Birds of Michigan

I love this book. I had one of North American birds that I was using, but it's nice to have a book that narrows it down to Michigan. It also gives a lot more information on each bird than the book I had. The descriptions and pictures are wonderful. I would have liked to see pictures of both male and female (not every bird is pictured that way), and would have liked to see pictures of immature birds, but overall this book is exactly what I was looking for.

I've used (and abused) a number of bird books over the years.... and tend to carry a veritable library with me on my forays. But I've been frustrated by most of the identification guides available today. I know they can't be perfect, if only because birds themselves vary so much, but surely they could be just a little better. This one is. I hope Lone Pine Press and Mr. Black expand beyond the Michigan edition. In the meantime, I though, I won't have to carry such a library into the woods. "Birds of Michigan" will suffice by itself.

I agree with the other two reviewers' comments. This book is very easy to use, proving much information in a concise yet digestible way. While it provides a lot of detail, it does not do so in a tedious way--this is a field guide that is actually READable! It is very user-friendly and has helped me clinch idenifications of even rare migrants due to the written descriptions which do not overwhelm the field guide. Large, accurate drawing of the birds are supplemented with written descriptions emphasizing the field marks. The maps are on the same page as the birds, which can help narrow down birds in the field more rapidly. This has been a helpful local supplement to my National Geographic & Peterson Field Guides. I also recommend Stan Tekiela Birds of Michigan book & CD set and Peterson's Birding by Ear: Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides(R)) (Audio CD) by Richard K. Walton, Robert W. Lawson, Roger Tory Peterson.

As a child I enjoyed seeing a flash of color flitting among the leaves, listening to bird song, and even sneaking up upon a nest of hatchlings to watch their antics; but with age, I developed a deeper appreciation for the birds in my home state of Michigan. Ultimately I ended up spending hours flipping thru books trying to find the best bird guide for me to use. AND this book has proven to be the best of the best! This guide easily helps me in identifying the birds I'm looking at by providing a clear colored pic for EVERY bird, giving the length and width of each bird, info on feeding habits and habitat(s), and areas for best viewing/finding. In addition the book goes one step better and even tells you what species are similar and how to make sure you have correctly identified your find. Heck, the size of the book is even spiffy since it's light enough to not be a hinderance in your backpack. The only fault I have with the book is in its description of the call/song/or voice of the birds - they try, but, for example, the song of the common house wren does not sound like "tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle" to me. But then I'd be hard pressed to write down exactly what it DOES sound like!

This is a wonderful book for someone just starting out in bird watching. Before I got this book I had no clue as to what the majority of the birds at my backyard feeder were. It has color life like drawings of all of the Michigan birds along with descriptions of them. Each description includes where they can be found along with the time of year they are found. It also includes descriptions of their size and any unique markings. One of my favorite features is that every description has a couple of cross reference birds that look similar to the one you are looking at so that way you can be sure you are looking at the right description. There is also a very handy quick find reference of all of the birds at the beginning of the book. I always use this first when I spot a new bird. It is wonderful because within several pages are small pictures of all of the birds so you can quickly identify the new one you've found. This is a very handy book to have around even if you don't plan on doing more than watching the birds at your feeder.