Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges
You've spotted a cute little ringed plover down by the shore-but wait! Is it a semipalmated plover? A piping plover? A Wilson's plover? Don't panic, says Thompson, the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest and the author of Bird Watching for Dummies: it's easier than you think. Sections on back color, leg color, bill shape and bill color plus excellent color illustrations by Julie Zickefoose (to whom Thompson is married) will straighten you out in no time. And if "separating long-billed dowitcher from short-billed dowitcher is one of the single most difficult identification problems in North America," at least figuring out the difference between horned grebes and eared grebes is a little easier. In clear, encouraging prose, Thompson addresses dozens of other identification problems, reminding readers that in greater challenge lies greater reward. He also offers readers the "Top 20 Rules of the Bird Identification Game," which include reminders to look at the bird more carefully than the bird book, to take notes and to trust your instincts.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.