Identification guide to North American birds - part 1

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Pyle P. 1997. Identification guide to North American birds - part 1. Slate Creek Press, PO Box 219, Bolinas, CA 94924-0219, USA. 732 pp. ISBN 0-9618940-2-4.

André J. van Loon in Dutch Birding 1998, 20(3):119. This book seems basically a new edition of the well known Identification guide to North American passerines by Peter Pyle and his collegues published 10 years ago in 1987. However, the subtle difference in the title already suggests that there is a difference. This new book is not only a largely updated and very much extended edition as far as the passerines are concerned, but it now also includes all so-called 'near-passerines', ie, pigeons Columbidae, cuckoos Cuculidae, barn owls Tytonidae, owls Strigidae, nightjars Caprimulgidae, swifts Apodidae, hummingbirds Trochilidae, trogons Trogonidae, kingfishers Alcedinidae and woodpeckers Picidae. Furthermore, the sections on ageing have been extended considerably, mainly because of the increased effort that has been put during the last decade in studying moult patterns (especially of wingcoverts). It may perhaps come as a surprise that this level of detail for this type of data for North American birds became available so recently compared with the situation in Europe. European ringers (and birders) are familiar with the relation between moult and wear patterns and ageing of birds for quite some time now through various studies, such as the widely used identification guides by Lars Svensson (the first edition of which already appeared in 1970, the fouth in 1992), and perhaps culminating in the fascinating book with numerous standardised colour photographs of spread wings by Lukas Jenni and Rafael Winkler (1994). A third improvement is formed by the short descriptive summaries of all currently recognized subspecies. Although this book is obviously mainly aimed at (North American) ringers and museum workers, it will also provide much information to many European 'new approach' birders with an interest in North American birds. And, of course, European ringers should have a copy on the bookshelf of their ringing station as well. You never know...

Deze pagina is voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 24 oktober 2006.