Torn between two feild guides (1 Viewer)

I have been using Sibley's guides since the appeared. I started with the big one and was happy to get the smaller eastern guide when it was introduced. I have heard from some folks that the National Geographic guide is the new best so I bought one yesterday. I am a little unsure as to which I would prefer to take in the field with me.

Pros and Cons of Each.

Sibley. Pros- I am very accustomed to using this guide. His maps are easier to read and include a color for migration and wanering. I like the little tidbits of info he adds, "often seen doing this" or "found in such and such a habitat." More illustrations on each page for each bird.

Cons- I only get half the continent in the portable size. Some of his colors seem a little off.

Nat. Geo. Pros- I like the illustrations better. Barely larger than the half-continetal sibley yet has the whole continent. The descriptive text is good for telling me what to look for. Lots of information of subspecies.

Cons- Smaller maps with colors that can be hard to see, and only summer/winter color, no migration. Not the same layout of images for each bird that Sibley has, so a loss of consistency.

So I've got one book that has a great layout, great maps and useful contextual information versus another with better (though fewer) illustrations, subspecies information, and the whole continent in one portable volume.

Is there a book that is a compromise?

My familiarity with the Sibley stuff might make me stay with them even if the National Geographic has better illustrations in some cases.

Ugh!?!

both are top-notch field guides (the two best IMO). but kaufman's focus guide is pretty nice, too. good for beginning or intermediate birders; the maps do show migratory paths. by far my favorite photographic field guide, and since it uses photographs, no worry of how "accurately portrayed" the species are. recommended.

oh yeah, kaufman's guide has maps show where a species is common and less-common. a neat treat.
text is brief, but normally covers what is needed for an ID. again wonderful book if coupled with more in-depth guides (peterson's warblers, paulson's shorebirds, olsen's gulls)

You can never have too many field guides! Since all have both strong and weak points, I've often found it necessary to go to each for a fuller understanding or clarification of some aspects. I'm just glad we have such good guides to choose from. I usually carry two in my car (large Sibley's and regional Peterson's) and the smaller Peterson's on hikes.

It may be actually good thing we don't have a Collins type of book, better than the rest for the area. You get familiar with a lot of guides. I have most of them, except Peterson West, current. I have an old one, with Oldsquaw in it. But if I only bring one, it is Kaufman, the lightest, for one.

I like both the Sibley and the NGS and use them interchangably depending on where I'm at.

I overheard some folks at a local bird club meeting talking about an upcoming 5th edition of the NGS guide. Anyone have any info?

I also use a Kaufman's wwhich fits in my back pocket. It gives pictures that are different from the Sibley illustrations.-I keep Peterson and the Sibleys in my truck.I've heard people say that Peterson's is obsolete and Sibleys is the answer to everything. This hasn't been the case at all for me. All 3 have come in handy at times-Some times Sibley does't have the illustration or information the other two may provide.

Stick with Sibley

I've been using only the small Sibley books in the field since they came out, and I've never had a problem with them. You don't usually get to both sides of the continent on one trip anyway!

When I get home, I use some of the other guides for additional information -- they all seem to include different incidental comments -- and if there's a bird I'm having problems identifying.

I would stick to one guide when out birding, because you need to be really really familiar with it if you're going to consult it while looking at birds.

Jeff

I think Sibley will stay in the bag and National Geographic can live on the shelf. I am so used to the order and layout of Sibley that if I decided to switch it would take a lot of time to get used to.

Caty on the Bay said:

I think Sibley will stay in the bag and National Geographic can live on the shelf. I am so used to the order and layout of Sibley that if I decided to switch it would take a lot of time to get used to.

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Nice. More stuff to obsess and worry about. Coming over from the binocular forum, though, field guides are a much cheaper worry. Yay!

I have Sibley's, Kaufmann's, the penultimate edition of the Golden Guide, and an old 60s Peterson Western guide that my brother used to own. I have owned the National Geogrpahic before, but sold it to a used bookstore at one point. To carry in my waist pack I take the Kaufmann's or sometimes the Golden Guide, and I leave the Sibley's in the car for post-trip reference. I just can't get over the weight of the Sibley's, even the regional one -- which I owned and sold at one point. To me Kaufmann's is usually perfectly adequate as a quick filed reference. The Golden Guide is smaller -- my older edition has sewn-in signatures, which I consider a must for any field guide. And the Golden Guide has many nice features like sections with sparrows' and warblers' heads -- fall colors for warblers and stuff like that. The illustrations are good, just a different style from Sibley. In fact, if the original illustrations of the Golden Guide were rescanned at printed on semi-gloosy stock like Siblet's, I think they would surprise in a direct comparison with Sibley. The Golden Guide illustrator -- Singer -- paints the birds in more natural positions. Sibley's, while painstakingly accurate, paints mugshots -- really beautiful mugshots -- which is better for identification of course.

Kaufmann's illustrations -- as someone pointed out -- are photographic, but are also digitallly altered to make sure that the photo shows all the important features and field marks. All in all, these days, I carry the Kaufmann most of the time. Did I mention that the Kaufmann guide is also inexpensive and very well bound?

That's the view from here.