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Book Review: National Geographic Birding Essentials

National Geographic Birding Essentials by Jonathan Alderfer and John L. Dunn. National Geographic Society, 2007. ISBN 9781426201356. 224 pages, 6 x 9, $15.95, paper.

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Here is an excellent book on basic birding but it does not skimp on complexities. Advanced birders can take a lot away from it, too. It is illustrated primarily with 221 high-quality photographs but also has numerous paintings, maps, charts, and tables plus an authoritative text. It's a top-of-the-line guide to how to become a birder, and how to improve once you get there.

Alderfer and Dunn are well known and respected. They are the co-editors of the fifth edition of National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (2006), fondly known to most as simply "The Geographic Guide." Among the heavy hitters of bird watching, most consider that field guide—along with the Sibley Guide—to be the best available today.

Chapters include "Getting Started," "Parts of a Bird," "Identification Challenges," and "Taxonomy and Nomenclature," among many other topics central to bird watching.

"Parts of a Bird" is especially thorough—the biggest chapter, running 43 pages—and graced with 45 illustrations, mostly color photographs, in which parts of a bird are clearly depicted, as well as explained in the text.

Alderfer and Dunn provide excellent examples of birding phenomena and challenges: how to separate horned grebes from eared grebes in winter, how a flying black-headed gull looks different amid of a flock of Bonaparte's, winter vs. breeding plumage willets, the variations among fox sparrows, hairy and downy woodpeckers, and many others.

Other interesting subjects are clearly explained: albinism, hybrids, the plumages of dowitchers, shapes of swallows compared with swifts, and molt sequence, for example.

Additional features include a glossary, a good index, and an up-to-date list of references that even includes "rival" birding basics books and field guides, plus a few classic titles on birding.

One of the most useful chapters is titled "Fieldcraft," with information on binoculars, scopes, atlassing, Christmas counts, breeding bird surveys, rarities, seasonal birding, GPS, eBird, pishing, some relevant websites, and key journals and books. This information is not exhaustive—it is not meant to be. This title is a pleasure to recommend.

Other Reviews

National Geographic Birding Essentials by Jonathan Alderfer and John L. Dunn.

The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart.

The Birdwatcher's Companion by Christopher W. Leahy.

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik.