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FG to Birds of Northern Central America (1 Viewer)

Swissboy

Sempach, Switzerland
Supporter
Switzerland
The Peterson FG to Birds of Northern Central America is about to be published. Yet, one usually finds some sample (or teaser) plates beforehand. So far, I have not been able to find anything (except for the book cover).
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51x5C2GtxuL._SX308_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Also, while the book will be much more compact than the large Howell and Webb volume, one needs to realize that Mexico is not included in this new book. At any rate, I'll be most interested to read about first impressions. 8-P Hope we'll all not be disappointed.
 
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I think there is a couple of questions here:
The book includes about ½ of the Yucatan Peninsula. It is not clear to me if it also includes the Mexican part of Yucatan, which could have made it a more bestselling book (for all those visiting the tourist areas in Yucatan and wanting a little birdwatching also).

Title: if this is northern CA, and their North America field guides stop at the US-Mexico border, what do they call Mexico?

Niels
 
...............
Title: if this is northern CA, and their North America field guides stop at the US-Mexico border, what do they call Mexico?

Niels

Not sure how critical the title is in this case. Wonder how many species occur only on the Mexican side of Yucatan?

As for the main area of Mexico, there is a Peterson FG for it. (It is actually going south to Guatemala and El Salvador.) But it is dated and often only shows the head of a species. A modern FG that is reasonably compact and has decent range maps would clearly be desirable.
 
Wonder how many species occur only on the Mexican side of Yucatan?

I have not counted, but 10 or 20? in other words, it would not make the overall book much more bulky, and there would be an additional group of customers.

Niels
 
I have not counted, but 10 or 20? in other words, it would not make the overall book much more bulky, and there would be an additional group of customers.

Niels

i think there's fewer than 10 species in Mexican Yucatan that don't regularly occur further south as when I birded the Yucatan I used Birds of Belize as my main guide, and familiarised myself with the extra species beforehand (and there weren't many).

but that does include some of the endemics, Mexican sheartail, Yucatan wren etc.

james
 
Listed but not in stock although there are others already listed as 'used' which always confuses me?

I pre-ordered but no notice of shipment yet. Similar "used" offers have come up on other new release books, and I think some BirdForum members have speculated that advance reviewers might be part of the answer.

Gary H
 
I pre-ordered but no notice of shipment yet. Similar "used" offers have come up on other new release books, and I think some BirdForum members have speculated that advance reviewers might be part of the answer.

Gary H

Yes I remember that but there must be a lot of reviewers?

I ordered from the 1st link I posted, they say they have them?

A
 
Received the book today

Book Depository sent me the info on Tuesday Nov. 1st that my book is on its way. Just depends where they ship it from. Maybe Australia? :eek!:

The book arrived today. Great.o:)

Here are some scans. The scans are not quite optimal, somewhat less contrasty and a bit blurred compared to the originals. But they should provide some first impressions. I have yet to look at the book more thoroughly, it's definitely a great addition to my FG collection. :eat:

Very nicely detailed range maps, differentiating the status. Compact text highlighting particularly distinctive features in bold face. And there is a Quick Index on the inside front cover that continues on the inside back cover. Thus, it's not as compact as one would want it to be. Yet, it will prove most useful once one has memorized that the letter M is the only critical one that has names on both pages.

To me, this book has just the ideal size that I think any FG should strive for. It weighs 552 grams (1lb 3 3/3 oz) and measures 18.3 x 11.4 x 2.5 centimeters.
 

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You beat me again Robert, no sign of mine yet, maybe I'll move to Switzerland!


A

Not sure where you ordered from, but my experience with Book Depository has been very mixed regarding delivery time. This time I obviously lucked out. But there had been 10 to 14-day delivery times in the past.

I have since looked a bit more at the book, and in particular at the illustrations. Mostly, I find them very pleasing, but there is quite a bit of variability in their quality. Though the really bad ones are rare. My least liked one, so far, is the Snow Goose, thus not a critical one in any case. With its short neck and heavy body its outlines look a bit like a Dodo, or like a Tinamou with a goose beak mounted to it. But as I said, that's an exception, as one can judge in looking at my scans. I can't judge the accuracy, though, as I'm not sufficiently familiar with most species.
 
Hello all,
I have now obtained this book and used it on some relatively low key birding in the Yucatan peninsula. I found it eminently usable. Highlights:
1 illustration of all the migrants, though not all field marks are shown well: tail undersides of NA Warblers are usually not visible on the drawings, to mention one example. Having the Sibley app on the phone helped with that.
2 Maps and text next to illustrations
3 Compact size compared to the Howell and Webb

Lowlight: I am generally happy with the illustrations but the difference in illustrations of Yucatan and Dusky-capped Flycatchers seem exaggerated. If they really are that different, then most of the images of Yucatan online will be misidentified, I think.

Niels
 
Wish for a similar book for Mexico!

…..
I have since looked a bit more at the book, and in particular at the illustrations. ………….... I can't judge the accuracy, though, as I'm not sufficiently familiar with most species.

I have since had a chance to use the book in the field (Yucatan, including Cozumel, and Tikal). The book has truly been great with very few exceptions. Sure, I also benefitted from the joint experiences of three group participants while in Yucatan, but birding alone should not make that much difference once one sees the bird. The book simply does its job very well. Just wish the publisher and the authors could be convinced to do a similar format book for Mexico. Lots of species could be used directly from the present book except for the range map. It would be important to have the North American migrants included like in this NCA FG.

And I hope Lynx does not sabotage such an effort by coming out quickly with one of their standard oversized regional attempts. The specific strength of the Peterson book is in its optimal combination of quality and size. With very few compromises as far as I'm concerned, the lack of Spanish names being one of the major ones.
 
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