The Book of North American Birds

This is a great book for identifying birds. Great pictures and useful information about each bird.

I bought this book for my husband as a birthday present and was happily surprised how much he liked it. Each page is devoted to one bird. My brother visited and enjoyed looking at it so much that we got him one for his birthday, too!

I am not a "birder" but my family and I spend a lot of time outdoors. We enjoy a varity of birds in our respective back yards. This book has helped us to identify several species native to Arkansas. The book is well written and the pictures are large and in color. Each species has an entire page with a description of their nesting habits and what they normally eat. This is very helpful to ensure that we have the proper areas and/or birdhouses to keep attracting the birds we most enjoy. I am sure we will be reading in this book for years to come!

This guide is wonderful! Each bird is clearly pictured in full color while a map shows its range. A three-paragraph description of each bird is supplemented by recognition points, habitat, nest description, and the bird's food preferences. Although each bird gets a full page, the types are grouped so one can flip through looking at similar birds. The groupings include birds of prey, large land birds, smaller open country birds, smaller woodland birds, ducklike birds, gull-like birds, large wading birds, and shorebirds. Reader's Digest maintains its reputation for producing colorful, useful books for the home reference library.

This was my "beginner" book, but has also remained my favorite guide to identify my local feathered friends.Large and full colour pictures of the species allowed me to match my sightings simply by flipping through. Later as I became more fluent in typing my birds the I found the index easy to use. Descriptions of the individual birds were informative, but also entertaining with tidbits about each that were not strickly scientific. There are aspects of this guide that I have even yet to put to use, but hope to: the traveler's guide to birding sites of North America.