Peterson Field Guide (R) to Advanced Birding

If you're at the stage where you want to know the nuances of gull id, spotting the differences between hawks seen at great distances, then this is a book you need (along with a couple more years of experience....)

I have quite a few birding books and have been birding for 30+ years. I feel that this book has been a key for improving my skills, more than any of the other books with the exception of the new Sibley guide and perhaps the old out of print "The Western Birdwatcher" by Zimmerman. Kuaffman's books taught me some key points that I still employ when checking the scaups, dowitchers, gulls and looking for Western Sandpipers among other difficult identifications. His succinct descriptions and comparitive sketches make it much more possible to know how to identify a juvenile Western Sandpiper as opposed to a Semipalmated Sandpiper. I found that I would often go back to this book rather than the other shorebird books I had. Another key section in the book is the coverage of identification tips for the Terns. I had always found it difficult to separate Forster's and Common in the field despite the seemingly easy differences in field guides. This book helped out with good wing pattern comparisons and other marks that were not included in the guides. The pattern drawings of the Terns and Shorebirds alone are worth the cost of the book. If you are ready to start on Iceland and Thayer's Gull or Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds you can't go wrong by getting Kauffman's Advanced Birding.

I bought this book and the contents are very helpful in identifying birds. The problem is it has the information duplicated from pages 145 to 176, skipping from page 112. I have tried to exchange it with another one, but it had the same problem. I tried to do that for the third time, and now I am waiting for it. I hope it arrives with all the pages and no duplications.

This book rocks the house

This book is appropriate for anyone who wants to improve his bird identification skills, whether he is already "advanced" or not. Kaufman does an excellent job detailing how to go about identifying birds in many problem groups, such as accipiters, dowitchers, and fall warblers. In some cases the information amounts to helpful hints that will make identification a little easier (did you know that the nail on a Greater Scaup's bill is substantially larger than that on a Lesser Scaup's?). In others, the information is a practical necessity if you ever plan on unraveling the species in question (if you're trying to identify a Thayer's Gull without this or some even more esoteric work, forget it).My only quarrel with this book is that Kaufman sometimes places more emphasis on small field marks, and less on overall shape and other amorphous characteristics ("jizz," to the Brits), than I think appropriate. Otherwise, darned close to perfect.