A Field Guide to Warblers of North America

A Field Guide to the Warblers of North America, by Jon L. Dunn and Kimball L. Garrett, illustrated by Thomas R. Schultz and Cindy House. 1997. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 656 pages, 32 color plates, 13 line drawings, 141 color photographs, 60 color maps. Hardback $30, paperback $20. ISBN 0-395-38971-2. Human knowlege becomes ever more specialized, a trend reflected among ornithological field guides by numerous recent publications treating families or similar taxa rather than all birds of a given region. The North American warblers, with their beauty and popularity, stand out as an obvious choice for such a guide. No two authors are better suited to present one than Dunn and Garrett. A Field Guide to the Warblers of North America (hereafter "Warblers") stands out among these family treatments because of the two authors' balanced and extensive experience with this group. With many other guides of this nature, I have had the feeling that authors with good organizational nd writing skills picked their subjects out of a hat. Not so with Warblers. Jon Dunn has birded intensely since childhood and has gained a wider knowledge of North American birds than anyone I have met. These skills resulted in his being the top consultant for National Geographic's outstanding field guide to North American birds. Kimball Garrett, of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, is also an active field ornithologist with more knowledge of the avifauna of southern California than anyone. They have teamed again to produce a book of extraordinary value to both the birder and the ornithologist, one that is not simply a regurgitation of published information but a trove of personal knowledge gained from vast field experience with warblers and (as evidenced by the length of the acknowledgments) extensive connections with both the birding and the ornithological communities. The book covers the 60 warbler species recorded in Baja California and North America north of mainland Mexico. A 42-page introduction addresses the natural history and identification of warblers, including taxonomy, hybridization, plumages and molts, habitats, foraging and food, vocalizations, behavior, breeding biology, and conservation. As is typical of the entire book, the writing style in these sections is informative and easy on the eye. Most subjects are referenced to a bibliography, leading readers to additional information. I found the section on molts to be good, especially in comparison to other singlefamily guides, some of which ignore altogether this important aspect of bird identification. applaud the authors for using the Humphrey-Parkes molt-and-plumage terminology, which is slowly gaining acceptance over earlier systems; however, they also use the terms "first spring male," "fall adult female," etc., defining plumages in a seasonal context, contrary to the Humphrey-Parkes system. The authors have explained their reasoning and, given the broad range of potential users of Warblers, seem justified in using these terms. It is perhaps illogical to expect beginning birders to be comfortable with the nonintuitive Humphrey-Parkes plumage terminology. The plates are broadly appealing, although the images are somewhat variable in quality. Most are excellent--I especially like those of the genus Dendroica--while for some species, such as the Ovenbird and Virginia's, Worm-eating, and Wilson's warblers, the images are somewhat flat and grainy. Production of the plates during the first printing may have resulted in some of this, as it certainly has for the unnaturally olive looks to the female Black-throated Blue and Oporornis warblers. This apparently has been improved during later printings. What I like the most about the plates is the number of plumages depicted, ranging up to 23 (for the Yellow Warbler) and averaging 5.9 per species. An understanding of intraspecific variation (due to seasonal changes, geographic variation, and age/sex-related differences) is integral to field identification, and the plates, text, and photos in Warblers cover this variation extremely well.