider when Selecting a Field Guide. First, it must be appropriate for the region in which you live and second, it must be easy to use. It may be tempting to go with a field guide for your county or region but for your first field guide, it would be better to go with one that covers a fairly good range. Your bird watching terrain will increase as your skill and confidence increases. A local field guide will limit you. If you live in the southeastern part of the United States, consider a field guide that covers the eastern half of the country or the entire United States.

The second point in Selecting a Field Guide. is ease of use. A large field guide may have more information and pictures in it, but they can be heavy and cumbersome to carry along into the field. The ideal field guide is compact and portable. It is used to identify the bird. The details that add to the bird watching experience can be obtained later. If you have truly caught the bird watching bug, your library of bird and bird watching books will increase over time. The information you want will be available to you.

There are still a few more things to consider before picking up a field guide and heading to the checkout stand. Do you want a field guide with photographs, or is one with illustrations and paintings a better choice? When I sit down to look through a bird book, I prefer photographs to drawing and paintings, but when I'm trying to identify a new species, I prefer the illustrations.

Photo field guides show the actual bird as it was photographed by a professional photographer. There is a disadvantage to that. Photographing birds is like photographing a small child, they don't always cooperate. They don't hold still and they rarely stay in the right position for long. It's difficult to make visual comparisons when the birds are not in the same position. Lighting and weather conditions come into play as well. And then there are seasonal changes. Many birds change their plumage with the seasons. With an illustration, the birds are in the correct position and the field marks, the physical traits used to identify the birds, are usually highlighted. With illustrations, the seasonal changes, the changes that come about as the bird matures, and the differences between the sexes can be highlighted as well.

Now that you have narrowed down your choice of field guides, it's time to select one. Experts and seasoned birders have their preferences, but the biggest factor when choosing one for yourself is finding one you are comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with it, it will end up on the shelf collecting dust.

Select one. Take it home and read through the instructions on how to use it. If your first attempts at identifying a bird are unsuccessful, don't give up. The more you use the field guide, the more familiar you will become with it. The more familiar you are with it, the easier it will be to use. Before you know it, you will be whipping through the pages and adding bird after bird to your Life List.

Once you've started identifying the birds, you'll be hooked. Bird watching is the second fastest growing hobby in North America. It is second only to gardening. As your interest grows, you may want to invest in a pair of binoculars. Selecting the right pair of binoculars isn't any easier that selecting a field guide. For information on how to select a pair a binoculars, check out Selecting a Pair of Bird Watching Binoculars.

Bird watching can be a pleasurable indoor activity as well as outdoors. Learn about the birds you have identified. Information on specific birds can be accessed through my Lensographies Busy Lizzy's Birds of Prey, Busy Lizzy's Backyard Birds, or Busy Lizzy's Aquatic Birds.

Enjoy your new found hobby.