I ordered this for use in my daughter's 6th grade science class in Oakland. Unfortunately, it contains no photographs of the birds--only text descriptions of viewing locations. So it's not useful as an identification guide. The general description should clearly state this. JM

I've used the guide to help plan three birding trips so far and found it to be an asset in preparing for the trip (e.g., understanding the location, what species to expect, and best time to go). Upon arrival at the site, I found myself using a field guide like NGS's Field Guide to Birds of North America almost exclusively to help sight and identify the birds.

Birding Northern California is not suitable as a true field guide since it lacks detailed graphics or photos of the close to 600 species that can be found here. While using the book, I also found the book to be "too wordy" to use as a reference. For instance, to find the best location in Northern California to view a Ross's Goose in December, you would need to browse a good chunk of the book before finding a spot (and it might not be the best location). Later I discovered handy reference information in the very back of the text (e.g., Chapter 7 provides a breakdown of "specialty birds" throughout the area with their respective ranges mapped for winter and summer). FYI - the Ross's Goose is included in Chapter 7 with the key sites. The last chapter of the book provides a complete listing, including specialty and more common birds, with a geographic region and month of the year to look for the bird.

Given the room for improvement in the book's organization, I would encourage the publisher/author to produce a 2nd edition. The ideal improvement would be to include a CDROM that structures the information by bird species (hey, a photo would be nice), the locations where the bird can be found with a relative ranking, the time of year (again with some form of ranking). Including a CD would also allow the reader to search over the information by species or location.

With the passion of a life-long birder and the precision of a former professor of engineering, John Kemper has written an exceptional, new site guide for northern California. Detailed information is given for 81 major locations from the Oregon border through Monterey, King, and Tulare counties plus the Kern River Valley in Kern County; Mono County and the White Mountains are included on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada

The book focuses on species of interest by listing "specialty birds" and "other key birds" at the beginning of each location description. Specialty birds include uncommon to abundant birds found primarily in the western United States, endangered or threatened species, and rare birds if the site is among the best for the bird. The text describes when, where, and how to the find the birds at each site, and this information was personally verified by John during two years of fieldwork preparing the book. Range maps and bar charts at the back of the book are cross-referenced to the best sites for each species and the time of year when each species occurs in different regions of the state. Readers will appreciate the easily readable, detailed maps and the clearly written site descriptions. Novices, long-time California birders, and birders from out of state planning their first or 100th trip to the state, will find the information needed to find the birds of interest to them and to plan successful birding trips.

I want to buy the book for my elementary art class and I can't find anywhere in the descriptions if they are the same size as the origionals.

For the grump who gave this book a one-star rating (it deserves a six-star rating!), the dimensions of this oversized book are 10 1/2 X 14 1/2 inches.

Drool over the watercolours and then imagine the work that went into creating them. All yours for a fraction of the cost of the originals. A steal!

This book contains the complete collection of the 435 illustrations from Audubon's famous Havell edition "Double Elephant Folio" of "Birds of America." It took 12 years, from 1826 to 1838, for Robert Havell, a 19th century London engraver, working from Audubon's detailed watercolors, to finish the project, and when it was done, the collection of 435 engravings was sold to subscribers. Today the Havell engravings are worth small fortunes individually, and it is the lucky museum or library that can boast of having a complete, original portfolio. But here in this single book, Audubon's beautiful, powerful, and extraordinarily detailed paintings can be seen by anyone interested in natural history, American romantic painting, ornithology, bird watching, etc. Audubon is one of America's most important artists and naturalists, and this book is an excellent way to get better acquainted with John James Audubon's masterpiece, "Birds of America."

Make a plate-by-plate comparison of the new Waterfowl or Shorebirds guides with the original hardcover editions and you'll see that the sofcover illustrations look like cheap color photocopies. All of the subtlety and detail that made the originals the best field guides of their kind has been lost. Save your money for the used bookstores.

This book covers all of the shorebirds of the world with 1700 full-color paintings. There are lots of general tips on identifying shorebirds, and each bird is covered extensively. When I first picked up the book at an ABA Teen Birder convention in Colorado, a birder near me said "You have to buy that! Look at the Dunlin page!" Well, the Dunlin page is indeed a good example of this guide's excellence! There are 28 paintings on the page covering the different plumages of the bird and how it looks in flight and from different positions. The text on the adjacent page gives brief descriptions of the bird in each of those plumages and a world range map. It also redirects you to the all-text section of the book that has extensive information on identification, voice, habits, moments, description, age/sex, races, and measurements of the bird. I definitely recommend this book to any birder interested in the identification of shorebirds!

I have purchased this book some five years back in a local book exhibition. Text is accurate especially for one who is interested in bird hunting. But the real feast is the breathtaking illustrstions made by the single artist himself. His painstaking artwork for each species, male&female, juvenile upperwings, lower wings are really fine. Only minus aspect is if the book would have been little bigger the illustrations would have also become bigger.

This book is written like a novel and the birds are not separated by species. In order to find behavior of a particular bird you have to reference several pages and read lots of text.

If you want a technical guide to the size, coloration and other particulars of a specific bird species then it would be in your best interests to obtain one of the many American bird field guides that are available on this subject. However, if you are interested the habits of birds as they fit into the overall ecological scheme of nature without being overwhelmed by technical details then this is the book for you.

John Dennis has written a highly readable book that reveals the lifestyles of birds as they interact with each other and the environment. In a series of essays Dennis covers such subjects as bird food preferences, migratory behavior, winter survival, competition, avian aggression and others. Dennis supports his points with his own personal observations as a lifelong biologist and birder, as well as those observations cited from birding books and journals spanning the 20th century. In addition, the 65 delightful pencil sketchings illustrating the avian behavior described in the text are worth the price of the book alone.

I whole-heartedly recommend "Beyond the Bird Feeder" for any naturalist's bookshelf, particularly of those for whom birding may be a secondary interest. The book provides an excellent one-source overview of avian habits that may lead those so interested into other more technical treatments of this subject.

Lots of great information, BUT no pictures... So - if you see a bird, you have to read three paragraphs before you can figure out what it is - maybe...

This is an excellent resource and dare I say a "must" for anyone birding Alabama. It is much more current and informative than the Birder's guide to Alabama and Mississippi. It includes detailed directions and summaries as well as bar charts for frequency and distribution of Alabama species. This is particularly helpful because the range maps in most field guides are notoriously inaccurate. If you're a beginner however and you need help with identification, get a field guide - not this.

A fairly light read, but fascinating. Takes the reader through several decades of the Franco-phone Syrian community living the good life on the fringes of the British colonial powers in Egypt, until the rude awakenings of nationalization...etc. in the late fifties/early sixties. Family saga written from the point of view of a young narrator; all the characters are full of life, and human nature being what it is, they are recognizable no matter what your cultural background may be. Leaves you with the impression that despite all the setbacks, life is wonderful and most definitely worth living.

Birds of Passage is as much a chronicle of the sprawling, raucous, and delightfully diverse Batrakani clan as it is a tapestry of modern Egypt- her transition from one of the shimmering cities of the declining Ottoman Empire to one of the center of the post-colonial Arab world. Along the way, Egypt throws off its allegiance to Istanbul, becomes a British protectorate under a succession of local monarchs, and emerges in the 1950s as an independent Republic, marking the first time in thousands of years that native Egyptians took the reins of power. Through this odyssey, the Batrakanis live, grow, and thrive and Sole captures them at their most triumphant and ruined, from the days of glorious wealth during the British occupation to their last, embittered days during the onset of Nasser's regime. Greek Catholics in a predominantly Muslim country, Syrian by heritage, western by faith, and French by language and obsession, in retrospect it seems inevitable that their colorful world would collapse after the end of colonialism. Sole's writing is simple and matter-of-fact, he is spare with language but generous with details, chronicling the lives of a dozen characters. This is both the novel's charm and its major flaw- for the first half it doesn't have a focus as one generation seems to intersperse its events with another. Had Sole streamlined the narrative earlier- to reflect more upon the lives of Georges and Yolande and their children- all of whom take paths which are symbolic of the attitudes their small but influential minority held of Egypt- the novel would have been more gripping. The other flaw is that unless one is engaged in the history of 20th century Egypt, with its successful of khedives, sultans, kings, and dictators, much of the political details are irrelevant. The novel gives a small but interesting glimpse at King Farouq, the last Egyptian monarch- handsome, charismatic, and energetic in youth, fat, lascivious and impotent in later life. At the end of Birds of Passage, one is left with a much deeper appreciation of the diversity of Egypt and a gripping sadness at the passing of a festive, colorful, and vanquished world.

Not much help for one who is contemplating a cockatiel as a pet. Day-to-day maintenance is not detailed. It says to clean the cage - but no idea of how often. I wonder about droppings - not a word on the subject. Are they a problem? Doesn't mention that they can be VERY noisy pets, serious screamers. I don't want to purchase a cockatiel and 3 days later be wishing that I had not!

This book is very informative for a first-time cockatiel owner. And when I needed help with my cockatiel, Sammy, this book was a great help to me!

I had to do this as a book report. There is not much to talk about it. I just hate it and wish I could rip it up. I did not like it because they changed the subject to much. I did not like that animals talked. It was very confusing. And too much detail, instead of sticking to the story line of the boy and grandfather on a mining trip.

One of the other reviewers on this page does not seem to know what he/she is talking about. The animals in the book do not talk. Instead, they are projected with dignity and accuracy. Jean Craighead George, author of the Julie books, the My Side of the Mountain books, and nearly eighty other wonderful nature stories for children, wrote DIPPER OF COPPER CREEK with her husband John George (they are now divorced), as well as VULPES THE RED FOX, VISON THE MINK, and other fine but, in my opinion, not appropriately recognized nature books. This is a wonderful book, and the story of a young boy becoming a man while his favorite birds become independent around him, is unforgettable. Any nature lover will appreciate this book. You must look deep into the poetic and beautiful text and know that this is indeed not a book to be ripped apart.

This was one of the most fantastic books I have ever read! I love the way Ms. George trys to see what is would be like from the Dippers' point of view. Keep up the good work! Dipper (*v*)

The 4th edition of this "Collectors Handbook" is a reprint of earlier editions rather than a much needed rewrite.

The background information provided in this book IS very interesting and helpful. HOWEVER, the first question asked on the back of this book is "What is the value of an Audubon Print?" This book answers that question with print by print price information (almost 1/3 of the book) that is over 20 years old. NO price information is even given for the Octavo prints.

As a guide for collectors looking for current value information for Audubon prints this book is worthless.

For those who are interested in Audubon prints, this book is a good introduction, but if you are serious about collecting or very interested in Audubon, it could raise more questions for you than it answers. Don't expect a comprehensive or 100-percent accurate treatment of Audubon or Audubon prints from this rather short book.

Unfortunately, some of the areas of weakness are important to collectors. For instance, the approach to authentication is simplistic and by no means comprehensive. The book doesn't really address how to distinguish hand coloring from printed color, or the fact that hand-colored reproductions of Havells exist. The authors barely mention plate mark, which is an extremely valuable tool for authenticating Havells. In spite of these shortcomings, the book provides a nice overview of all the major editions of Audubon's prints with a good mix of biography, history and nitty-gritty details.

Beware, however, that brevity comes at a price -- this book has some gaps. Bannon and Clark do not mention the second issue of the Imperial Folio edition of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, or the existence of a restrike of the Imperial Folio plate, The White Wolf. (You can find more information on both topics in the recently published book, John James Audubon in the West, edited by Sarah Boehme).

Information in Bannon and Clark is not always accurate -- e.g., the later edition octavo dates. (Try Ron Tyler's book, Audubon's Great National Work, for a more detailed account of the octavo Birds). There are also more significant errors. For instance, the number of prints from Nagel and Weingaertner in any given octavo quads set varies; the set that Bannon and Clark looked at just happened to have seventeen plates by Nagel and Weingaertner, but they give that as the number for all sets.

The price information in this book is out of date even though the authors include some appendices that attempt to give an idea of price inflation. Still, the lists do provide an indication of relative prices. As long as you realize that these lists represent a single dealer's opinion and experience, and that other dealers do not necessarily rank the plates in the exact way that Clark ranks them, you should find this information very helpful.

In the end, I have to say that I like this book, and often find myself turning to it for background or price information. Right now, it is the best book -- really, the only book -- available that is specifically geared towards Audubon collectors. Although that will change over time as more books come out, I doubt that Bannon and Clark will become superfluous...it is a good addition to any Audubon library.

This handbook fills a void in the vast library of Audubon publications. It focuses on the various publications of Audubon and his family, such as the double elephant folio, the imperials, the miniatures, and the Bien edition. Accurate dates of publication are given along with very helpful clues to distinguishing between various editions. Our 1998 copy contained welcome revisions to the pricing of the double elephant, Bien, and imperial prints. I have found that in the few years since publication, the prices of the larger images have about doubled, and smaller images are about 15 to 20 percent higher in price than what is stated. In fact, whereas a complete folio sold for about $4,000,000.00 as correctly stated in Addendum C, page 128, (back in 1992), a complete folio recently sold at Christies for about $9,000,000.00. One should use this handbook as a handbook. We make regular notes in the margins in the price pages. For example, plate 376 (Trumpeter Swan) was valued at $30,000 in 1997, when I assume the information in the book was assembled. A plate 376 sold in 1999 for $93,250. We have entered this corrected information in our copy.

We highly recommend this handbook for any who wish to collect the work of a master artist/naturalist. The information will assist you in making intelligent purchases from sites such as eBay.

Sadly, this book is a disappointment. Using it was commonly an exercise in frustration and futility.

Unlike other books in the same series, there was a noticeable lack of information - particularly Plates - on even the most common birds. The Plates that were available often showed marked errors e.g. colouring, from the actual birds (eventually) identified.

I found quite quickly that my poor view of this book was widely shared by the local guides - it was universally criticised as below the required standard.

I wished I'd taken my "Birds of Costa Rica" instead - I would have been better off!

I haven't gone to Trinidad yet, but I thought I could go ahead and write this. I was flipping through the guide, planning my trip and daydreaming about birds, when I realized that there weren't very many plates. There are a LOT of plates that should have been included in this book, but were not. I generally expect a field guide to have pictures of the common birds. Yes, I will be able to identify a black vulture, common moorhen, or limpkin without the field guide. But you really have to bring two field guides if you're not familiar with terns, rails, gulls, and some other groups. In other words, only the pretty birds get pictures. I don't really want to bring two field guides, especially since this one is so big. Why is it so big, if it only has a few plates? It includes detailed measurements, banding records, and wordy descriptions. But, the food and behavior notes are excellent, and I believe they will aid in identification. Plus the introduction contains excellent information on the environment of Trinidad and Tobago.

An excellent field guide to Trinidad & Tobago's avifauna, the ffrench has been around long enough, & loved well enough, in its various editions, to be considered a classic of its kind. I've used it everywhere from Port of Spain's Botanical Gardens to the forests of the Northern Range to the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust to my own back garden & never failed to identify the specimen in question (& I am no more than an enthusiatic amateur). This book, for me, is the model of a natural history field guide.