• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

National Geographic Birds Field Guide 7th edition (1 Viewer)


Doesn't seem to have made much of a splash. Published in 2011 and only a single Amazon review ("Great book") and nothing much anywhere else.

http://www.birders-store.co.uk/collins-field-guide-birds-of-north-america.html

Nevertheless, if there were a Kindle edition, I would buy it just to check it out.
(Dto for its partner in obscurity, the Smithsonian North American Guide.).
 
I've never upgraded from my second ed and won't now. Whilst it was very well regarded 25 years ago, there are now better books for N America IMHO.

It may be that so critical an assessment will have the last word in this thread, but for those contemplating one single guide for North America it might be worth noting points in favor of the NGS 7th edition (based on experience with the preceding six editions):

Plates with facing-page species accounts & range maps, with confusion species often on the same plate or in close proximity.

Reasonably faithful renditions including many subspecies, seasonal plumage variations, and juvenile birds.

Concise species accounts noting salient ID points, voice, range & habitat. The plates are also annotated with the most significant field marks.

Comprehensive in scope, depicting all North American species accepted for inclusion in the most recent AOU checklist.

Updated taxonomy (splits, lumps, etc.), per AOU.

Portable.

Others might well add more benefits. Some might dispute many I've enumerated. But NGS may well be the dominant field guide in the North American market. I own (& use) many of the alternatives (Sibley, Peterson, Kaufman, among other). I have high regard for each, but likely as not I'll try to solve any ID puzzle first consulting NGS. It's always in my field pouch, along with one other from among those alternatives.

The only volume mentioned by title in this thread as superior is the Collins guide for European birds, and the Collins NA guide doesn't elicit similar praise.

Gary H
 
I feel I am repeating myself: When traveling to the US I bring the Sibley App, and if I bring a book it is the NGS (I upgraded from third to sixth ed a couple of years ago). Having both is actually great.

When at home I mainly need a US FG for looking at photos: there I usually reach for the big Sibley (which I would never recommend to a beginning birder due to the lack of text).

Niels
 
Okay yeah...that book has a different name and cover in the states.

I have never seen a birder use that book, and it seems to have a reputation as being one of the worst guides ever produced in recent years for North America (too few plumages illustrated, common names no one stateside uses, mislabeled birds, innaccurate sizes and other info, etc.)
 
I'll also add to GDhunter is that I think this is the only guide on the market that extensively maps out subspecies ranges. Sibley does for a very very few species, but not to the extent of NG

I think Sibley and NG both compliment each other well.
 
I've never upgraded from my second ed and won't now. Whilst it was very well regarded 25 years ago, there are now better books for N America IMHO.


A

I have essentially bought them all. Still my preferred FG, and by getting the newest editions I was sure I had the current names.
 
Is this 7th edition field guide basically the concise version of the second edition handbook 'Complete birds of North America' although it's only about 100 pages shorter? I do have that.

I broke, ordered it!

Anyone in the UK will find it hard to get it cheaper than this, post free too.

https://wordery.com/national-geogra...6NTliNmRjNjQ5OTUzZDkuODQ5NTYxNDg6ODdjZTMwNGM=

Edit: It's gone up by £2 since I ordered yesterday, still £17.99 on Wildsounds excl of P+P.


A
 
Last edited:
Now what's needed is an update of the woefully out-of-date app. I'm sure I'm not alone in never buying paper versions of field guides also available as apps. An iPad is so much easier to carry around than a big bulky paper field guide.
 

Thanks, Rick, for this great and thorough review. I don't concur, as you may know, with your praise of following the scientific sequence though. Thus, it strikes me with some open joy that the sequence is already "outdated". In German, we call my feelings Schadenfreude. I don't know of an English equivalent. The other terms I found as translations imply a more negative connotation than I mean here.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to receive my copy in the next few weeks.
 
Last edited:
Now what's needed is an update of the woefully out-of-date app. I'm sure I'm not alone in never buying paper versions of field guides also available as apps. An iPad is so much easier to carry around than a big bulky paper field guide.

What is the screen like to see in bright light fugl, I can never see the screen on my camera so it must be similar?


A
 
Last edited:
What is the screen like to see in bright light fugl, I can never seem the screen on my camera so it must be similar?

In the open on a sunny day, bright light can be a problem even on my big iPad Pro screen but shielding with my shadow pretty much cures it. As it happens, the places I mostly bird nowadays tend to be well provided with trees and other shade, and under those conditions the screen image is better if anything than the printed image. And, of course, apps have other advantages over paper guides, sound files being the big one, together in some cases with supplementary photos and/or various convenience features (e. g., the capacity for side-by-side comparisons of confusion species which I've found very useful indeed). Given all this, I really don't see much of a future for the traditional printed field guide, certainly not over the long term.
 
Given all this, I really don't see much of a future for the traditional printed field guide, certainly not over the long term.

Not much good without electricity though, you'd be screwed if North Korea put out the lights! :eek!:

A
 
Last edited:
............you'd be screwed if North Korea put out the lights! :eek!:

A

:king: There are many more chances for being left without the necessary power. I can see the advantages, but they would only mean for me to go with the book PLUS the electronic version. Bird voices are definitely a great positive point.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top