Better Birding: Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field

How to go from a beginner to an expert birder

Better Birding reveals the techniques expert birders use to identify a wide array of bird species in the field―quickly and easily. Featuring hundreds of stunning photos and composite plates throughout, this book simplifies identification by organizing the birds you see into groupings and offering strategies specifically tailored to each group. Skill building focuses not just on traditional elements such as plumage, but also on creating a context around each bird, including habitat, behavior, and taxonomy―parts so integral to every bird's identity but often glossed over by typical field guides. Critical background information is provided for each group, enabling you to approach bird identification with a wide-angle view, using your eyes, brain, and binoculars more strategically, resulting in a more organized approach to learning birds.

Better Birding puts the thrill of expert bird identification within your reach.

• Reveals the techniques used by expert birders for quick and easy identification
• Simplifies identification with strategies tailored to different groupings of birds
• Features hundreds of photos and composite plates that illustrate the different techniques
• Fosters a wide-angle approach to field birding
• Provides a foundation for building stronger birding skills

George L. Armistead is events coordinator at the American Birding Association and a research associate in the Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. He has led birding tours on all seven continents. Brian L. Sullivan is eBird program codirector and photographic editor for Birds of North America Online at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He is the author of numerous papers on bird identification and the coauthor of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors and Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast (both Princeton).