Peterson Field Guide (R) to Eastern Birds' Nests

I was giving a class on monitoring bluebird boxes and I needed to show people the nests of predators and other birds that use the bluebird boxes. I wanted people to be able to see the difference between the nests built by bluebirds as compared to house sparrows, for instance. Also, I needed to show the different colors of eggs. This book was absolutely essential for this. Once examining the photos in the book and reading the text, people were easily able to identify the different kinds of nests that had been built in the boxes we were monitoring.

I discovered this book while doing coursework at a teacher institute in northern Wisconsin. Like many amateur naturalists, finding an egg that has fallen from a nest is a momentous event, but I wasn't always sure of the bird that laid that egg. While I still might need to actually connect the actual bird with the egg visually, this guide goes a long way toward narrowing my choices. A list of characteristics, such as oval, long and short pyriform shape, is clearly illustrated in a chart on the endpaper, accompanied by a ruler for measuring in the field. Most incredible to me are the photographs of bird nests in site containing typical egg clutches. Anyone who is a birder knows that these nests are very often difficult to access, as high as 80 feet up a tree! For the photographers to have not only located, but photographed, all these nests is nothing short of remarkable--and helpful. Detailed descriptions accompany the photos. The book is arranged in taxonomic order, making it easy for those of us used to this arrangement. The average birdwatcher will probably be happy with a basic field guide to identify birds by sight. For those of us who always need "just one more field guide," this guide to nests is a unique addition to that ever-growing library.

We used this book as part of a homeschool/4H project to identify nests that we had found on our property. Using the detailed nest descriptions, photographs of the nests, and sketches of the birds (along with our pocket guide to Wisconsin birds) we had a great time identifying our nest collection. The book's organization makes it easy to narrow down the identification possibilities.

This is a highly recommended book for identifying bird's nests. It's amazing to see all the different types of nests that birds make. These creatures have true workmanship. It must have been a great challenge for the photographer(s) to find and photograph all the different nests throughout this fascinating book. You don't see many books out there on the market like this, so I recommend it.

This book has information which to my knowledge cannot be found anywhere else. The photographs of nests and eggs must be seen to be appreciated. It is not difficult to identify a bird on the basis of its nest or egg using this book.