The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds

It is the best bird book I have ever had for identifying birds…and I own a lot of them.

BASICS: flexcover, 2011, 529pp; large photo identification guide to the 660+ species in eastern US/Canada; excellent color photos show multiple plumages and poses of the bird digitally inserted over natural backgrounds; brief text gives concise descriptions of the bird and its vocalizations; additional notes provide key pointers on identification; map for each of the non-rare species shows summer, winter, and resident rangesThis is an intriguing book that differs notably from the familiar guides out today, which will probably cause both positive and negative comments from the various groups of birders. First, this is an awesome collection of photos that deserves high compliments and respect for the mere creation of this work. Second, this book is an identification guide but definitely not a field guide.Why not a field guide? The three reasons are: (1) It's a large and heavy book on par with some college textbooks (10 x 7.5 x 1.75 inches and 2 pounds); (2) the layout of the species and of photos does not allow for quick comparisons between birds; and, (3) the lack of notes or arrows on the plates plus the text crammed at the bottom of the page demands more time to be spent looking away from the bird.The most outstanding feature of this book is the wide selection of excellent color photos of the 660+ eastern birds of USA/Canada, including rarities. The 10,000 photos used to compile this book show vibrant colors and nearly all the plumage variations (gender, age, season, race) one would expect to see in the field. For the American Redstart, you see the male/female, the adult/immature, perched/in-flight. With the shorebirds and gulls, you can enjoy inspecting the various plumages, all crammed onto one page. Yes, crammed in many cases. Some pages are nearly overwhelming, causing your eye to dance all over the page trying to look at each plumage. As an extreme, over 50 different Snow Buntings and over 20 Herring Gull are shown on the page. A consequential distraction with this format is having to inspect each individual to see if it is another plumage variation or, if it's just another photo of the same. This would be a severe distraction when trying to use this book in the field while trying to keep your eye on an unknown bird.However, as an identification and not as a field guide, this busy format provides a wonderful reference of detail to be inspected when at home with the book. You can stare at the perched or in-flight bird to practice for upcoming excursions or, when recalling your sighting; or, when examining your own photo.A few nice touches I like about this book involves the ducks. Instead of the readily identifiable male, it is the female that is typically put up front in the selection of photos. This may come in handy for anyone with doubts about the female mergansers, scaup, scoters, or teal. Another is the inclusion of many eastern rarities (e.g., Garganey, Fieldfare, Bahama Mockingbird, Thick-billed Vireo). Also included are many western species that routinely stray to the east. However, some of these birds seem a bit too rare for inclusion (e.g., White-eared Hummingbird, Greater Pewee).In addition to a very busy page, a few other small critiques can be made. Some of the birds seem a bit too dark, such as the Empidonax flycatchers, the Gray-cheeked & Bicknell's Thrush, and some of the warblers. Perhaps this may mimic realistic field conditions but, it does not always translate into an easier way of learning the bird. The inclusion of a photographed habitat in the background makes for an attractive photo while also giving a sample of the bird's typical habitat choice. It also adds to the busy look to the page, forcing you to search around for birds that may get lost in the collage - especially the little birds in the background. See if you can find all the Brown Creepers.As a couple of quirks, the order of the birds in the book follows familiar taxonomy for the most part; however, the jays/crows are sandwiched between the woodpeckers and hummingbirds while the swallows precede the flycatchers. This is no big deal, but may cause some birders to search a little more to find a particular family group. One other interesting tidbit is the plate showing the Song Sparrow. How did that American Robin slip into the background?Accompanying the photos is the seemingly smaller amount of text. As noted in the introduction, the author prefers pictures and may find text to be boring. The material offered focuses mostly on description and on identification. After reading through many species, the smaller amount is actually strengthened by the conciseness and potency of the information given. This will prove to be very useful for beginning to intermediate birders. The text, backed up by the photo, points out the long undertail coverts of the Connecticut Warbler, the contrasting white undertail coverts of the Tennessee Warbler, and the dark eye of a first year White-eyed Vireo in the fall/winter. Additional notes that are useful are key comments on the bird's behavior and habitat.Which of the beginning, intermediate, and experienced birders will appreciate this book the most? Probably the intermediate, who is looking to learn from those additional tips and views which are abundant in this book. The experienced birder will immensely enjoy the thousands of photos but probably won't read or see anything new. In contrast, the beginning birder will certainly like the great photos but the sheer volume of birds and the crowded, busy pages may be daunting.The author said in the introduction "a picture says 1000 words", promoting the quick mental snapshot of an image versus reading and memorizing information. However, quickly interpreting a picture or a view of a bird in the field comes with experience - and frustration. The newer birder often does not know what in the photo may demand extra attention; what things must be compared; how to read relative sizes and shapes; etc. The beginner won't have the experiential knowledge needed to free him from the text and to rely on only the photos. Having just said that, any birder will still greatly enjoy this book so long as he knows what is and is not in this book. - (written by Jack at Avian Review with sample pages, February 2011)I've listed several related books below...1)  Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America  by Kaufman2)  Birds of Eastern North America: A Photographic Guide  by Sterry3)  National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America 4)  The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America  by Sibley5)  Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America  by Peterson6)  Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region  by Stokes7)  The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America  by Stokes8)  National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America  by Brinkley9)  Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America  by Floyd

"Oh, birding is like stamp collecting -- Boring!"That was my nerdy friend, dismissively glancing at Richard Crossley's "The Crossley ID Guide - Eastern Birds," on my coffee table."I didn't know you were a birder," he said."I'm not," I answered."I don't get it," he said. "You find another pretty stamp and paste it in an album. You sight another pretty bird and put it on your list. What real good is it?""You're missing the point," I said. "With birds and other wildlife rapidly diminishing, birding's annual surveys keep track of migrations, catalog increases or decreases in numbers, and detail losses of environment, as from industrialization and encroaching suburbia. Like canaries in a coal mine, birds reflect present dangers, telling us what we have to protect. Rescue is not only for the birds, but for ourselves."Sure, my friend granted, birds are beautiful, but many are so distant, tiny, flighty, and fast-moving. How can you make out much about them?You don't have to be the genius, scientist, and painter John Audubon was, I said. You just learn to see the details in what you're looking at. That takes smart eyes and the right equipment, like anything else. And you have to take copious notes, the way Audubon did in making his detailed paintings.Unfortunately, back in those days, Audubon felt he had to resort to killing specimens with fine birdshot, then using wires to present them in different natural positions. Crossley and today's birders use fine scopes and cameras . . . and plenty of patience.Crossley emphasizes that the best book to take with you for bird watching is not a field guide, but a notebook, to record every detail you can see. Crossley's guide is big (about 8 by 10, and over 500 pages) and shows you what to look for. Full-page color photographs, culled from thousands he has taken, show all the eastern species in all their variety, up close and far away in typical flight patterns.He guides you in noting shapes, relative sizes, and usual behaviors. The goal is to discern birds' gender, age, and feather patterns. Are they juveniles or adults? Note the condition of the feathers. Are they worn from wear, and in process of molting?On his beginning pages Crossley has careful visual guides to what species you are seeing, whether they are Waterbirds of Swimming, Flying, or Walking types, or whether they are Landbirds classified as Gamebirds, Raptors, Aerial Landbirds, or Songbirds. Crossley's photos tell the story. He shows you what you are seeing.From the common names, you can parenthesize over to the scientific, should you want. Most importantly, he quickly makes you comfortable with the handy -- and I would say almost indispensable -- four-letter ID Codes, like AMRO for American Robin, YWAR for Yellow Warbler, NOCA for Northern Cardinal, COLO for Common Loon, YLGU for Yellow-legged Gull, COTE for the Common Tern, even RFBO for Red-footed Booby.The names are fun. The book is fun, and the photos far outdo Audubon as a practical guide to ID the birds you are seeing. Crossley's hundreds of pages are compilations of thousands of photographs. Crossley has been generous in his time and wanderings. He knows more and we follow to learn more. The book is worth getting and absorbing. The learning is how to see what you are looking at. Happy birding, y'all, including my nerdy friend.

The idea of photo montages for bird id books is relatively recent but this one certainly sets the standard to judge all others. Initially, the sight of lots of the same species crammed into a small page looks rather odd. However, this digital cropping enhances as well as assists the understanding of the bird concerned by giving the overall character of a species- in the UK, we call it "jizz" . Whilst it is difficult to really put one genus above the other in this book, the warblers are a delight with lots of images that tantalize just as the birds do! The text is concise, well written without going to much into birding jargon and sometimes quite funny from a British perspective whilst perhaps not meaning to be....This book is just as valuable to advanced birders and beginners- the Kindle version is brilliant and shall be permanently on my device to be used with the excellent Sibley app whenever I visit the US or Canada.

As a birder for over 40 years I have never liked photographic until now. In the past photographic have been poor with either too few examples of the birds plumage (always adult male) or the scale of the picture does not allo direct comparison with other species. The Crossley guides overcomes these major problems and gives you a real feel for the birds Jizz. Its a great guide to get a feel for the birds. Being large and bulky it cannot be used in the field but I kept it in my car and birding in the states you can easily refer to it. Job well done.

Photographs in bird guides are not to every ones liking but as a reference book I like it, the depiction of various stages of plumage change I find very useful.

Got my Crossley Guide to birds a while ago and thought I put a review here but apparently did not. I would NOT recomend it as a field guide. It belongs on the coffee tableThe first point on the back cover says it revolutionizes FIELD GUIDE DESIGN.1. This certainly is NOT a good field guide. Much bigger than even the large Sibley and probably weighs twice as much AND only covers the eastern birds. You are much better off carrying the big Sibley Guide to Birds or evens the two smaller eastern and western Sibley books if you live in the places like Alberta where we need both guides. You must read the text at bottom of each bird to find out the field marks - they are not marked for quick reference not even with lines to tell you where to look. If you only get a quick look at the bird you want to know where to look FAST you cannot do it with this book because the field marks are not indicated on the pictures - you must read the text under each possible bird to find out where to look. If you are trying to separate it from more than one or more other birds quickly forget it - you must read a lot of text. Some of the pictures do not show the field mark well. For example they could have done much better with the boreal owl. They mention the darker brown color - not much help in poor light. I recognize it well as a boreal owl because I have seen a lot and am very familiar with it and the saw-whet (even banded some) but would not use that with people trying to learn the birds. The picture does not show the facial pattern well enough to show all the field marks clearly and might be a problem for beginners - at least I would not use that one in class (only on a quiz when the students are more familiar with the bird)2. Most of the photos good BUT should have been printed at better resolution. The grainy photos hinder some of the smaller pictures.Because it has so many pictures it would work as a study guide at home though in combination with Sibley so you learn to see the field marks better. You can also find many more examples of good pictures by sitting at your computer).3. Difficult groups need suppliment of some kind. Much better guides are available for difficult groups: Take a good look at this before you buy it to make sure it is what you need. I am rather disappointed. If I was still teaching an advanced bird identification course I would still use the big Sibley with supplimental material for difficult groups. If you want more on Hawks I suggest Clark and Wheelers Hawks in Flight or with drawings or the bigger and more detailed Western Raptor book by Wheeler with photos (covers all of NA except Florida specialities and lots of great text. If you want more on Warblers Dunn's book is excellent and has both photos and drawings. A shorebird guide with lots of photos is one by O'Brian, Crossley and Karlson.

Excellent! References et photos superbe