| Summary: |
"Birding is an extremely rewarding and fun hobby, but some situations can be frustrating or unsuccessful because of a variety of challenging viewing conditions. This guide to identifying birds offers the holistic "birding by impression" method, which not only helps with these difficult conditions, but also develops an efficient mental identification process using left- and right-brain skills. It begins with a conscious assessment of a bird's unchanging physical characteristics, including general size, body shape, structural features (bill, legs, neck, and wings), and behavior. Using this approach, birders can quickly assess all birds and distinguish new and uncommon species from familiar ones. They can then examine more detailed field marks to fine-tune the identification. Rather than a traditional field guide, this book presents an interactive how-to approach to a more complete identification process." --Publisher's description.
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| Contents: |
Foreword by Pete Dunne -- Preface -- INTRODUCTION -- How to use this book -- The problem and the solution -- BBI: The why and how -- BBI basics -- Sample field ID scenarios using the BBI approach -- ACCOUNTS -- Ducks, geese, and swans -- Grouse, quails, ptarmigans, wild turkey, ring-necked pheasant, plain chachalaca, and partridges -- Loons and grebes -- Albatrosses, Northern fulmar, petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, alcids, tropicbirds, magnificent frigatebird, boobies, Northern gannet, cormorants, anhinga, and pelicans -- Herons, egrets, ibises, wood stork, roseate spoonbill, bitterns, flamingos, cranes, and limpkin -- Rails, gallinules, and American coot -- Raptors -- Shorebirds -- Gulls, jaegers, and skuas -- Terns and black skimmer -- Pigeons and doves -- Cuckoos, greater roadrunner, and anis -- Owls, nightjars, and nighthawks -- Hummingbirds and swifts -- Kingfishers -- Woodpeckers, nuthatches, and brown creeper -- Tyrant flycatchers -- Shrikes and vireos -- Jays, crows, and ravens -- Swallows and purple martin -- Chickadees, titmice, verdin, and bushtit -- Wrens -- Larks, pipits, and wagtails -- American dipper and wrentit -- Gnatcatchers and kinglets -- Bluebirds, Townsend's solitaire, and Northern wheatear -- Thrushes -- Mockingbirds, gray catbird, and thrashers -- Phainopepla, waxwings, European starling, and common myna -- Warblers -- Tanagers, Northern cardinal, and pyrrhuloxia -- Grosbeaks and buntings -- Dickcissel and white-collared seedeater -- Towhees, sparrows, longspurs, and buntings -- Meadowlarks, bobolink, cowbirds, grackles, blackbirds, and orioles -- Finches and Old World sparrows -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix -- Photographer credits -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.
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