[two8]

Hello all,

My interest in birding is growing and I'd like to pick up a field guide or two so that I can more accurately and easily identify birds. My location is San Francisco, California so I am looking for North America and Western field guides. With a bit of searching, I've come up with the following books that seem to get a lot of praise:

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition
Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

If you have used any of them, or all three, I'm curious as how you would rate them and why. Thanks for the help.

[Matt_RTH]

This is a fun subject. I'm still beginner-ish (240 or so life list) so bear that in mind.

My go-to is Kaufman. It has some "bugs" in it, like some plumages not shown for some species, etc. I say bug because I think if Ken were aware of it he would fix it in a future edition. I thoroughly love Nat Geo but I prefer the tougher "turtle back" editions found with Kauf, Sibley and others. Nat Geo has great illustrations and descriptions. I keep that in my travel trailer. Sibley is my secondary reference for tough finds. It's large, so a western edition is often suggested here, though I only own the NA version.

If you get only one, and are a relative newbie, get Kauf. Easy as pie. My preferences are Kauf/Sibley/Nat Geo in that order.

Matt

[Tero]

National Geo has a lot of info, but I hate the sparrows in it. For sparrows I use almost any photo guide, Kaufman is the most used.

Warblers I use a Warbler guide, Stokes. It is handy, short.

[manelson]

There are many great guides out there. The key is too have 2-3 guides per region with maybe a specialty guide for hawks, warblers etc.

The guides you want to purchase should be very different from each other for example one with photographs and one with drawings etc. This is important when you try to identify difficult birds. So many people look at one guide to decide what bird it is. So often I need to check 2-3 guides and maybe the internet before coming to my final conclusion.

Have fun,

[TwoDipsfromAmsterdam]

As an occasional visitor to the US I find the Sibley FGs very useful. The Eastern and Western are sufficiently small to use in the field - that's important if you're a beginner or, like me, a visitor unfamiliar with the local birds. The all-NA Sibley is also very good but a bit heavy to carry in the field and is also a bit short on text that describes the differences between similar species.

Hope this helps. Suggest a visit to a local bookshop and do a comparison. Eventually you'll find your own preference.

DiP

[Mysticete]

When I started birding, I prefered the National Geographic, as it typically showed more species per page and wasn't as cumbersome as the Sibley. A good starter guide if your still figuring out vireos vs. warblers. I eventually switched over Sibley's (the eastern or western copies, don't own or want to own the giant "full" version). I think Sibley's does a much better job with tougher bird groups like peeps, sparrows, and gulls.

Never tried the Kaufman guide to birds, although their mammal guide is my favorite of NA mammal field guides

[fugl]

Another vote for the western Sibley which I much prefer to the NGR (I have them both). The big Sibley--covering the whole country--is best of all, but is too bulky to carry around, so I leave my copy at home or in car & take the small one out in the field. I haven't had any experience with the Kaufman.

[JohnJos]

In the field I tend to grab my Peterson East most of the time, followed by Sibley East & National Geographic NA. I recently bought the new Smithsonian NA photo field guide as a backup for the above illustrated guides. I have others as well but these are my favorites in the field.

At home, I use the new big Peterson, the full Sibley and various more specific guides for hawks (Peterson , Wheeler), warblers (Peterson) & shorebirds (Karlson, et al). Plus I use Cornell Lab of Ornithology's The Birds of North America Online (BNA) as an additional reference.

[ovenbird43]

I prefer the Sibley guides, I find the drawings in them to be very realistic and accurate, in my opinion far superior to photographs (varied backgrounds and lighting conditions can make photographic guides unreliable for tougher IDs) and most paintings/drawings in other guides. Sibley especially does a great job with capturing just the right coloration, streaking patterns, and typical postures of most species. Plus, the Sibley guide shows more plumage variations for most species than other guides, plus small drawings of all the birds in flight. However, I recently bought the newest edition of the National Geographic guide because of the more up-to-date information it contains- like the Canada-Cackling Goose split and more recent taxonomic ordering. I still rely primarily on my Sibley for identification, but having at least one additional reference can be helpful.

[two8]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I went ahead and ordered the National Geographic and Sibley (Western) to start off with.

[lmans66]

Kaufman....I use it daily and find the images perfect as well as information in it. Although as many have said, it is best to have two or three for you will find times you refer to one guide and are 'just not sure'...so you pick up the other to confirm. Best of luck...

[buile]

I have no experience with the Kaufman, but as a beginner, I found the Sibley guide best as it helps teach what to look at for IDs. It is still my main guide; I supplement this with the Smithsonian guide for its fantastic, thoughtful, well-laid-out photos to see an actual specimen, plus additional info (like molting strategy). My old Audubon guide originally published in the 70s goes unused even though it was my first guide.

As your interest grows, you'll start buying guides for specific types (gulls, warblers, sparrows, etc).

[lmans66]

Originally Posted by buile

As your interest grows, you'll start buying guides for specific types (gulls, warblers, sparrows, etc).

So true...I have a guide for sea birds now....and of course when I visit countries or places I either get a book on that area or download from the computer. Nice thinking....

[sarahbn]

Another good Field guide is Stokes Field guide to the western region I have the eastern version.

[ovenbird43]

Originally Posted by buile

As your interest grows, you'll start buying guides for specific types (gulls, warblers, sparrows, etc).

Ah, yes... I love the Peterson Guide to North American Warblers. It has so much great information for each species on identification, molts, distribution, behavior, migration timing... great stuff!