Birds of San Francisco: And the Bay Area

This is a very good and very basic guide to birding in the SF Bay Area. I'd recommend it for anyone in this area who's just getting into birding or who is trying to find out which birds are visiting their back yards and feeders. It deserves 4.5 stars, but the Bay Area is much larger than the Bay, and there are many more species out by Mt. Diablo and the East Bay regional parks that need a bit more discussion. Further, those who purchase this book, may well be satisfied that that bird at their feeder is a sparrow, but there are at least seven different sparrows and some even look like chickadees (or vice-versa) and if the differences bother the reader, I'd suggest this book along with Audubon's Field Guide or some other book with side-by-side comparisons. I do not fault this book because they use illustrations rather than photos. In this instance, illustrations are actually better for the beginner. Regardless, for a quick reference, this is very good.

I live in Oakland and have many in-depth bird guides, but this particular guide remains in the car for any outings. It's quite portable and specific to the birds we see in this area. In addition to the positive comments listed before, I would add that this book gave interesting, fun facts about species that I had never read in perusing all of the more "substantial" bird books I have. It's also great for beginners to sort out the most likely candidates for identification. I recommend this book for birders at both beginner and intermediate levels. It may not be as revealing for experts, but I do know a lot about local birds and still find this a great book to have on hand.

You should have this book if you live in San Francisco and love birds.

For several decades I have been a casual bird observer in the south San Francisco Bay Area and my curiosity had led me to acquire several of the acclaimed major 'Bird Guides' ( Peterson's, Sibley's, National Geographic, etc.) However, I seldom was able to ID birds I saw with confidence using those guides, there were just too many possible candidates in the guides for each of my sightings and I seldom could narrow down the possibilities to one species. The 'Birds of San Francisco' solved that problem for me. The 'Birds of San Francisco' guide focuses on approximately 120 of the most common species found in the Bay Area. It allots one page per specie which contains a large color illustration and references to other S.F. Bay Area species that have a similar appearence. There are also very useful graphic keys which quickly indicate the preferred habitats of that specie along with migration and breeding timeframes. Also included is a textual description and behavioural information useful for identification. The 120 species covered are grouped into 23 (quasi phylogenetic) families for quick look-up within the guide ( e.g. Shorebirds, Woodpeckers, Sparrows, small-Songbirds, mid-size Songbirds, etc. ). Using BoSF in conjuction with the major guides mentioned above is particularly powerful. BoSF often points me to a candidate specie (while I am still not confident about it) and the major guides provide more variations on specie colorings, subspecies, etc. This usually confirms or dismisses the candidate. In my experience, BoSF starts me on the right trail for identifying my Bay Area bird sightings with confidence over 80% of the time. At only 156 pages, BoSF is also highly portable compared to most of the major guides, so I am much more likely to take it along on 'non-birding' events. My only regret about this book is that I did not find it 11 years ago when it was first published (1996).

I have carted this book along on many outings since my relocation to California. This has come in very handy for quick identifications and a brief summary of the birds' typical habitats and even their mannerisms. The main reason I enjoy this guide is that, if the species is included in the book, I can usually find it within thirty seconds. Often times the bird is still in sight and I can easily compare its markings to those found in the guide. I highly recommend this book as a quick reference guide.