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<\/a>Published by Princeton University Press, this paperback book is about 200 pages long and is a bargain.\u00a0 The book is intended for intermediate to advanced birders who wish to hone their field skills and to better appreciate the ornithological spectacles around us.<\/p>\nThe first chapter is on Advanced Field Identification based on what Derek calls the \u201cwhole bird and more\u201d approach.\u00a0 This chapter is not a discourse on subtle field marks to distinguish confusing flycatchers, fall warblers or gulls but rather a presentation of an approach that will allow you to identify more of the birds you seen, even those seen from the rear as they fly rapidly away from you!<\/p>\n
To become proficient at any activity, we all know the mantra: practice, practice, practice.\u00a0 Derek urges us to really study all the birds we see, including the most common birds around us.\u00a0 He also suggests that a more holistic approach to bird identification may be a more fruitful way to go about the process of identifying a bird.\u00a0 Focus on the whole bird, not just the critical identification feature (the feature that has an arrow pointing to it in the illustrations in some bird guides).\u00a0 This holistic method is the basis of the \u201cwhole bird and more\u201d approach to bird identification.<\/p>\n
Derek argues that we should not throw out the field-mark approach but rather add to it the admittedly more subjective yet powerful holistic approach.\u00a0 By becoming intimately familiar with birds, we can often recognize them at a glance without seeing a particular field mark.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same process as picking out people you know in a crowd; you just know them when you them.<\/p>\n
Derek discusses the value of this holistic approach to the identification of migrating hawks and pelagic birds.\u00a0 He urges us to work on identification of warblers and sparrows by silhouette.\u00a0 Fellow Maine birder Luke Seitz provides some great line drawings of the outlines of different genera of sparrows.<\/p>\n
The chapter on Birding by Habitat shows how being a better botanist can make you a better birder.\u00a0 Knowing the particular grasses particular sparrows prefer makes it possible to find Nelson\u2019s Sparrow and Saltmarsh Sparrow in Scarborough Marsh or a Lincoln\u2019s Sparrow at the Dragon Field in Portland.<\/p>\n
Birding with Geography gives great advice for finding migration hotspots for birds.\u00a0 Monhegan Island figures prominently in the examples.<\/p>\n
In Birding and Weather, Derek shows that knowledge of basic meteorological principles and an eye on the weather map can make us better birders.<\/p>\n
In other chapters, Derek discusses birds at night and their identification by using radar images, freely available on the web, and by identifying the distinctive nocturnal vocalizations of migrants.<\/p>\n
One chapter is a case study at Cape May, New Jersey where Derek used the skills and techniques he describes in the book to better appreciate the migration in October.<\/p>\n