Book Review: The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors

I was fortunate to receive a copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors from Princeton University Press recently.

Most birders I know have a copy of The Crossley ID Guide, Eastern Birds, that I reviewed previously. The original Crossley guide was a very large volume with photos of all the bird species in the U.S. So why should a birder invest in another Crossley guide? Because  the raptor guide is focused on more in-depth information on the species they cover and spends a lot of space on comparing characteristics to differentiate birds in the field. Raptors are notoriously difficult for most birders; we can use all the help we can get.

Sample Alpomado Falcon plate, used with permission

As with the previous Crossley guide, there are lots of photos. I've included a sample from the section on the Alpomado falcon to the right.

However, I really enjoyed the ability to learn more about the individual birds in the new book. There were multiple plates for one of my favorite little raptors, the American kestrel. These elegant little birds are very common in north central Texas in the winter. They are much less common in the summer, but they do breed here--we get fuzzy little babies at Wild Bird Rescue most summers. Other less common falcons are the prairie falcon and the peregrine falcon.

The Crossley Guide is not really intended to be used in the field, although the raptor guide is small enough to carry. What the book is especially good for is to study between field trips to improve your knowledge of field marks and plumages when you have time to really study the differences. I especially liked the quiz pages where multiple similar species are shown sitting and in-flight, from various aspects, with the opportunity to determine the identification on your own before looking at the key.

For those interested in more information, check out the free sampler available at the Princeton University Press site. You can also learn more about the guide (and other neat stuff about birds) by checking out the Princeton University Press blog tour. There have been some really excellent blogs so far--you can find them all in the blog tour schedule. The blog tour started on March 11 and will run through this week, culminating in a Raptor ID Happy Hour with Richard Crossley and Brian Sullivan, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST on Friday. March 22. You can access the Happy Hour at http://shindig.com/event/raptorid.

Also right now, Princeton University Press is holding a contest for several prizes to include autographed copies of this book, binoculars and other items for one lucky person.

I hope you'll take part in some of the activities associated with the launch of this book and be sure to order your copy from Princeton University Press or your local book store.

Good birding!

Learning the Birds

People often say, "I don't know how you can identify birds so fast." And I tell them it is like anything else--practice. The people who are best at bird identification (and there are LOTS of people better than I) are those who spend the most time birding and who study in between their birding trips.


I came across a great blog post, "The Brain and Birds," by Richard Crossley, the author of The Crossley ID Guide. I posted a review of this book a few months back. As we bird more, we tend to pick up patterns we use to identify the birds and through repetition (whether seeing the bird in the field or reviewing birds in the field guides and reading articles about them) we help our brain make the information readily accessible.


Anyway, I thought is was an interesting post and wanted to share.

Good birding!

Book Review: The Crossley ID Guide, Eastern Birds

There has been a lot of hype in the birding community about The Crossley ID Guide. Newly published by Princeton University Press, the ID Guide is oversized (even larger than the Sibley guide.)

Obviously, this is not the best choice to take into the field, but the book is an excellent resource to supplement any birder's library. Most of us have several field guides to use when trying to make an identification. All have different photographs or artwork to illustrate field marks, and it seems sometimes I have to pull out 3 or 4 different field guides to find the information to help me make a decision on the bird's identification. The Crossley Guide attempts to overcome this by having several pictures of the birds, with various poses, at varying distances, making it more likely you'll see some clue that fits your observation. The pictures are superimposed on a background of likely habitat. I like the fact that many of the pictures are much larger than the pictures usually seen in field guides--especially now that my eyes are getting a little older. Which leads to the text portion. Because of the size and detail of the pictures, there is little room left on the page for text. Consequently, the text size is smaller than I would like.

A couple of things I particularly liked:
- the 4-letter alpha code for each species. Some birders use these codes when texting from the field as bird names tend to be long.
- the ID tip that highlights a particular tip to identifying the species.

In the introduction, the author indicates he isn't a fan of a lot of verbiage. I personally like a little more background on the birds, but that isn't the primary function of an ID guide, so this is not a major detractor.

There is an online supplement that adds some additional information and apparently, more will be coming to the online site.

The book is a hefty $35, but well worth the investment.

Good birding!