Birds of Eastern North America: A Photographic Guide
Paul Sterry, Brian E. Small
Princeton University Press, 2009

It’s only by working your way through Princeton University Press’ magnificent new Birds of North America page by page and bird by bird that you realize just what an impressive accomplishment it is.

You could guess the size of that accomplishment by the pedigree of the talent that produced it; Paul Sterry has written dozens of books on birds, including the texts of some mighty fine bird-guides from years past, and Brian Small is likewise experienced, the photo editor for Birding magazine and a prolific freelancer.

But even knowing these combined track records won’t fully prepare you for how eye-catching this volume is – and how handy it is. The achievement is made possible by the latest advances in digital photography and page-layout, and the philosophy is a functional revelation at which other guidebooks have usually only made cursory stabs: birds like to change their clothes.

Typical birding handbooks in the last century take a mug shot approach to their subjects. The page on bald eagles will feature a big picture of an adult male, perched majestically. The entire section of wood-warblers will feature one shot of an adult male golden-winged warbler, doing duty for everybody else. The 1990s saw a real revolution in this approach, with books like the seminal Sibley Guide giving aspiring and experienced birders indications of how the appearance of a particular bird species changes, not only between genders but between seasons and from adolescence to adulthood.

Birds of Eastern North America takes this revolution one step further: Brian Small’s digital photography is incredibly clear, and every entry displays its subject in the iterations watchers are likely to encounter (with distribution provided by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology). Since a young red-shouldered hawk looks like an entirely different bird than an adult red-shouldered hawk, this is a mighty helpful thing (and the sexual dimorphism of some species is drastically greater than this).

Whether you explore this volume while tromping through marsh and meadow or blanket-swaddled in your favorite reading nook, you’ll see these old familiar feathered friends in such a wealth of greater visual detail that you’ll have the very pleasant sensation of seeing them all for the first time. This is a guide to keep.

Tuc Macfarland