This wonderful little resource contains pictures of over 100 birds commonly found in the Midwest of the United States, including field birds, water birds, and all others. Included are pictures of males, females, and adolescents, when they have different coloring. The book itself takes the form of twelve cards; all laminated together, that fold up like a map. As such, it is easy to open and reference, quick to fold up, and protected so that it can be left out.

This is one of the best purchases I have made in a while. I keep the thing under my kitchen window, and at the appearance of a bird, I can identify it quicker than lightning. This has come in quite handy, allowing me to identify birds quickly. If you ever put out food for wild birds, then this item is for you.

Beautiful color pictures on the front cover and a chance to read about and color the butterflies on the inside. You should buy a set of colored penciles for this color book. Your child can identify the butterflies by the picture on the cover and learn more about them in the book. A real nature guide, not your run of the mill coloring book. Buy the series and you can sneak in an education on nature while your child is having fun.

Most birdsong CDs/tapes are lengthy "lists" of birdsongs. The "Birding by Ear" series is a unique tutorial that teaches you to recognise and recall birdsongs. If you want to learn to identify birds by their songs and calls this is the product for you! "More Birding by Ear" includes many of the Eastern warblers as well as shorebirds, flycatchers, rails and other groups.

This book is highly illustrated and very informative.
Fantastic guide for young beginners to avid bird watchers.
Highly recommended to have handy for field OR "window watching".
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

This book is a good introduction to the overall principals of geology as well as to the specific geology of the eastern US. There's lots of diagrams, maps, photos and an easy to read text. Sections include background information about geology, the major geological features of an area and what you would see along the major highways of that area.

Margaret Harmon's new book is fun and informative, and helped this birder finally identify himself (and add himself to his own Life List!). Birders of all experience levels will find themselves and their fellow birders here, and will take delight in each new sighting and positive identification they make. Written and illustrated like a "real" bird guide, this book gives our feathered friends everything they need to identify we humans by our field marks, calls, habitat, and other characteristics. I'll never again wonder why the birds I watch are watching me back - they must be using this book to identify me! Delightful!

The photographer/author set himself a difficult task -- capturing photographs of hummingbirds in flight, with such high resolution as to see the fine details in their feathers. Unlike most nature photographers, he used a neutral background, so you can see the bird itself without distractions. And he accomplished this without disturbing or capturing his subjects.

Mr. Keppelman studied informally with photographer Ansel Adams. The book includes an introduction by famous live-bird advocate Roger Tory Peterson; snippets of poetry by Emily Dickenson, e. e. cummings, Ray Bradbury, and others; and a brief technical explanation of his methods.

The book could have been improved if he had access to more than six species, and if the mostly-blank pages opposite each plate contained a little more information than the plate number. (There is a cross-reference in the back for each species.)

The amazing photographs more than make up for this lack, and I highly recommend the book to anyone who appreciates beauty.

Connie Hagar lived the birder's dream: she settled on the Texas coast just a stone's throw from the wintering ground of the whooping crane, and spent just about every day of her life birding the various surrounding habitats. The location is the neck of the major north American migration flyway, and so there were new birds to be discovered every day. She also had a photographic memory, and recounted detail after exciting detail, bird by bird, to her biographer. Most amusing are her encounters with the high and mighty of birding deans; remember that this was long before women's lib. Most amazing are the accounts of the fallout of migrating birds-and sometimes devastation--caused by storms. Her supportive husband ran their motel court, and so they were able to play host to many notable birders. By the time Roger Tory Peterson visited, her reputation was well-established. Public speaking and a leadership role in nature organizations made her known to thousands. The author is a journalist, and the book is smoothly written and factual.

Beautiful illustration--great introduction to nature.

This classic guide was the first of its type, and thus probably got more people into birding than any other book. Peterson uses ink drawings to show the important "field marks" for identifying species. The downside to these drawings is that they tend to idealize the birds, showing them in perfect postures and making the field marks more prominent than they really are. Many competitors, such as the Audubon Guide and the Stokes Guide, use photographs instead. Photographs give a more accurate portrayal of the subtleties of color and pattern in plumage, but there are always those poor shots in a photographic guide that are blurry or show the bird at a bad angle. Whether you decide that a guide based on drawings or photographs is best for you, I would strongly suggest that you pick up an audio recording of birdsongs, such as "Birding by Ear," or the "Field Guide to Eastern/Central Bird Songs," both put out by Peterson's. As any experienced birder will tell you, the ear is just as important as the eye, especially in summer, when birds are often hidden by foliage.

The Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds is the best such guide you will find. The nice thing about birds and birding is that there are few enough species out there that you can get virtually all of them in one regional guide.

This book is outstanding. It relies on illustrations rather than photographs to show markings and other details used to ID birds in the field. I find that photos are often sub-standard, not showing characters essential for identifying birds due to the position of the bird, markings of the individual chosen for inclusion in the book, etc.

In this book each entry includes a bird's common and scientific names, a brief physical description of the body and coloration, a drawing(s) of the bird, a brief description of habitats where they are likely to be seen, a blip about their geographic distribution, notes on their song, and reference to similar species (if any). The entry also refers the reader to a map number that shows the summer and winter ranges for each bird.

This is "the bird book" to have for birds that live east of the Rockies for the novice and experienced birder alike. If you've never had much luck figuring out which birds you are looking at try this book.

5 stars all the way!

Note: if you travel much throughout the USA, you ought to pick up the Peterson Guide to Western Birds as well -- it is the sister book to this one. With both of those books in hand you will be in good birding shape.

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

I looked at nine or ten bird books over the weekend before finally deciding on this one. I like it's compact size, durable cover and it's very complete index. The most important reason for my decision, however, is the fact that it shows pictures of both male and female birds where the female bird's plummage and head differ from that of the male. None of the other books I checked showed female birds or only showed them in very rare instances. I also like this book because it shows most birds in both standing or swimming positions and also in flight. There are also occasional drawings of chicks.

The text that accompanies the pictures is necessarily brief but covers: Latin and common names, description, food, range, migratory pattern, habitat, voice and similar species. Also included is a "Systematic Checklist" so you can keep a "life list" of all the birds you've seen. There is a guide to identifying birds by visual categories (swimmers, birds of prey, waders, perching birds, etc), size, tail and wing patterns. The last part of the book contains maps illustrating each bird's range which makes it easy to compare the habitat of, for example, an Olive-Sided Flycatcher with an Acadian Flycatcher.

Obviously this is a guidebook and not the type of book you sit down and read through, but I have found myself reading the entries for the often amusing "voice" sections. Here's the one for the Chestnut-Sided Warbler: "Song, similar to Yellow Warbler's; 'see see see see Miss Beech'er' or 'pleased pleased pleased to meet'cha;' penultimate note accented, last note dropping." Hey, someone who knows what "penultimate" really means!