Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America Hardcover Kenn Kaufman

A flexibound book is like a hardbound book but the covers are flexible rather than rigid. For this purpose that's better than a hardbound book because you can open it fully, like a leather bound bible. It's a good thing.

A bit confusing, not quite "precise". Takes a bit of "guess work" to figure out which bird you're actually looking up, but it IS nicely bound, sturdy, good to take on walks & nicely organised once you get used to the format.Over all, I'm pleased.

The book was in good shape and I received it on time

It has been my unfortunate experience that there is no "perfect field guide" out there, but this one comes close. I really like the concise, but extremely helpful, text describing each bird species. For example, Kaufman notes that the American Kestrel "often hovers in one spot on rapidly beating wings" and the Merlin is "A compact, dashing falcon, very fast and direct in flight." I saw a small falcon at a distance and noticed it was hovering over the ground with fluttering wingbeats and would periodically dive to the ground to try to catch its prey. Kaufman concisely matched me up with the bird, and I didn't have to look any closer for field marks. Obviously an expert wouldn't need this sort of information, but I find that Kaufman offers enough of this insight to help a beginning birder make tougher IDs than would be possible on just field marks.Another part of the guide that I find very helpful is Kaufman's verbalizations of bird songs and calls. For some reason, I really struggle trying to "picture" Sibley's bird calls, but I find that I can often use Kaufman's to help match a bird to its voice. I used this feature in making the final decision on whether I was seeing a Western or a Cassin's Kingbird.Although other people have complained about it, I like how Kaufman organizes this guide on the superficial appearance of birds instead of their genetic relationships. This means that coots are next to the waterfowl, and swifts are next to swallows. I can understand how someone who is used to the other organization method would find this annoying, but I find this more straightforward. It certainly minimizes the number of trips to the index; I can just page through the first part of the book if I'm looking for a water bird, etc.Finally, the range maps in this guide are the best I have seen. Instead of just showing a bird's summer, winter, and migratory range, Kaufman has two shades of color for each range so that one can make a rough estimate at how frequently a bird is found at a location at a given time of year. The Sibley field guides, for example, only show "summer, winter, migratory, and rare" and one is left to make a guess at what time of year one might find the rare birds.For all its benefits, I mentioned at the beginning of the review that this guide is not-quite-perfect. My one complaint is that I have found it difficult to make bird IDs on a lot of the photographs in the book. The photographs for Brown-capped Rosy-Finches make it difficult to see how this bird is different from the other Rosy-Finches. The photos of Swifts and Swallows in flight are mostly blurry and/or have bad lighting, which in my mind renders them useless (and there is no underwing photo of a Barn Swallow!). Many of the fly catchers look essentially identical (even more identical than they are in reality), and the photos really don't seem to exaggerate any of the differentiating features enough to make one able to use them for an ID. Even Say's Phoebe barely shows anything of a ruddy belly in the pictures; compare this to the unmistakable picture in Sibley and you'll see what I'm saying. In addition, the glossy paper which is necessary to print good photos makes it hard to see in sunlight, so an already difficult picture becomes even worse.The last point is a major drawback to what would be an awesome all-around field guide, but it is perhaps partially redeemed by all the other strong points in the guide. For example, the text for Say's Phoebe emphasizes that the "orange-buff" belly is a distinguishing feature.The result of this is that I have a dilemma each time I go birding as to which field guide to bring with me: Sibley West or Kaufmann. For someone who wants the finest illustrations for visually identifying a bird, Sibley is the clear (no pun intended) answer. But Kaufman has so much else to recommend it that this really is too close to call. Perhaps someday a genius will pair the illustrations of Sibley with the text and maps of Kaufman, and then we really will have the perfect field guide.

This is a field guide in the truest sense. It is small in size, relatively thin, and it has a very durable cover. It's made to throw in a pocket and hit the field, so it gets high marks before you even open the cover. Inside you will find a well-laid out guide with all of the essential information, but the details provided are certainly not comprehensive. This isn't a problem for me, as I don't expect encyclopedic details from a field guide. While the text on any given bird is terse, you should have all of the key factors that help you make an identification. Important field marks are italicized in the text, and they are marked in the photo as well. The photos are decent, but not excellent. In some cases I wish there were more pictures, or I wish the picture layout wasn't so confusing. The general format is the left page is text with 2-5 birds described, and the right page is filled with photos of those birds. It can be confusing which photos go with which birds, and while you can certainly figure it out, it is not immediately obvious at a quick glance.All that aside, the main reason I like this book is the organization and ease of use. This book really helps out new birders with a couple interesting features. First, the book is arranged into intuitive sections like "Aerial Waterbirds", "Chicken-Like Birds", "Wading Birds", etc. Second, there's a pictorial table of contents that shows you examples of what's in those sections. You don't have to really know much to get to the right section of the guide, which is perfect for novice birders. There's also a full index and a short index that will get you to the chosen species quickly if you know generally what you want. If you're a compete novice, there is even a short introduction to birding with advice on everything from binocular choices to bird feeders.So even with a few shortcomings, this book earns 5-stars because of the novice-friendly organization and the excellent field-friendly form factor. You can find better pictures and more information elsewhere, but Kaufman really shines in these areas and it's worth having in your pocket, especially if you're a new birder.

I’m just getting into birding and this guid is amazing. The details are amazing and all the extra info is awesome. Only thing keeping it from a 5 star is that it’s not actually a hardcover even though it says it is.

La guía es excelente, la calidad de las ilustraciones y la información realmente ayudan a identificar las aves. El tamaño y peso son adecuados para una guía práctica en campo. Lo único lamentable es que se enfoca en Estados Unidos y Canadá y se deja fuera el 80% del territorio mexicano. Los mapas de distribución a lo mucho muestran los estados del norte y lamentablemente he encontrado algunas notables ausencias de especies del centro de México. Ni que hablar de aves del sur-sureste, no se muestra prácticamente ningún ave tropical. Para eso es mejor usar la app de Merlin.

北米在住のバーダーガイド推薦の書です。12年前に購入したKAUFMAN FOCUS GUIDES「BIRDS of North Ameriｃa」と内容的にはほとんど変わっていません。出会えた鳥の中で多少、図の色に違和感を覚えた時もありましたが全体としては特徴がしっかり掴まれていると思います。391ページと以前より8ページほど増えて、表紙がしっかりした固いものになってます。その分、重さが110gほど増えて気軽にフィールドに持ち出すには少々重すぎる気がします。（本書570g、旧巻460g）ちなみに重くなった「日本の野鳥」（高野伸二著）でも450gです。大きさはポケットに入れて携行するには大きすぎますがザックに入れて持ち運びするには手ごろな大きさと思います。円高のお蔭もあり、価格は2千円ほどで入手できました。この内容で日本の図鑑でしたら3千円以上する感じです。重くなったので星を一つへらしました。

Buenas fotos útilies para ver caracteristicas

Amo usarla, no es pesada y el material de la portada es resistente.La guia combina una tecnica de dibujo con fotografia que hace mas facil la identificación.

Llegó muy rápido, la verdad muy contenta, todo es tal cual la descripción.