Michael O'Brien (8) (1965–)

I've always been skeptical of photographic field guides. While this book hasn't made me a convert in general, it certainly has convinced me that there is a place for photo guides. This book features amazingly detailed photos of all North American breeding shorebirds in all plumages, most usefully multiple plumages in a single photo, and describes the relevant features of each. I now feel much more confident about aging shorebirds (a necessary first step), and have even dared to tackle dowitchers (though most of them still end up as "unidentified dowitcher".) The book focuses extensively on non-plumage marks of size, shape, etc -- which I find extremely useful, and which I'm trying to get better at. One of the most useful features of the book for me are the little quizzes sprinkled throughout; a photo illustrating Ruddy Turnstones will, for instance, ask you to ID the other three species in the photo, or one will ask you to ID three birds just by silhouette (not always as difficult as it sounds). Highly recommended for anyone wanting to get better at identifying this tricky bunch of birds.… (mer)