Putting Field Guides to the Test

Like all birdwatching enthusiasts, I have more than one field guide in my repertoire. In fact, I’ve got twelve of them which I think represents all the major products on the market. I’m an old Peterson Guide guy, and this time-honored text best serves my needs in the field. But I think the Kaufman's, National Geographic's and Sibley's guides are excellent for their compact design, use of artistic illustrations, and field mark notes. And who can really leave their time honored Golden Guide behind? All The Birds has good habitat organization so I am inclined to carry it with the Peterson in cases where I’ll change habitats significantly in a day. A little farther down my list are Stokes' and National Wildlife Foundation. Both have strengths, but each has an important weakness form the standpoint of rapid identification on the ground, and I use these more as complementary resources at base camp. Birds of the Carolinas, Birder’s Handbook, and Smithsonian's serve me as base camp or home office references. They’re chock full of vital data, but are simply not field tools. That leaves Audubon’s, which I keep in the library, but which has been a disappointment to me. I don’t find it useful in the field, and it is not quite up to the standard of the other desk references. I encourage good birders to keep several field guides and at least one reference at the base camp level. All guides have plusses and minuses and a mixed set improves knowledge and comprehension.