Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America, published by Houghton Mifflen. Paperback, 392 pages. It is a beautiful new edition, released in April, 2005.

In April of 2005, this is is the most current field guide available for North American birds, with dozens up names brought up to date, in conformity with changes made by the American Ornithologists' Union. It also includes new species, reflecting the latest scientific discoveries. (Such as Gunnison Sage-Grouse and Cackling Goose.) It includes all the birds you'd expect to find in North America.

Kenn Kaufman has expanded and improved the introduction, to help beginner's start enjoying immediate success in identifying birds in the wild. But for all its improvement, this compact book still slips easily into your pocket.

A keen observer with a prodigious store of birding experience, Kenn tells us in a succinct paragraph what to look for — what we need to see to be sure of each bird's identity.

For example, of the Northern Cardinal (the bright red bird of our feeders) he says it's "our only red bird with a crest." Then he refers us to the pages for other red (but uncrested) birds so we can compare for ourselves.

He tells us where and in what kind of landscape each bird is found, whether it's common in woods, parks and yards (like the Blue Jay) or whether it hides in forest thickets by day and probes damp fields for worms at night (like the American Woodcock).

He gives a short, evocative description of each bird's song, usually something we can get a hold on and remember, such as the American Robin's "rich caroling, cheerup cheerio cheerup, often beginning well before dawn."

A map shows what part of the country to look for the bird in, with color coding to show where the bird is in each season.

For years, birders have argued about which make better bird illustrations, photos or paintings. Paintings allow the artist to show the idealized bird, emphasize the bird's field marks and eliminate the vagaries of lighting and pose inherent in photography. For these reasons many birders prefer field guides illustrated by paintings. On the other hand, to some people photos seem more convincing, because they record what was actually there at some particular moment, rather than an illustrator's interpretation. (I've heard birdwatchers get quite excited arguing the merits of these two methods of depicting birds.)

An accomplished bird artist himself, Kenn has made a leap and gone where no field guide has gone before. He collected over 2000 good photos and then computer-edited each one, to emphasize the identifying characteristics, to eliminate confusing backgrounds and misleading shadows, and to compensate for inequalities of lighting. The resulting illustrations combine the discrimination of draftsmanship with the authenticity of photography.

The well-organized book is easy to find one's way around in. Similar birds appear on the same or close pages. This friendly, economical little volume is ideal for anyone interested in birds, but I particularly recommend it for beginning birdwatchers.

One last thought: if you get this book, I hope you'll read the short (not boring) introduction. It tells when, where, and how to look for birds, and how to go about identifying them. It's a fine introduction to birdwatching.

--Diane Porter

Kenn Kaufman is a legend among birders. One of his first exploits was a yearlong birding Odyssey, when he hitchhiked back and forth across North America in search of wild birds. During that year, he broke the world record for the number of species seen in America in a single year. He was sixteen years old at the time!